Francis Grierson

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Francis Grierson
Grierson c. 1890
Grierson c. 1890
BornBenjamin Henry Jesse Francis Shepard
(1848-09-18)September 18, 1848
Birkenhead, England
DiedMay 29, 1927(1927-05-29) (aged 78)
Los Angeles, California, US
OccupationComposer, pianist, writer
RelativesBenjamin Grierson (cousin)

Benjamin Henry Jesse Francis Shepard (September 18, 1848 – May 29, 1927) was a composer, pianist and writer who used the pen name Francis Grierson.

Biography

File:Psychic pianist.jpg
Francis Grierson as "Psychic Pianist" on the cover of The World magazine (1914)

Europe and spiritualism

Tonner

File:Lawrence Waldemar Tonner.jpg
Lawrence Waldemar Tonner

California and the Villa Montezuma

File:Villa Montezuma (San Diego, CA).jpg
Villa Montezuma in 1964

Grierson had traveled through California previously in 1876 performing at several of the old religious missions founded by the Spanish. In the 1880s, He was invited to live in San Diego by a pair of real-estate developers, the High brothers, who enticed him by promising to build a mansion to his specifications. The result was the Villa Montezuma (named after "The Montezuma", a migrant ship that first brought Shepard to America).[1] Grierson held many séances at the home.[2]

Despite his close association with Grierson, Tonner's name does not appear in the official documents by or about Grierson; for example, he is not listed in the San Diego City Directory as living at Villa Montezuma with Grierson.[3] The two shared the home from July 1887 to the third quarter of 1888, before taking a mortgage out on the property to fund an initial trip to Paris for the publishing of Shepard's first book. They returned to San Diego in August 1889, and on finding the city's economic boom had ended, sold the home and its furnishings by mid-December.[4] They had lived in San Diego for only two years.[2]

Writings

Spiritualist works

Grierson wrote on spiritualist topics throughout his life, from the early Modern Mysticism and Other Essays (1899) to his last book, Psycho-Phone Messages (1921).

Historical works

In his fictionalized autobiography The Valley of Shadows (1909), Grierson describes the antebellum world of the American Midwest, and characterizes Abraham Lincoln as a mystic prophesied by the appearance of the Comet Donati in 1858.[5] He would later expand this view in his Abraham Lincoln, the Practical Mystic (1918).

Sociopolitical views

In his works such as The Invincible Alliance (1913), Grierson supported stronger Anglo-American ties, which, after the alliance developed in World War I, caused many authors to retroactively praise his work.[6] To Grierson, this alliance was necessary to protect "Anglo-Saxon civilisation in the West" against "the menace of the yellow races," furthering the racist ideology of Yellow Peril.[7][8] Grierson also held anti-German views and often denigrated German culture and the "Teutonic race" in his works.[9] He presented the "Celtic race" as the foil to the "Teutonic race."[10] In The Illusions and Realities of the War (1918), Grierson describes how only Anglo-American unity could prevent another world war.[11]

Final years and death

Grierson and Tonner returned to Paris in 1889, where they lived until 1896. After Paris, Grierson and Tonner settled in London until 1913, when they decided to return to the United States. In 1920, they settled in Los Angeles, which remained home for the rest of their lives.[12][13] After their years of traveling the world together, Grierson lost his popularity and Tonner, who taught French and worked in a tailoring shop, supported him. Grierson died in Los Angeles on May 29, 1927, immediately after playing the last chord of a piano performance entertaining friends who had invited him to dinner; he was still upright with his hands on the keys and it was Tonner who first noticed that something was wrong.[14] In newspaper announcements at the time of his death, it was noted that the once-successful Grierson had been living in poverty.[15] Grierson's body was cremated.[16][17]

Partial bibliography

File:JesseShepardAd1875.png
1875 advertisement for Jesse Shepard concert in Chicago
  • Essays and Pen-Pictures (Pensées et Essais) (T Symonds (Paris) 1889)
  • Modern Mysticism and Other Essays (London: G. Allen, 1899)
  • The Celtic Temperament (George Allen 1901)
  • The Valley of Shadows (Constable; Houghton Mifflin 1909)
  • The Humour of the Underman (Stephen Swift 1911)
  • Parisian Portraits (Stephen Swift 1911)
  • La Vie et les hommes (Stephen Swift 1911)
  • The Invincible Alliance and Other Essays (1913)
  • Abraham Lincoln, the Practical Mystic (John Lane 1918)
  • Illusions and Realities of the War (John Lane 1918)
  • Psycho-Phone Messages (B. F. Austin 1921)

References

  1. ↑ "A History of pianist, Spiritualist Jesse Shepard". villamontezumamuseum.org. Friends of the Villa Montezuma. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :1
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named JSatVM
  4. ↑ "A History of pianist, Spiritualist Jesse Shepard". Villa Montezuma Museum. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Simpson
  6. ↑ Newton, Joseph Fort (1918). The Sword of the Spirit: Britain and America in the Great War. New York: George H. Doran Company. pp. xiii.
  7. ↑ Grierson, Francis (1913). "The Invincible Alliance". The Invincible Alliance: And Other Essays, Political, Social, and Literary. London: John Lane. p. 17.
  8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :4
  9. ↑ Grierson, Francis (1913). The Invincible Alliance: And Other Essays, Political, Social, and Literary. London: John Lane. pp. 19, 130, 134, 231–2.
  10. ↑ Grierson, Francis (1913). "The Celtic Temperament". The Celtic temperament and other essays (4th ed.). London: London. pp. 25–40. hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t9377971m. ISBN 9780804609227.
  11. ↑ Grierson, Francis (1918). Illusions and realities of the war. New York, London: John Lane Company. hdl:2027/hvd.32044058175688.
  12. ↑ Marble, Matt. "The Illusioned Ear: Disembodied Sound & The Musical Séances Of Francis Grierson". earwaveevent.org. Ear | Wave | Event. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  13. ↑ Gaddis, Vincent H. (1994). "Mystery of the Musical Medium". Borderlands. 50 (3). Borderland Sciences Research Foundation. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0
  15. ↑ "Francis Grierson Dies in Poverty". AP news. June 2, 1927. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  16. ↑ "A History of author 'Francis Grierson'". villamontezumamuseum.org. Villa Montezuma Museum. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  17. ↑ McKinstry, DeeDee. "Jesse Shepard: The Man, the Myth, the Homeowner". sandiegohistory.org. San Diego Historical Society. Archived from the original on December 25, 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2008.

External links

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