Effie Crockett (4 March 1856 – January 7, 1940), also known as Effie I. Canning, also known as Effie C. Carlton, was an American actress. She is credited with having written and composed the lullaby "

Rock-a-bye Baby "Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top" (sometimes "Hush-a-bye baby in the tree top") is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768. Words First publication The rhyme is believed to have first appeared in print in ...

";Article PDF
/ref> despite the words being in print in 1765.

Life

Effie I. Crockett, daughter of Edward and Jennie Crockett, was born 4 March 1856 in Rockland,

Knox, Maine Knox is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The town was named for General Henry Knox, the first United States Secretary of War. The population was 811 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the t ...

, and died 7 January 1940 in Waltham,

Middlesex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County is located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,632,002, making it the most populous county in both Massachusetts and New England and ...

. She was married firstly on 30 July 1881 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts to John F. Canning, a physician, son of John and Mary Canning, born c.1843 in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and died 22 June 1888 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. She married secondly in c.1894 to Harry J. Carlton born c.July 1859 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, and died 21 January 1922 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Rock a Bye Baby by Effie Channing or Crockett

Rock a Bye Baby by Effie Channing or Crockett

The words of "

" first appeared in print in ''Mother Goose's Melody'' (London, c. 1765), possibly published by

John Newbery John Newbery (9 July 1713 – 22 December 1767), considered "The Father of Children's Literature", was an English publisher of books who first made children's literature a sustainable and profitable part of the literary market. He also supported ...

(1713–1767), and which was reprinted in Boston in 1785.

Humphrey Carpenter Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (29 April 1946 – 4 January 2005) was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inkli ...

and Mari Prichard, ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'' (Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 326. ''Rock-a-bye'' as a phrase was first recorded in 1805 in

Benjamin Tabart Benjamin Tabart (1767–1833) was an English publisher and bookseller of the Juvenile Library in New Bond Street, London. Many of the books in his list were written by himself. In an age of strictly moralizing children's literature, he broke groun ...

's ''Songs for the Nursery'', (London, 1805). By one account she created the song in 1872 while minding someone else's baby. Her tune was spotted by her banjo teacher and he sent her to have it published in Boston. Because of "Rock-a-bye Baby", she is credited in over 100 films, many made decades after her death. "Rock-a-Bye, Baby" is said to have been composed by Effie Crockett Canning in 1886. Her waltz-lullaby has been sung by millions of parents. She says that she used her grandmother's surname of Canning when publishing the work as she was unsure of her father's reaction to her work. On stage, Canning appeared opposite

William Gillette William Hooker Gillette (July 24, 1853 – April 29, 1937) was an American actor-manager, playwright, and stage-manager in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 ...

in his adaption of ''

The Private Secretary ''The Private Secretary'' is an 1883 farce in three acts, by Charles Hawtrey (actor born 1858), Charles Hawtrey. The play, adapted from a German original, depicts the vicissitudes of a mild young clergyman, innocently caught up in the machinatio ...

''. She toured in

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

's production of ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

'', played with

Mrs. Leslie Carter Caroline Louise Dudley (June 10, 1857 – November 13, 1937) was an American silent film and stage actress who found fame on Broadway through collaborations with impresario David Belasco. She was a strikingly beautiful and vivacious performer ...

's company, and later had her own

repertory company A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...

. Effie I. (Crockett) Canning Carlton and her second husband Harry J. Carlton are buried at Mt. Feake Cemetery,

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crockett, Effie 1856 births 1940 deaths American women songwriters Songwriters from Maine American stage actresses