Mecusker, Inez Lord, 1855-1941

Inez Lord Mecusker (1855-1941)r became one of the foremost singers and entertainers of her time, was known as the “American Cantatrice.” She was featured in roles in opera and musical theater, appeared in vaudeville and on Broadway, and was a soloist for the John Philip Sousa Band. She performed for more than 25 years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was acclaimed nationally.

Mecusker was born July 4, 1855 on a farm in East Branch Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania to lumberman, Uriah Lord, and post-mistress, Clementine Thompson. She attended country schools. Clementine taught her daughter to play the melodeon, a little piano, at an early age. After learning the notes for the right hand, Mecusker refused to learn the notes for the left. Clementine then played the music and she copied it, essentially learning to play by ear. In later years, Mecusker played the violin and taught her dog to sing. At some point in the 1860s, Clementine took her daughter to New York City to study voice under Madam Pappenhein, a well-known teacher and former pupil of Mr. Markazy, a renowned singer, teacher, and critic.

After her parents divorced, Mecusker moved to live with her grandmother Electa Eldred Thompson, along with her mother Clementine, on a farm in Wayne Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Electa was the widow of Samuel Thompson. Clementine devoted much of her time and energy furthering Inez’s career, sewing all of her costumes and gowns, accompanying her on the road, seemingly forsaking her own husbands. She married Albert E. Remley before 1880, but it appears they separated before 1900. From then, until her death in 1917, Clementine lived with Inez.

Inez Lord Mecusker's first husband was Jerome Mecusker. The couple had no children and had separated by the mid-1880s. She married her second husband, Thomas D. Van Osten, in 1892; he was also her manager. Mecusker later married actor Charles Booth.