James T. Touhey

performer

b. New York City probably April 1870
d. North Tarrytown (now named Sleepy Hollow), New York May 6, 1923

Jimmy Touhey plays, Patsy Brannigan dances at Lady Aberdeen's Irish Village, Chicago World's Fair 1893
"Danced for Prizes" Chicago IL Sunday Inter Ocean July 23, 1893 p. 6 column 2
www.genealogybank.com

Photo caption "Mr Jas. T. Touhey, Irish Piper."
Montreal QC Canada The True Witness and Catholic Chronicle April 8, 1899 p. 11 column 1
From the Google Newspaper Archive
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1888&dat=18990408&id=ZuomAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V2ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=1431,843575

For most of his life James Touhey earned his living as a professional musician playing the Irish pipes. He began playing publicly when he was in his teens. At first he performed with his father, also James, also a piper. His career probably peaked when he was in his early twenties with a well-publicized gig at an Irish Village at the Chicago World's Fair, 1893. After that, a long slow decline, and residence in several parts of the country, but continued piping engagements until shortly before his death in 1923.

He was active at the same time as Pat "Patsy" Touhey, the most successful Irish piper of his era and also the best remembered by succeeding generations down to this day. One was confused with the other during their careers, and after their deaths the confusion only increased. Both men had fathers named James Touhey who were themselves pipers. Pat and the younger James were active in vaudeville and touring theatrical productions and both played at the Chicago World's Fair, 1893. Both played left-handed sets of pipes. Pat was about five years older; they died within weeks of each other in 1923. There are specific references to James which have been wrongly credited to Pat. There are many newspaper references to "Touhey" which could be either James or Pat.

Pat Touhey's reputation and stature in Irish traditional music is such that one can talk or write about him without mentioning James Touhey. The opposite does not apply; one can hardly consider James without mentioning Pat.

According to census records James Touhey was born April 1870, but his death certificate says April 25, 1876. He was born in New York City, probably in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood. His parents, James Touhey and Jane Martin, were born in Ireland. Four perhaps five children survived. James was the eldest, followed by Frances, Mary and Elizabeth. In the 1870 US Census the elder James' occupation is musician. In the 1880 US Census and in the 1882-83 New York City Directory he is listed as a tailor. At least from 1880 through 1891 the family lived at 106 or 106½ Cherry Street, Lower East Side. Based on a look at US Census records of their neighbors, they lived in an Irish enclave of densely crowded tenement housing.

Little is known about the background of the elder James. In later years the son claimed to be "cousin" to Pat Touhey, and this assertion seems to have been accepted even by people who disparaged him. Recent genealogical work indicates that they could not have been first cousins (related through siblings of their parents) and there is not enough evidence to prove or disprove that they were second cousins (related through siblings of their grandparents).

The earliest certain reference to the younger James as musician is an advertisement in the New York Clipper, a theatrical trade publication, July 30, 1887, "James Tuhey and Son Irish pipers, are open for engagement. Will play Scotch pipes on parade, and Irish pipes on stage. [106]½ Cherry Street, New York." Two references survive to gigs in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1888, playing as father and son at Ancient Order of Hibernians events.

In March 1889 a similar ad in the Clipper, "JAMES T. TOUHEY, Champion Boy Irish Piper, Open for Engagement." After this notices of engagements become more frequent, and for the next couple of years he is sometimes referred to as the boy piper or the young piper.

Later in 1889 James Touhey began a tour with Dan McCarthy's theatrical company. McCarthy was a dancer, singer and playwright. His plays were Irish-themed melodramas, "The Dear Irish Boy," and "True Irish Hearts," for examples. McCarthy consistently hired a piper for these productions to provide music for dancers. Some of these pipers, like Thomas F. Kerrigan and Eddie Joyce, were among the best players of the day. This implies good things about James' piping skills.

At Baltimore, Maryland, "True Irish Hearts" was playing at Forepaugh's Temple Theater. Touhey fell down an elevator opening and was seriously injured. His condition was pronounced "very critical." This was in April 1890. By May he was playing in public again.

In 1891 he appeared in another play, "An Irishman's Love." After this, Touhey had short-lived partnerships in two different two-man vaudeville acts. The partners were dancers. An "At Liberty" ad, that is, looking for work, for "James T. Touhey Irish Piper, and George Bordman, Clog and Reel Dancer," had the top line "And He Blowed His Pipes Up and Played."

