261.
Frances Arnetta GIANNINI
264.
Hugh D. CHISHOLM
173.
John Nathan CHISHOLM
175.
Mary E. Betty "Bet" CHISHOLM
176.
Napoleon (Nip) Bonaparte CHISHOLM
NAPOLEON (Nip) BONAPARTE CHISHOLM - named Nebuchadnezzar or Nebuchadrezar at birth; he went by the nickname "Nip." However he never liked his name birth name, so he changed it to Napoleon Bonaparte.
According to one of the stories of Lloyd Chisholm (Nipe's son) young Nip got in trouble with the teacher for killing a bug, so he was punished and sent to the corner of the room. The bug was bothering him, and he thought he had the right to kill it. The teacher however, thought it was cruel the way he did it. Finally when confronted with a knuckle whacking, he ran out of the school and never came back. Therefore, without the benefit of these well-organized school districts, he hadn't learned to read and write. However, after his marriage to Laura Belle Mullins, she tutored him to help him with his reading.
According to another story of his son Lloyd, Nip worked hard to learn to play the fiddle. While still young, his father frequently warned him not to play open strings. He scolded, "If you don't learn to use your fourth finger instead of the open strings, I will take your fiddle away from you." Eventually he caught him playing open strings one too many times, and made good on his threat. Undaunted, he made his own fiddle out of a cigar box so he could continue to practice. Eventually, when he mastered the use of his fourth finger, his father gave him back his real fiddle.
Greg Burrell adds to this a story he heard from Nip's youngest daughter Louise Yowell. According to her, Nip learned to play the fiddle from his uncle Ben (Giannini -- a younger brother of his mother Catherine). Ben could play the violin classically, and this is the style he taught Nip. Nip was so impressed by his uncle's playing, that when only very young he would pick up two corn cobs and try to play them like a violin. Seeing the boy's enthusiasm, his Uncle Ben got him a 1/4 size violin and began his training when Nip was only a young boy. Nip would go with his uncle and they would perform for many. Eventually, Ben told Nip, "You've beaten me." But humbly Nip would always assure him, "No, I will never be able to play like you."
Nip was often called upon to play his fiddle for local square dances. Everyone was amazed that he was able to call the dances and while playing simultaneously.
According to his son Lloyd, he never learned to read music, although he used vibrato in his music. Once he traveled all the way to Chicago, IL, to enter the "Greatest Fiddler" contest. Despite the needle going off the chart, and being declared the popular winner, he didn't win. The final winner was based not only on skill but also on how many telegrams were sent for that fiddler. Some in the family dispute this contest story.
However, to his granddaughter Charlotte Yowell, he will always be the best violinist she ever heard. When she was a little girl, she remembers him sitting in her family kitchen after everyone had left for work, and entertaining himself playing classical violin by brams, chopin, list, tychicolski.
Nip was a carpenter who worked hard to support his growing family. However, one day when driving a load of freshly cut trees from the field to the market, the wagon wrecked, pinning him between the logs. When he was freed, the damage had been done, and the doctor had to amputate his leg. At first, he cut below the knee, but after infection set in he had to amputate above the knee. He learned to use his wooden leg well, even climbed ladders like the expert carpenter he was.
A man came through Albemarle County putting to note old folk tunes. He included a number of tunes that Nip Chisholm hummed to him. This book was seen in the Library of Congress by my Aunt Louise Yowell, but I don't remember the man's name. My cousin, Donald Lee Wright, who lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a young child, tells me that one day at his grandmother's house (my Aunt Lutie Rhodes), he heard a song played on the radio that the announcer identified as "written by Napoleon Boneparte Chisholm."
He built a lovely brick home for the family, however it eventually burned, and the family had to return to the original log cabin they had lived in before. Cracks between the logs were so big, rather then get up to throw the cat out, he would often throw the cat out through one of these holes between the logs.
Lloyd said that his father, Nip, was the local herbalist and that people came from miles around to receive herbs from him. Need to check this out with other family members.
NOTE: Information provided by recollections of Lloyd Walter Napoleon Chisholm to his daughters Angelle Sylvia Chisholm Steinmetz and Agnita Byrl Chisholm Moore.
MARRIAGE: His marriage to Laura B. (Nell) Mullins on 27 Dec. 1885 is recorded in the Virginia Marriages, 1851-1929 page 37 according to Ancestry.com Database.
