Carrie Jacobs Bond Janesville's Famous Composer

Carrie Jacobs Bond was born in Janesville on August 11, 1862, in a brick house that was located on the present corner of West Court Street and North Oakhill Avenue. A marker telling of her birth has been placed in Bond Park behind Sunnyside Shopping Center. At the time Carrie was born, the house belonging to her grandfather was in the country on a fifteen-acre farm. When the house was torn down in 1944, many people in Janesville asked for one of the bricks for a souvenir. Some school children helped to scratch the name "Bond" on the bricks. Some of these bricks were kept in third grade classrooms in Janesville.

Carrie loved music and learned to play the piano. Both of her parents were musicians. By the time she was six years old, Carrie could play by ear anything that she had heard only one time. She was invited to play the piano at the Myers' Theatre when she was only eight years old. When she was ten, Carrie began taking piano lessons from local music teachers. She became an accomplished musician.

During Carrie's first marriage she began writing songs. Her first marriage was unhappy and ended in divorce. She later married Dr. Frank Bond and they moved to Iron River, Michigan. He died seven years later. Carrie and her son returned to Janesville. Upon her return she wrote the song "I Love You Truly," which became a favorite wedding song. Click on this link to hear Jim Cullum Jazz Band playing. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6776881513701707347

Since she and her son were so poor, Carrie decided to move to Chicago in order to make money. She continued to write, and finally a professional singer became interested in her songs. In a short time these songs had sold a million copies each, and famous people began singing these compositions.

For more information about Carrie, click on this link. http://parlorsongs.com/bios/cjbond/cjbond.php

There is a marker on the northeast corner of Milwaukee and Wisconsin Streets identifying the location where her house once stood.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112348069

A Robin and the Giant Notables feature of Carrie Jacobs Bond:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CM8yKoiG7c

A song that we can sing with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4H7tSIn8mk