These are the years in which one begins to see announcements of engagements for "Touhey" and it is unclear if it is James or Pat or even, until his death in 1896, James' father. Keeping in mind that Pat Touhey sometimes styled himself "Patrick J. Touhey" and James did not use the middle initial "P", here is an exquisite example: the Robert Emmet Club of Chicago had a meeting March 4, 1893 in which "... J.P. Tuohy played on the Irish bag-pipe...."

By early 1893 Touhey was touring with dancer Patsy Brannigan, the "Dancing Blade o' Erin." Brannigan, born in Donegal, had a successful career as a dancer. He worked with Touhey, on and off, at least through 1895, including their time at the Chicago World's Fair, 1893. He married Sadie Wells and performed with her for several years thereafter. Brannigan was killed by a railroad train at Philadelphia October 1903.

Brannigan and Touhey were a big hit at the Chicago World's Fair. The Fair was an enormous undertaking. It was open to the public May 1 - October 30, 1893 and had more than 26 million attendees. Brannigan and Touhey played in an "Irish Village" with a replica Blarney Castle, complete with "genuine" Blarney stone. This Irish Village, sponsored by the Countess of Aberdeen, was one of two at the Fair. The other was organized by Mrs. Ernest Hart, with its Donegal Castle replica. Both were on the Midway Plaisance, an amusement area set apart from the big exhibition buildings and country and state pavilions.

Brannigan and Touhey generated a remarkable amount of national press coverage during their stay at the Fair. Three different drawings of James playing and Patsy dancing were published in newspapers. Accounts of their performances were positive.

Jimmy Touhey petted and squeezed his pipes until they yielded jigs and reels that no Irishman's feet could resist. If he hadn't the courage to take the platform and dance for the audience, his legs and feet at least kept time to the measures of the music. Irish "bhoys" displayed the liveliest and most difficult steps of Tipperary, Connaught and other Irish Counties.

There was a series of "International Concerts" at the Fair's Festival Hall and Brannigan and Touhey participated. At the first concert, August 14th:

... and then Patsy Brannigan, in green stockings, with a golden harp on his blouse, bounded out to the center of the platform and to the wheezing of "Jamsey" Touhy's pipes let his nimble legs twinkle through first a reel and then a breakdown jug that carried 6,000 people back in memory "across the pond."

An article described, with some consternation, the influence of American popular music on the many foreign musicians gathered at the Fair. Of those musicians at Lady Aberdeen's Irish Village:

Now and then some of the pipers play remarkably well such pieces as "Marching through Georgia," and James Touhy, the best piper in the village, often plays in front of the portal a whole overture or medley of American national airs with such ability as to draw large crowds of eager listeners.

Pipers Tarlach Mac Suibhne (Charles MacSweeney) and Pat Touhey played at Mrs. Hart's Donegal Village. Mac Suibhne was a mysterious and colorful figure from the old country and received plenty of press coverage. Pat Touhey, on the other hand, was seldom mentioned. I have found only one contemporary reference to Pat Touhey at the Fair. Twenty years later Francis O'Neill, in his book Irish Minstrels and Musicians, wrote positively of Pat Touhey's experience at the Fair, and compared him favorably to Mac Suibhne. (O'Neill never mentions James Touhey in his public writings.) O'Neill's comments are probably the source of the perception that Pat was a big success at the Fair. If success is measured by positive words or news coverage, James' success at the Fair was much greater.

Two images of a left-handed piper, playing at the Chicago Fair, appeared after the Fair closed. A drawing, from the book The Columbian Gallery - A Portfolio of Photographs from the World's Fair... (The Werner Company, Chicago, Ill. 1894), is almost certainly of James Touhey, but Pat has been mistakenly identified as the piper. A similar image appears in the travel book Romantic Ireland, published in Boston in 1904. The piper is unidentified.

The engagement at the World's Fair was an important one for Touhey, perhaps a career high point. He often advertised himself with phrases like the "Celebrated Irish Piper, late of the Countess of Aberdeen's Irish Village, World's Fair" at least until 1899.

Newspaper announcements and advertisements suggest Touhey relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March-September 1894. He played for Ancient Order of Hibernians events, church socials, and other similar gatherings.

In October 1894 Touhey lost his pipes in Chicago and, thanks to his playing at the World's Fair, this little story was reported in newspapers nationwide. There are three different versions of the article. Two state that his pipes were made expressly for him and cost $300. The third account seems the most candid and factual, and the details of the incident have some similarity to unhappy events which happened later in Touhey's life.

