Sam Anger was “the best durn fiddle player in seventeen counties.” That’s what an ad for Winger’s Crescent Park Entertainers called him. He worked as a blacksmith in Ridgeway, just outside Fort Erie in Ontario. He also was my 3rd cousin, thrice removed.
Samuel Anger was born 10 December 1862 in Brantford Ontario. He moved to Welland where he ran the Arlington Hotel, later Hotel Reeta. Then he moved to Ridgeway, his father’s hometown, and worked as a blacksmith. He died in Ridgeway on 18 January 1933.
His parents were Lorenzo Anger and Catherine Buck (or Johnston). Loren was the great-grandson of Georg Frederick Anger who had come from Pennsylvania to Bertie Township as a United Empire Loyalist after the American Revolution.
Sam Anger married his second cousin Jeanette Mathews. Her parents were Charles Mathews and Louisa Anger. Louisa’s parents were William Anger and Margaret Ellsworth. Sam’s father Loren was the son of Henry Frederick Anger and Sarah Ellsworth. Sarah and Margaret were sisters and Frederick and William were brothers. Louisa and Loren, therefore, were double first cousins.
Sam Anger family chart
Jennie and Sam Anger had two sons, Charles Sherman and Gordon. Gordon Anger was born and died in the Niagara region. Sherman was born in Buffalo, New York and died in Pennsylvania, thereby completing the circle started by his UEL 3x great grandfather a century and a half earlier.
Appalachia
Sam Anger also closed that circle, not geographically but musically. The Winger’s Crescent Park Entertainers played “hillbilly music,” which originated in the Appalachian Mountains. Georg Frederick Anger, after his arrival from Germany, settled in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley in the Appalachians. It is coal-mining country, the same area and industry that produced hillbilly music. It, in turn, produced country music.
Winger’s Crescent Park Entertainers were Red Tubbs, Howard Brandel, Ernie Clare (or Clue), George Marshall, Millie Downs and Garnet Jansen in addition to Sam Anger and, to some extent, his wife Jennie. Their name came from Ward A. Winger, a local real estate developer, and a housing subdivision he built in the 1920s. Crescent Park extends from Highway 3 to Lake Erie east of Ridgeway. It had been the farm of George Krafft, father of Kraft Foods founder J. L. Kraft.
Winger’s Crescent Park Entertainers crossed the bridge to Buffalo, New York, every Friday to play on the radio station WGR. Their show was called The Village Blacksmith Shop. It always opened with the ringing of Sam Anger’s anvil.
They played fiddle, guitar, dulcimer and piano. In addition to the music, their shows included square dance calling and comedy skits. This was the stuff of radio broadcasts across the United States in the first half of the 1900s.
The most famous of these shows is the Grand Ole Opry, which started on WSM in Nashville. It is both a business empire and musical dynasty. “Hillbilly music” as played by Sam Anger’s “orchestry” and so many others, may not exist today but it is the foundation stone of country music.
Country Music by Ken Burns
The Rub, first episode of Country Music by filmmaker Ken Burns, is about the popularization of “hillbilly music” through bands playing live on radio stations. The series is airing again on PBS and also streaming (or DVD here). It’s worth watching, and recording. There’s a lot of information in there and you’ll want to keep up. Subsequent episodes show the musical building on that foundation and how the circle remained unbroken.
Thanks to Ridgeway, Ontario, History on Facebook for the photos and for introducing me to my cousin Sam.
John Anger
15 Jan 2024i don”t think Samuel Angers parents are Lorenzo Anger and Catharine Buck. I thought his parents were Loren Anger and Catharine Johnston, my great grandparents.
Dorothy
15 Jan 2024Hi John, thanks for pointing out the differences in names. I have Sam’s dad’s name spelled as Lorenzo, Loren and Lorin. It does seem that he went by Loren, as you say. I have his mother as Catherine Johnson and/or Buck. On MyHeritage, she was listed as “Catherine (Johnston) Anger (born Buck)” so I wondered if she’d been married before to a Johnston. I haven’t found a previous husband, but also haven’t wanted to lose track of the Buck name just in case. I’ll try to clarify it here. I can’t find her parents so if you have any idea, that would be great to know. Thanks.
Ian Bell
26 Nov 2020Hello Dorothy,
I curate a website about traditional music in Ontario. ( http://www.ontariotraditionalmusic.ca )I have a VERY slim section on the Crescent Park Entertainers. Would it be alright to use some of your comments and photos on the website? Thanks, Ian Bell
Dorothy
27 Nov 2020Hi Ian, yes, that would be fine. If I come across anything more about them, I’ll let you know. I just looked at your site – and wow! I love the painting at the top. Your sections made me think of a guy I heard on CBC NB radio this past summer. Mike Bravener researched lumber and river songs of the Miramichi and released an album of his versions of them. Not Ontario, I know, but along the same lines as what you’re doing. Thanks for writing, and I’m bookmarking your website.
Barb George (Sherk)
11 Jan 2020I would appreciate any info about Hugo Lautz. He is the 4th person from the left, sitting down, in the white shirt in the 2nd picture.
Dorothy
11 Jan 2020Hi Barb, the young guy at the front with the horse at the right? A site called sortedbyname.com (/letter_l) has Hugo Lautz as b 12 Mar 1905 in NY, according to his social security number, d Mar 1966. I also found lots of references to a soap company and Niagara Starch Works in Buffalo owned by William Lautz from mid-1800s to early 1900s. Western New York Heritage has more. I wonder if Hugo was part of that family. You probably already know all this, but thanks for telling me who he is.