Gathering Leaves

In the two years since Gathering Leaves was first published I have collected enough corrections, clarifications, and additional material to justify producing a second edition. Rather than re-publish a paperback edition, I have published a Kindle edition that can be obtained from Amazon.

Gathering Leaves [Kindle Edition]

To my sis Amy – We have an affinity with OZ (it’s that Ray Bolger connection) and it is not hard to reason why, nor some times easy to  explain…. My paternal grandfather was raised in Kansas. My maternal grandmother, born the year the first book was published, was named Dorothy – after the heroine of the first OZ book. Ray Bolger played the scarecrow in the 1939 movie. Ray Bolger was in the 1952 movie "Where’s Charley?" and sang "Amy". My father fell in love with this song and named his one and only daughter Amy. Oh, well… the connection seems a little weak and I could go on about my little dog Toto and my laptop named Tik-Tok, but I won’t. What I know is my grandmother and my sister were named after literary characters..

My gg-grandfather, Constantine Kollros (1838 – 1916), was a band leader in Louisville, KY around the turn of 20th century and as I learned last night, he was also a composer. In a search of Google Books, I found “Gambrinus March – copyright by C Kollros Louisville Ky July 7, 1898” listed in a publication of the Library of Congress Copyright Office in that year. Wikipedia defines Gambrinus as “an unofficial patron saint of beer or beer brewing.” The origin of the character is most widely believed to be John the Fearless (1371–1419), who some also believe to be the inventor of hopped malt beer.

According to an article that appeared on the front page of the Kentucky Irish American newspaper dated 24 Oct 1903:

The Mozart Symphony Orchestra directed by Prof Constantine Kollros will give its first grand concert at Phoenix Hill on Monday night… the programme will include Gambrinus March dedicated to the Gambrinus Society words by Frank A Lenz music by Prof C Kollros.

Note the title of Professor and it brings to mind Professor Henry Hill (aka The Music Man).

A further search of “Gambrinus March” turns up a different (?) composition by the same name. It lists lyrics by a H. Sallman, is dedicated to the Sieben’s Brewery Co. and copyrighted 1915 by Sieben’s Brewery Co., Chicago, Illinois, but it does not say who was the composer.

A trip to the Library of Congress may be in order, because according to the catalog there is one copy in the library. The LC on-line catalog mislabels the title as Cambrinus march (Published/Created: Louisville, Ky. C. Kollros, 1898. CALL NUMBER: M1540.K81 G3).

Constantine Kollros was born on February 17, 1838 in Sasbach am Rhein, Grand Duchy of Baden. He was the son of Joseph Kollros and Magdalena Ringwald. He married Maria Eichhorn, daughter of Georg Eichhorn and Catherine, after 1863 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. He died on November 28, 1916 in Louisville at age 78. He composed at least two other musical pieces that I have found listed: Cleanse thou my soul; Asperges me (1883) and Cecilian Waltz (1907)

In a previous post, I mention the discovery that my 4th great grandfather, Andreas De Backer, and his first wife, Maria Catharina Josepha Mollaert, were 2nd cousins. To this I commented that I didn’t think that this degree of consanguinity was legal in 18th century Austrian Netherlands. As it turns out this union was legal, provided the couple had received a dispensation from the Church to marry. My contact in Belgium provided an example such a dispensation that he found in the church registry of the marriage in 1706 of Judoca De Backer, daughter of Gerardus De Backer, to Adrianus De Bruycker: cum dispensatione pontifica super 3° gradus (a dispension to allow cousins in the 3rd degree (2nd cousins) to marry). He also sent to me an image of a document dated 1794 and this is the marriage contract between Andreas De Backer and his 2nd wife, Anna Marie Van den Daele (a 4th great-grandmother). Click images below to view the documents in full.