... [Touhey] played the pipes blithely in Dan Gannon's saloon, 259 South Halsted street, that night [October 5] and wet his whistle at frequent intervals.
He left the saloon shortly after midnight. He had with him the famous Irish bagpipes which made him one of the most demonstrative attractions in Midway-pipes which cost him $200, with freight from Philadelphia added. The next he remembered was awakening in a sleeping room in a furnished room house about 10 o'clock Sunday morning. His pipes were gone; his coat, vest and socks likewise. Touhey had another suit of clothes, so he cared not so much for the missing garments, but he was troubled over the loss of his pipes. He made inquiries. One of the roomers in the house had seen him lying asleep in the alley in the rear of the house about 8 o'clock, with the pipes for a pillow. Some person or persons had brought him up to the room, but nobody about the house could tell who. Since then Touhey has not seen his beloved pipes. He has advertised for them and notified the police of their disappearance.

Mention of Philadelphia suggests that the pipes were made by the Taylor brothers of Philadelphia, the best-regarded pipemakers of that era.

For the remainder of 1894 and in 1895 Touhey toured with Brannigan. He may have performed in the plays "Pride of Mayo" and "True Irish Hearts" but the piper in these plays might have been Pat Touhey; there is no way to tell with certainty.

It is unclear where he was living in 1896. His father died in Brooklyn October 19. Shortly thereafter Touhey moved to Buffalo, New York, and lived there until 1899. His gigs during that time were mostly in Western New York State. As in Milwaukee, Ancient Order of Hibernians events, picnics, dances, church fairs. On St. Patrick's Day 1897 he played in the window of a clothing store, The Big Store, in Buffalo.

Touhey spent some weeks in Montreal, Canada in 1899. Here he wrote a letter to the Cork Pipers' Club in Ireland, received in May, asking for written-out music for the "Fox Chase," a piping showpiece. With some pride, a reporter of Pipers' Club activities wrote, "Needless to say the Fox Chase was sent on, but it is of interest to note that it was sent on a cylinder of the phonograph That gives us a notion of what up-to-date people can be, without forsaking the time-honoured treasures of our race." At a joint meeting of the Gaelic League and the Cork Pipers' Club, January 4, 1900, those assembled listened to "selections on the phonograph, including song by George Shorten and Irish pipe solos by Messrs Tuohy and O'Brien, of Montreal...." L. P. O'Brien of Montreal was a piper and a great supporter of Touhey. This was a very early example of an exchange of recordings for learning or enjoyment.

By writing a letter to the Cork Pipers' Club, Touhey inserted himself into the discussion, a century later, of how the "Fox Chase" came to the United States and came to the attention of Francis O'Neill. Pat Touhey was also involved, and this may have been another example of James being confused with Pat. [For more about this thicket of ambiguity, see my discussion of this in "Fox Chase" and Pat and James Touhey]

By June 1900 Touhey was living in Brooklyn with his mother and eldest sister Frances. They moved to Jersey City, New Jersey by 1904. He lived with his sister until she was married, before 1915, and with his mother until her death in 1917. They lived at various addresses in the Communipaw neighborhood on the south side of town. During these years Touhey played at engagements similar to those he had booked in Milwaukee and Buffalo. Gigs were most frequent in New Jersey, but he played in the New York City area and as far afield as Delaware and Connecticut.

One unusual gig was a Barn Dance in Hoboken, NJ, April 1905, for the benefit of St. Joseph's Church. A dance contest was to be held, at which contestant 'Mrs. Tarrant will shake her feet to the tune of "The Little Stack of Barley," played by an Irish piper, suspended in an old sleigh from the ceiling of the hall. James Touhey will squeeze the pipes and Dan Rooney of County Leitrim, Ireland, will fiddle while he sits in a suspended buckboard wagon. ... From the shafts of the hung up sleigh will be hung a dressed pig, which will be awarded to the lady who is adjudged the best dancer of jigs and reels.'

Another unfortunate event happened June 19, 1905 in Jersey City. At one in the morning a policeman, patrolling his beat, found Touhey lying down on the street, his head in a "sewer basin." He was playing the pipes. Patrolman Martin pulled him out by the legs. Touhey resented the interruption. Martin let him go. "At 3 o'clock Martin again met Toomey further up Grand Street. This time the pipes were gone and Toomey was all but gone. He arrested the piper for safekeeping and later when he went back to post he found the missing pipes in an empty lot." In court Touhey expressed his embarrassment and the Judge discharged him.

