Ongoing research into the history of the African-American Shipman family of Tazewell County has uncovered the remarkable life story of Walter Hilliard (1880-1949), a singer and entertainer who toured nationally and internationally, and was active in the African-American stage, even singing in Broadway musicals in New York.
Two weeks ago, we traced the Shipman family’s story down to Nancy Ellen “Nannie” Shipman, daughter of Pvt. Thomas Shipman (1838-1865) of Pekin who gave his life for his country in the final weeks of the Civil War. As we noted before, Nancy married in 1880 in Peoria to Richard C. Hilliard (c.1852-c.1908), who is known from census records and Peoria city directories to have worked as a waiter in Peoria hotels and even had a stint as a Peoria police office around the turn of the 20th century.
Tazewell County marriage records show that Richard Hilliard remarried in Pekin on 6 May 1895 to a woman named Dora Jackson of Davenport, Iowa. That indicates that Richard’s first wife Nancy had almost certainly passed away by then.
Richard and his second wife Dora appear in the 1900 U.S. Census as Peoria residents. Living with them were Richard’s children Walter, 20, a hotel waiter, and Ella, 18, a servant, along with a boarder named Clarence Bush, 17, who worked as a boot black (Clarence was evidently related to Dora, whose step-father was named Moses Bush), and a lodger named Louisa Norman, 55, a hotel cook.
Based on the ages of Walter and Ella, it is evident that they were born of Richard C. Hilliard’s first marriage, and thus were grandchildren of Pvt. Thomas Shipman of Pekin. Not very much is known of Richard’s daughter Ella, but she is known to have married on 25 April 1904 a clerk from Bloomington, Illinois, named Ralph James Kelly, son of Warren and Kittie Kelly. Ella and Ralph moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where we find them living in September of 1918, and where Ralph worked as a sailor and held other jobs. We have not yet found whether or not Ella ever had any children.
We have been able to discover far more about Ella’s older brother Walter Hilliard. Walter’s birth record in Peoria County shows that he was born on 16 Oct. 1880. The record does not provide a Christian name – apparently Nancy and Richard had not yet chosen a name for him when his birth was registered with the county. There is no doubt, however, that this birth record belongs to Walter – not only does Walter’s age in the 1900 census match this birth record, but on both his World War I and World War II draft registration cards, not to mention a 1913 ship passenger list, Walter gives his date of birth as 16 Oct. 1880.
The 1900 Peoria City Directory says Walter was then working as a waiter at the Hotel Fey, which agrees with what the census record says of him. That’s the same line of work as his father – but Walter had and talents and ambitions that led him far from home and far from his father’s line of work.
Walter’s 1918 World War I draft card says he was a vaudeville entertainer employed by A. Bush of New York City. We don’t know how Walter got into vaudeville, but we can be pretty sure of when. Walter had left home – presumably to pursue his dreams in entertainment – by 26 Sept. 1903, when we find a short personal advertisement in The Freeman of Indianapolis, Indiana, which says, “Any person knowing the whereabouts of Walter Hilliard will please communicate with Mrs. Dora Hilliard, 224 Eaton street, Peoria, Ill.”
Walter presumably was touring in vaudeville at this time. Did he leave home without telling his father and step-mother? Did he fail to leave a forwarding address? Was there a family emergency that led his step-mother to place this ad? Unfortunately, we can only speculate about those things. But one thing is certain: Walter was committed to following his entertainment dreams, which took him across the country and even to Europe.
We next find Walter singing as one of the eight members of “The World’s Famous Double Quartette,” which is mentioned in an advertisement in the 23 Dec. 1905 edition of The Freeman of Indianapolis. The double quartet performed in a musical called “The Smart Set,” which the ad said was “A Musical Entertainment by Colored Folks” playing its fourth season in Indiana.
Five years later, we find Walter living in Brooklyn, New York, and touring internationally as a member of “The Royal Poinciana Quintette,” which The Freeman of Indianapolis (19 April 1913) says opened at The Palace Theatre in London, England, in February of 1913. The same notice in The Freeman says their tour “is scoring a big success.” A book entitled, “The Black Edwardians” mentions this 1913 tour and calls them a “stylish group that had entertained America’s ex-president Taft.” Ship passenger lists show that the quintet landed at Liverpool on 17 Feb. 1913 and embarked at the end of their tour from Cherbourg, France, on 23 April 1913, landing at New York on 30 April.
An article in 13 March 1915 edition of The Freeman says The Royal Poinciana Quintette “created a sensation abroad and was booked up until 1917,” but the outbreak of World War I “upset the boys’ plans, as it is deranging everything else with which it comes into contact.” The article says the quintet was then playing to large crowds at the Fleischmann in Buffalo, New York, and comments that “Walter Hilliard, for many years a favorite with the Smart Set Company, is singing with his old-time sweetness of tone and force of expression.”
