Two
pieces of sheet music by George E. Place, published in Gossville,
NH, and a third published in Gilmanton, are part of the holdings
donated to the Epsom Historical Association by Bruce Coutu. The
only George E. Place with connections to Epsom and Gilmanton (where
he is buried), was born August 8, 1837 in Gilmanton, son of Smith
C. and Nancy J. (Dicey) Place. He married Elsie M. Kendall, and
a son, Edwin J. Place was born to them in GIlmanton, March 31,
1862. Edwin married Alice Rouella Smith of Alton in Laconia in
1886. They bought a home in Epsom on New Orchard Road in 1907.
Alice died in 1923 and Edwin sold the homestead in 1925 and moved
to Stratham. He married in Exeter in 1925, Bertha L. Burnham of
Epsom, daughter of George H. and Flora E. (Marden) Burnham. She
died in Stratham in 1928 and his buried at the Short Falls Cemetery
in her parents plot. Edwin was still living in 1940 and his buried
with his first wife and parents in the Pine Grove Cemetery in
Gilmanton Iron Works.
Nothing
is known of George E. Place, other than he was a Civil War Veteran.
The sheet music has publishing dates of 1904 for "Called
Back to the Old Home" in Gilmanton, and 1907 for "Good
Night Little One" published in Gossville, the same year his
son moved to Epsom. Perhaps he lived with his son for a short
time, as he did not own nor was taxed in Epsom. There is no mention
of George E. Place as a composer, and if the pieces were composed
about the time they were published, he would have been some 70
years old.
Though
two of the pieces are attributed to Gossville, they most likely
were printed elsewhere, as it is unlikely that there were any
printing services that were able to print music and colored covers
in either Epsom or Gilmanton. Not all the songs are complete,
some are missing pages.
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