In June 1911, on the way home from playing a picnic, Touhey was beaten and robbed by three men. His pipes were taken. A newspaper article, written six weeks later, describes "Jimmie's" fruitless search for the pipes. In it Touhey is characterized as a figure of fun or condescension. The pipes are described as coming 'from Erin's Isle twenty-six years ago. "Jimmie's" father brought them and handed them to his son, who was at the time but twelve years old. Since that time they had never been out of his sight. ... They are of the left-handed type, and no good to anybody else, for "Jimmie" and his cousin "Patsy" Touhey, now in vaudeville, are the only left-handed pipers in this part of the country.'

Whatever the outcome, by October Touhey was back in business, playing pipes at a dance in Plainfield, NJ.

Touhey had become a well-known local character. In 1915 the State of New Jersey held a vote on woman suffrage. The local newspaper Jersey Journal quoted his thoughts on the matter: "Are ye listenin'?" said he. "I'll pipe my lay for the wimmen, God bless them. Why shouldn't I vote to give them the vote, eh? If I'd a dozen votes they would get them all and what's more, I would vote for women Congressmen and women Senators too."

There are few references to Touhey between 1915 and 1921. He moved to North Tarrytown, NY about 1920. North Tarrytown's name was changed to Sleepy Hollow in 1996. It is on the east side of the Hudson River about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City. He got a job during the day as a watchman at the local Chevrolet plant. From an obituary:

In the evenings he played the pipe at nearly every Irish affair where music was needed, including the picnics and dances held during the summer months at St.Teresa's Park by the Catholic Church and at the dancing classes for the children of the church held at the small hall.
His name became a by-word among local Irish music circles. On two occasions before he was injured he broadcast several musical selections from [radio] station WRW.
He was always ready to oblige his many friends, who will sorely miss him and his merry music.

In April 1923 he fell on the street near his apartment and fractured his skull. He died a month later, May 6, 1923, about 53 years old. Three sisters survived him. The funeral was held at the home of his sister Frances Behrends in Jersey City. He is buried at the Holy Name Cemetery and Mausoleum, Jersey City.

Was Touhey a good piper? No recordings survive, as far as is known. The best guess is that he was good at times: his skills may have deteriorated over time and from alcohol abuse. Tom Busby supposedly called him "a cousin of Patsy Touhey's ... a poor piper who capitalised on the family name." Busby (1912-2000) came too late to hear James Touhey. Busby was a student of Michael Carney, who was a good friend of Pat Touhey, and Carney a likely source of this opinion.

Whatever James Touhey's shortcomings, he sustained a living as a piper, continued connections with his family, and enjoyed friendships in the communities where he lived.

Many thanks to John Tuohy and Michael Kelly for their genealogical research.

Selected References

"All Sorts of Music." [international concert] Chicago [IL] Daily Tribune [Aug. 15, 1893 p. 3]?
ProQuest Historical Newspapers

"And He Blowed His Pipes Up and Played." New York Clipper Dec. 17, 1892 p. 668 column 1
New York NY Clipper 1891-1893 - 1092.pdf

"Austin & Stone's." [Patsy Brannigan, "Dancing Blade o' Erin."] Boston [MA] Sunday Post June 2, 1895 p. 11 column 3
Newspaperarchive.com

"Big Store Buys "The Globe." " [plays in store window] Buffalo [NY] Evening News March 17, 1897 p. 4 column 4
Buffalo NY Evening News 1897 - 5111.pdf

Browne, Ronan "The Life and Times of Richard Lewis O'Mealy Piper and Pipe-maker, 1873-1947" Sean Reid Society Journal vol. 3 2009 article 3.02 p. 12 [the claim that James and Pat were cousins; James a "poor piper"]
http://seanreidsociety.org/SRSJ3/3.02/O'Mealy%20Biography.pdf

"Cork Gaelic League" [recordings by Touhey and O'Brien played at meeting] Cork [Ireland] Examiner Jan. 6, 1900
Irishnewsarchive.com
Brought to my attention by Emmett Gill of NPU.

