Alonzo ("Zo") Elliott was born in 1891 in Manchester, New Hampshire. He was educated at St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts), Yale University, Cambridge University, and Columbia Law School. Elliott also studied voice with De Sadler of New York and Berlin, and piano with Harry Whittemore of Manchester, New Hampshire. His best known composition is "There's a Long, Long Trail," one of the most popular songs from the era of World War I. (Elliott wrote the music; the words are by Stoddard King.) That song was not the only example of Elliott's interest in military music; he composed an opera, Top Sergeant, and he wrote an article about the background of the Civil War song "John Brown" which showed that the John Brown of the song was a soldier in Boston, not the famous abolitionist of the same name. Zo Elliott died in Wallingford, Connecticut in June, 1964.
From the guide to the The Zo Elliott Papers, 1861-1977 (inclusive), (Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University)