DEATH: He died prematurely, still in good health, in an automobile accident. On 6 July 1927 the Daily Progress newspaper of Charlottesville, Virginia, printed the following:
"INJURY FATAL TO RESIDENT OF WOODRIDGE"
N.B. Chisholm Dies at Daughter's Home on Belmont.
Mr. M. B. ("Nip") Chisholm, a well known resident and ante-bellum fiddler of Woodridge, died at 7 o'clock last evening at the home of his daughter, Mrs. L[loyd] H. Rhodes, on Belmont, as a result of injuries received in an automobile accident at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon on the Scottsville Road, about two miles from the city limits.
"It is said that while rounding a curve at a slow rate of speed, the car, containing four occupants, was turned to the side of the road to allow an oncoming machine to pass, but ran up on the bank and tilted over on its side.
"The occupants, Mr. Chisholm, Mr. L.H. Rhodes and a little boy and girl (probably Andrew and Adelaide Rhodes -- son and daughter of Lillian Rhodes), crawled out from under the car apparently unhurt. Mr. Chisholm went directly to the home of his daughter, where he expired five hours later.
"Mr. Chisholm was 72 years of age and is survived by his wife, two sons and five daughters -- L. W. Chisholm of Richmond; L. H. Chisholm, of Woodridge; Mrs. A. W. Rhodes and Mrs. L. H. Rhodes of this city; Mrs. J.W. Yowell, of Greenwood; Mrs. Roy Yowell and Mrs. M.L. Arey, of Richmond.
"He also leaves one brother and two sisters -- Mrs. James Chisholm, of Greenwood; Mrs. Betty Smith and Mrs. Willie Smith, of this city.
"The funeral will be held at the old home place near Buckeyeland at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon and the interment will take place in the family burial ground there."
According to Greg Burrell, the youngest son of Nancy Chisholm Burrell, Aunt Louise Yowell told him that Nip Chisholm learned to play the violin from his Uncle Ben Gianniny (Catherine Gianniny's younger brother). Nip enjoyed hearing his Uncle Ben play so much that he would take two corn cobs and pretend he was playing. Seeing this, Ben bought a 1/4 size violin and gave it to Nip and began to teach him to play. Ben was an excellent violin player, but eventually he could see that Nip had become a more proficient fiddler than he was. However, Nip would always say, "I can never play better than you, Uncle Ben."
When Greg was in seminary, training to become a Minister of Music for the Baptist church, he found a book written by Cecil Sharp, an English musicologist who traveled throughout the Appalachian Mountains recording folk tunes. This was an extension of his studies in England. Checking the book to see if Mr. Sharp had ever made it to Woodridge, he was shocked to see that he did and he mentioned conversations that he had with Louise Yowell. According to Greg, Aunt Louise Yowell told him that Mr. Sharp and his assistant, Mrs Karpelas, would often end their day at their home since they loved Laura Chisholm's cooking.
177.
James H. (Jim) CHISHOLM
Jim Chisholm and Bet Chisholm played a duet for President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt in the White House. John Plwell helped them get this invitation. The family said that Nip was a better fiddle player, however, he had already died.
BIOGRAPHY: 1900 CENSUS: Listed as Jim Chisholm, 35 years old, married 4 years to Emma with daughter Donona age 2, occupation -- day laborer, and living in a rented house.
Obituary: Jim (James) Chisholm, 1940
Source: The Daily Progress, Sept. 8, 1940
Contributor: Diane Lamb
“Uncle Jim Chisholm Dies At University
“Charlottesville, Sept. 8 (AP) – ‘Uncle’ Jim Chisholm, 80, of Greenwood, well known fiddler, who once gave a ‘command’ performance at the White House, died today at the University Hospital of injuries received in a fall Friday.
“The mountaineer fiddler, who had lived at Mirador, home of the Lamghorne family, fell and struck his head on a street pavement while visiting here Friday afternoon.
“’Uncle’ Jim performed several times at the White Top Mountain music festival and once at the National music festival in Washington. He was sought out years ago by John Powell, Virginian pianist and composer, in the latter’s study of folk song. The composer found ‘Uncle’ Jim to be rich source of old ballad tunes. Powell’s composition, ‘Set of Three’ is based on folk songs supplied largely by Jim Chisholm.
“’Uncle’ Jim worked as a young man on a farm near here and was employed in coal mines in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Later he returned to this section, where he spent the remainder of his life.
He is survived by his widow, the former Miss Emma Truslow, of Nelson County, and one daughter, Mrs. Harry Napier, of Greenwood. Funeral services had not been arranged today.
182.
Alese GIANNINY