Background
Euday Bowman was born and lived in Tarrant County, Texas. His parents divorced when he was young and his mother moved the family to Fort Worth.
Euday Bowman was born and lived in Tarrant County, Texas. His parents divorced when he was young and his mother moved the family to Fort Worth.
He is chiefly remembered as the composer of the successful Twelfth Street Rag, a rag from 1914 out of a series of ragtimes that Bowman wrote during or after a period in which he worked as a pianist in some of the better bordellos of Kansas City. These tunes -- "Sixth Street Rag", "Tenth Street Rag", "Eleventh Street Rag" and "Twelfth Street Rag"—were named after streets of "Boss" Tom Pendergast"s redlight district. Much of what is thought to be known about Euday is based writings of Brun Campbell and there are significant errors.
He is the source of the only known photo of Euday.
lieutenant appears to be a mugshot and is of questionable authenticity. He did not lose a leg and he did not die without heirs.
In fact, when Brun wrote that, 24 claimants were involved in a lawsuit establishing the legitimate heirs. In his teens and early twenties, Bowman traveled around as pianist.
Bowman was also an arranger for popular orchestras.
Bowman sold the copyright to the song for just $100. Many years later he regained the copyright, having lost out on the royalties earned by the publisher through the many successful interpretations of that rag by artists like Louis Armstrong (1927), Bennie Moten (1927), Duke Ellington (1931), and Pee Wee Hunt (1948). Other works of his include Petticoat Lane Rag,Colorado Blues, Kansas City Blues, Fort Worth Blues, Tipperary Blues, Shamrock Rag, White Lily Dreams, and Old Glory On Its Way.
Euday is an ancient, British name.
In history, Euday was the father of Helena, mother of Constantine, the only British born Emperor of Rome. Upon her death one year later, Editor G. Max was appointed temporary administrator for her estate.
The cousins ultimately prevailed. Euday Bowman"s work is not public domain.
Royalties remained distributed among hundreds of descendants of the cousins until 2013, when two descendants bought out the others via private auction.