"The Cork Pipers' Club." [Touhey's letter about the "Fox Chase," he is sent a phonograph record] Fainne an Lae vol. 1[?] no. ? Sep. 2, 1899 p. 71 column 1
New York Public Library

"Danced for Prizes" [drawing of Touhey playing Brannigan dancing; petted and squeezed his pipes] Chicago IL Sunday Inter Ocean July 23, 1893 p. 6 column 2
GenealogyBank.com

"Death of 'Dan' McCarthy." [obituary] New York Dramatic Mirror Jan. 21, 1899 p. 17 column 4
New York NY Dramatic Mirror 1898 Nov-Sep 1899 Grayscale - 0452.pdf

"DEATHS IN THE PROFESSION " [Patsy Brannigan obituary] New York Clipper Nov. 7, 1903 p. 884 column 3
New York NY Clipper 1903-1904 - 0806.pdf

Donnelly, Sean "Francis O'Neill & 'The Fox Chase': a tale of two Touheys", Ceol na hÉireann No. 1 1993 p. 58 [the claim that James and Pat were cousins]

"Head in Sewer Basin, Playing the Pipes" Jersey City NJ Evening Journal June 19, 1905 p. 1 column 4
GenealogyBank.com

"In Other Cities. Baltimore." [elevator shaft accident] New York Dramatic Mirror May 3, 1890 p. 10 column 2
New York NY Dramatic Mirror 1888 Dec-Aug 1890 Grayscale - 1056.pdf

"The Irish Villages Two Interesting Shows at the World's Fair." [drawing of Touhey playing Brannigan dancing] Owego NY Tioga County Record July 13, 1893 p. 1 column 7, illus. column 8
Owego NY Tioga County Record 1891-1893 Grayscale - 0563.pdf not working Oct. 2021

"... J.P. Tuohy played on the Irish bag-pipe...." Irish World Saturday March 11, 1893 p. 1
Genealogybank.com

"JAMES T. TOUHEY, Champion Boy Irish Piper...." [advertisement] New York Clipper March 30, 1889 p. 46 column 4
New York NY Clipper 1888-1890 - 0466.pdf

"James T. Touhey Dies in Hospital" [obituary; claim that James and Pat were cousins] Tarrytown [NY] Daily News May 7, 1923 p. 1 column 1
NYS Historic Newspapers
http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn92061886/1923-05-07/ed-1/seq-1/

"James Tuhey and Son Irish pipers...." [advertisement] New York Clipper July 30, 1887 p. 316 column 4
New York NY Clipper 1887-1888 - 0320.pdf

Mansfield, M. F. and B. McM. Romantic Ireland Illustrated by Blanche McManus Mansfield. L. C. Page and Co. Boston, 1904 vol. 2 p. 111
Google books
https://books.google.com/books?id=I50zAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA105&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

Mitchell, Pat and Jackie Small The Piping of Patsy Touhey Dublin, Na Píobairí Uilleann, 1986 pp. 3-4 [only contemporary reference to Pat Touhey at Chicago World's Fair, quoting John Ennis in letter to the Chicago Citizen, Oct. 31, 1893]

"Music of All Nations." [drawing of Touhey playing Brannigan dancing] Chicago [IL] Record Aug. 15, 1893 p. 1 column 5

"Music on the Midway." [the best piper in the village] Topeka [KS] Daily Capital Sep. 12, 1893 p. 1 column 5
Newspapers.com

O'Neill, Francis Irish Minstrels and Musicians Chicago 1913 p. 313 [Pat Touhey at the Chicago World's Fair]

"Patsy Touhey at St. Louis [and Chicago]" [drawing of James identified as Pat, from The Columbian Gallery, 1894] An Píobaire vol. 4 no. 26 July 2004 p. 27
https://pipers.ie/source/media/?galleryId=1013&mediaId=26012

"Personal and Social." [representative gig in Milwaukee WI] Milwaukee [WI] Sentinel July 22, 1894 p. 13 column 5
19th Century US Newspapers

"Piper Touhey is "For the Cause." " [woman suffrage] Jersey City NJ Jersey Journal Oct. 18, 1915 p. 5 column 3
GenealogyBank.com

"Touhey's Misfortune. The Blarney Castle Celebrity Loses His Bagpipes." Algona [IA] Courier Oct. 26 1894, p. 7 column 4
www.newspapers.com

"Very Unique Will Be This Barn Dance" Jersey City NJ Evening Journal April 14, 1905 p. 6 column 7
GenealogyBank.com

"Who Cabbaged Jimmie Touhey's Fine Bagpipes?" [pipes stolen; claim that James and Pat were cousins] Jersey City NJ Jersey Journal July 22, 1911 p. 2 column 3
Genealogybank.com

Nick Whitmer
March 2019 additions Aug. 2020