Of Irish ancestry, Daniel D. Emmett was born on October 29, 1815, in Mount Vernon, Ohio, then a frontier region, the first of four children of Abraham Emmett and Sarah Zerrick.
His ancestors, Virginia pioneers, had migrated westward beyond the Blue Ridge, and again beyond the Alleghanies, and finally settled in Ohio. His grandfather fought under Morgan at the Cowpens.
Emmett had little schooling and at a very early age went to work in his father’s blacksmith shop, but after learning to read and write he was apprenticed to a printer and his real education began.
At thirteen Emmett worked in the office of the Huron Reflector at Norwalk, Ohio, and later in the office of the Western Aurora at Mount Vernon, remaining until he was seventeen, when he became a fifer in the army.
His first military service was at Newport, Kentucky; later he was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, where in his leisure moments he studied music. He had learned familiar tunes from his mother, who was very musical, and he had composed "Old Dan Tucker" in 1830 or 1831.
Discharged from the army July 8, 1835, "on account of minority, " in that year he traveled with a circus troupe, in the winter of 1842 - 1843 he organized the "Virginia Minstrels, " and designed their ludicrous costumes (white trousers, striped calico shirt, long blue calico swallow-tail coat). His associates in the first troupe were Brower, Whitlock, and Pelham; their instruments were violin, banjo, bones, and tambourine.
They made their first appearance in New York at the Bowery Amphitheatre, February 9, 1843, and between that date and March 1, their last New York appearance for that season, they "firmly fixed themselves as among the inaugurators of a half-century institution". The overwhelming success which their performance attained in New York and other American cities led them to undertake a tour of the British Isles, but they were received with little interest and were obliged to return home. In their absence several other successful companies, notably that organized by E. P. Christy had become popular.
In 1857 Emmett joined the Bryant Minstrels and began to compose negro melodies. One day in 1859 Bryant requested him to write within two days a "walk-around" or "hooray" song of plantation type, with a tune so catchy as to be sung and whistled on the street. Emmett undertook the task, but at first without success. His wife encouraged him, however, and offered to be audience.
He had traveled much in the South and, since the day was dark and chill, as he took up his violin he repeated a popular showman’s phrase, "I wish I was in Dixie-land. " These words suggested the tune that developed into "Dixie, " which at once attained immense popularity.
Two years later, after the outbreak of the Civil War, at a spectacular performance in New Orleans "Dixie" was sung as a closing number and so stirred the blood of the Southern audience that it was adopted as the war-song of the Confederacy. Emmett composed other songs during the Civil War period, including "The Road to Richmond, " "Walk Along, John, " and "Here W’e Are, or Cross Ober Jordan" (1864).
From 1866 to 1878 he traveled with his own company, and until 1888 he made Chicago his home. In that year he returned to a little farm just outside Mount Vernon, where he died on June 28, 1904.
Daniel D. Emmett was married to Catherine Rives. After the death of his first wife on May 3, 1875, Emmett married Mary Louise Bird in 1879.
William M. "Billy" Whitlock was an American blackface performer.
Francis "Frank" Marion Brower was an American blackface performer active in the mid-19th century.
Richard Ward "Dick" Pelham, born Richard Ward Pell, was an American blackface performer.
Lafayette Emmett was an American lawyer and an early leader in Minnesota law.
