Catharine Smiley Cheatham (1864 – January 5, 1946) was an American singer, monologist, and actress.

Early life

Cheatham was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

in 1864. Her father,

Richard Boone Cheatham Richard Boone Cheatham (December 8, 1824 – May 7, 1877) was an American politician based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was serving as the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee during the opening years of the Civil War. After the war he served as alderman ...

, was a Tennessee politician who was the

mayor of Nashville The Mayor of Nashville is the chief executive of Nashville Tennessee's government. The current mayor is John Cooper, a member of the Democratic party. Each mayor serves a term of four years, with a limit of two terms, unless this is interrupt ...

from 1860 to 1862, and her mother was Frances Ann Bugg. Cheatham began her career in music at age 14 by performing at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. She later went on to study in New York City, Paris, and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Career

As a vocalist, she gave her debut international performance in London, England in 1904 where she performed renditions of African-American folk songs. She is credited with having helped preserve these traditional songs and bring them to European audiences. While in London, she was introduced to and befriended members of the British Royal Family, for whom she would go on to perform many times. However, it is her contributions to children's music for which Cheatham is best known as a musician, as she became popular throughout the world by performing

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

s and stories. During her career, she performed for thousands in England, France, Germany, and the United States, and organized children's concerts for the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She published two collections of her songs, ''Kitty Cheatham: Her Book'' in 1915, and ''A Nursery Garland'' in 1917. Her repertoire included over 1,000 songs in nine languages. Many of the songs she sang expressed themes of Christianity and

American patriotism Americanism, also referred to as American patriotism, is a set of nationalist values which aim to create a collective ''American identity'' for the United States that can be defined as "an articulation of the nation's rightful place in the world, ...

. A member of the

Christian Science church The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word a ...

(and a friend of its founder,

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author who founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, in New England in 1879. She also founded ''The Christian Science Monitor'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning se ...

), Cheatham was highly religious, and she wrote a number of religiously and patriotically-oriented publications. Cheatham was also a speaker who created a series of "illustrated lectures" which focused on her travels throughout Europe. On June 28, 1930, she was invited by

Alþing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...

, the parliament of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, to give a speech at their country's Millennial Celebrations. She also spoke before the delegates of the International Women's Congress, of which she was the honorary vice-president, in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

in 1937.

Personal life and death

Cheatham married William Henry Thomson on June 9, 1894. Cheatham died on January 5, 1946, in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

. She was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in

References

External links

Photos of Kitty Cheatham
from the NYPL Digital Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatham, Kitty American pacifists American women singers American religious writers Women religious writers American children's musicians American Christian Scientists Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee 1864 births 1946 deaths Monologists Converts to Christian Science from Presbyterianism Cheatham family