On 12 Sept. 1913, Walter registered for the World War I draft. On his draft registration card, he gave his permanent home address as 2263 Seventh Ave., 2nd floor, care of A. Bush, New York City. His occupation was “Vaudeville Performer,” and A. Bush was his employer. His nearest relative was his sister Mrs. Ella Kelly, 516 Chestnut St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
After the war, it seems that Walter lived and worked for a while in Woodbury, New Jersey. The 29 Jan. 1920 U.S. Census returns show Walter Hilliard, 39, working as a waiter at the Evergreen Hall hotel. Before long, Walter had joined another singing group called “The Pan-American Quartette.” The quartet had been in existence with various members since the early 20th century. Walter and his fellow quartet members are mentioned in an announcement in the 23 April 1921 edition of The Chicago Whip, which says the quartet was “featured with ‘Way Down East’ at the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago.”
Two years later, the 17 May 1923 issue of Variety published a notice that the Pan-American Four (including Walter Hilliard) was playing at the LeClaire in Moline, Illinois. “The quartet has been playing picture houses all season with the exception of a single week, which was filled in at the Majestic in Chicago.” This article describes the group as “one of the best of the colored quartets.”
The 1 March 1924 issue of Billboard includes an announcement of an Off-Broadway tour production of Nan Bagby Stephen’s Southern drama “Roseanne,” featuring an all-African-American cast that included Walter Hilliard. The dateline of the announcement is 24 Feb. 1924 in New York City.
Later that same year, the Albany, N.Y., Times-Union Extra, dated 2 Sept. 1924, ran a theater column under the byline of Marie Avery Myers, on the musical “Shuffle Along,” which had just opened the night before at the Capitol theatre. Myers observed that it was “the only play on the American stage, written, directed, and produced by colored people.” She also noted, “Willard Hillard (sic) with his ‘Honeysuckle Time’ was a welcome addition to the song program.” The “Encyclopedia of Black Radio in the United States, 1921-1955,” pages 136-137, says “Shuffle Along . . . is considered the first successful African American stage musical. Numbers from the show were aired regularly through the 1920s by various black performers.” This volume goes on to say that “a stage production of the musical was aired [on radio] simultaneous with its live presentation in Worcester, MA, over WDBH. This October 1924, event featured Charles Downz, Joseph Loomis, Walter Hilliard, and George Glasco among its cast members.”
On 26 July 1926, The Pan-American Quartette performed in the role of four barbers in J. P. McEvoy’s stage musical revue “Americana” at the Belmont Theatre, as announced in the Dec. 1926 issue of Theatre Magazine, page 66. The University of California-Santa Barbara’s online “Discography of American Historical Recordings” database shows that The Pan-American Quartette, with Walter Hilliard singing tenor, made a studio recording for Victor of “Swanee River” on 8 Feb. 1927, from the “Americana” revue. However, their recording was never released and all three takes were destroyed.
Later that year, Walter Hilliard performed on-stage in the musical “Merry-Go-Round” from 31 May to 24 Sept. 1927, also performing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that year. The following year, the 3 Aug. 1928 edition of the Detroit Times Extra ran a large advertisement for “The Sizzling Revue from Rang-Tang” that was presented at Oriole Garden, “Detroit’s Only Outdoor Cabaret.” Among those performing in the revue were The Pan-American Four including Walter Hilliard.
During the 1930s, Walter seems to have toured nationally and internationally with The Pan-American Four. The 1940 U.S. Census record for Walter Hilliard shows that on 1 April 1935 Walter was living in Scotland, evidently while on another overseas tour.
IBDB, the Internet Broadway Database, shows that Walter performed in three Broadway musicals during his entertainment career. Besides “Merry-Go-Round” in 1927, Walter also sang tenor in the choir during the Broadway run of “The Green Pastures” from 26 Feb. 1930 to 29 Aug. 1931.
But perhaps the most notable moment of Walter’s career was his involvement in “Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939,” which had a weeklong run on Broadway, from 11 to 18 Feb. 1939. Walter again sang tenor in that musical, which had a cast that included a 21-year-old Lena Horne.
The 4 April 1940 U.S. Census returns show Walter Hilliard, 49, black, married, a lodger in the household of Leon and Lottie Diggs on W. 110th St. in Harlem, New York City. He was not then active in entertainment, for his occupation at the time was as a handyman in an office building. Although this census record says Walter was then married, he was not living with his wife.
Two years later, on 2 April 1942, Walter registered for the World War II “Old Man’s Draft.” His draft card shows him living with his wife, Georgia Hilliard, at 418 W. 130th St., New York City, but says he was then unemployed. It appears that his career in singing and entertainment had taken a turn for the worse, or had ended.
Walter died on 4 July 1949 in Queens, New York, and was buried two days later in Rosedale and Rosehill Cemetery, Linden, New Jersey (in the metro New York area). His widow Georgia continued to live at their address at 418 W. 130th St. at least until the late 1950s. No record has been found of any children of Walter Hilliard. It is possible he never had children, but he did leave behind him these historical records of his long career in entertainment that took him across the country and over the sea.
If anyone knows of photographs or extant musical recordings of Walter Hilliard or of the singing groups of which he was a member, please contact me at the Pekin Public Library.
The newspaper articles and advertisements shown above are the fruit of the research of Susan Rynerson of the Tazewell County Genealogical and Historical Society.
