Jessie Bartlett Davis

Jessie Bartlett Davis (1860 – May 14, 1905) was an American operatic singer and actress from Morris, Illinois, who was billed as "America's Representative Contralto". Opera and acting She was born Jessie Fremont Bartlett, one of ten children of farmer and country schoolmaster Elias Lyman Bartlett (b. 1821) and his wife Rachael Ann (née Conklin) Bartlett (b. 1826). After Jessie and her older sister Arabelle "Belle" (1855–74) had become known locally as singers, they were approached by traveling managers and began touring along the West Coast of the United States. Belle died shortly after a tour was arranged. Another sister, Josephine Bartlett Perry (1859–1910) also performed in theater, in the Chicago Ideal Opera Company. Jessie Bartlett moved to Chicago, where she went on a one-season tour with Caroline Richings. She studied voice in Chicago with Sarah Robinson-Duff, sang in the choir of the Church of the Messiah, and her manager convinced her to join the Chicago Church Choir Company. In 1879, Bartlett made her debut in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera H.M.S. Pinafore, in the role of Buttercup, in a troop managed by Col. Jack H. Haverly. On the road the production was managed by Haverly employee, Will J. Davis, whom Bartlett married in 1880. She spent several years with a number of opera companies before joining the Boston Ideal Opera Company. She performed with this troupe until 1901, serving as its prima donna.