Emma Thursby

• February 21, 1845: Birth of Emma Cecilia Thursby, the second of five children (Alice, John, Louis and Ina were her siblings) born to Jane Bennett Thursby and John Barnes Thursby.
• 1850: Emma Thursby's first concert appearance at the Old Bushwick Reformed Winter Church, to which her family belonged.
• 1857 - 1859 : Emma and her older sister Alice (also called Allie) study music at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
• November 17, 1859: The death of John Barnes Thursby is a financial blow to the Thursby family, and Emma's musical training is put on hold. Emma practices her singing at home with her sisters.
• 1868 - 1871 : Along with other appearances, Emma is engaged as the soloist at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, where Henry Ward Beecher is the pastor. Emma Thursby's income is the financial mainstay for the Thursby family from this time onward.
• 1872 - 1873 : Emma Thursby travels to Italy to train with Francesco Lamperti and Antonio Sangiovanni.
• 1875: In 1875 Emma Thursby begins studying with Erminia Rudersdorff, her most influential teacher and advisor.
• 1876: As her national fame grows, Emma Thursby shares a bill at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with Mark Twain, who read from his writings. She also sings at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
• 1877: Emma Thursby signs a contract with Maurice Strakosch to be her voice teacher and manager.
• 1878 - 1879 : Emma Thursby's travels to Europe for her first European concert tour. While in Europe Emma meets Ole Bull, a famous Norwegian violinist, with whom she had forms a close friendship. After Ole Bull's death, Emma remains friends with Sara Bull, Ole's wife, and Olea Bull, his daughter.
• 1883: Emma purchases an apartment at 34 Gramercy Park and the entire Thursby family moves in.
• 1884: Death of Jane Ann Bennet Thursby while Emma is on tour in Europe.
• 1885: Emma Thursby returns to New York shortly before death of her sister Alice.
• 1893: Emma is invited to be a member of the 'Advisory Council on a World's Congress of Representative Women' at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She performs at the Exposition, and meets Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu monk whose teachings she begins to follow.
• 1889: Emma Thursby first visits Green Acre, an artist community in Maine formed by Sarah Farmer. She also begins holding salons each Friday that function as both social and musical occasions for the musical literati and visiting friends.
• January 1899: Death of Emma's pet and traveling companion, Mynah bird.
• 1895 - 1924 : Emma Thursby once again takes voice pupils.
• 1903 - 1904 : Emma and Ina Thursby travel to Japan and China.
• September, 1918: Death of John J. Thursby.
• 1924: Emma Thursby suffers a paralytic attack which leaves her left side paralyzed.
• July 4, 1931: Death of Emma Cecilia Thursby.

From the guide to the Emma Thursby Papers, 1706-1940 (Bulk 1860-1940), (@ 2011 New-York Historical Society)