My father and Lyman Beecher
and the members of the Longworth family, who lived opposite the
seminary and were members of the same church and congregation, were
old friends. When father started for California we were obliged to
leave school, consequently my education was not completed.
During my vacation in the year 1854, October 5th, sister Sarah became
the wife of James Harrold, one of the firm of Harrold, Randall & Co.,
of Stockton, and moved to San Francisco. The first class at Benicia,
of which I was a member, graduated. Near the close of the term,
November 7, 1855, my sister Mary married David W. Trembly in San
Francisco. They had been married but a few months when sister became
afflicted with bronchitis, the climate being too severe in San
Francisco for her. They came home, and on November 8th she passed
away. I was sent for, but was too late to see her in life. She died
while I was on the steamer, American Eagle, hastening to her. This was
my first great sorrow. I loved her to adoration and I could not
realize she had passed out of life. To her I owe my proper placement
of voice and art in singing. She was ever watchful of my progress from
the earliest years of my life until the end came. While I have had
several other teachers in voice, no one ever changed my method of
placement.
My first Italian teacher was Prof. Paul Pioda at Benicia Seminary. He
always predicted my success as a singer and told Mrs.
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