Mike Knudsen's questions on Canada and the Maple Leaf ...

> Much older than the current flag.  I have an Edison Diamond Disk record
> from about 1920 with "O Canada" on one side and "The Maple Leaf Forever"
> on the reverse.  So the current national anthem is also much older than
> its official adoption, although the words of the several verses are
> different.  I hope our Canadian readers can tell us just how far back
> the song and the emblem go.

> No relation to Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, I'm afraid.

Periodically someone comes up with a tie-in between Canada and Scott
Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag (and the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia,
Missouri).  As appealing as the ideas are, I've yet of find one that
pans out.

Most recently, Bob Darch reported being told by Arthur Marshall that the
Maple Leaf Club was so-named because Will & Walker Williams, who ran the
club, were from Canada and wanted to honor the country of their birth,
the country that took in their forebears as fugitive slaves.

I decided first to find out if anything in fugitive slave literature
connects Canada with the maple leaf symbol.  I spoke to several
historians who specialize in fugitive slave history, but no one had
ever come up with a connection.

I then checked the U.S. Census in Sedalia for the years 1880, 1900, and
1910.  (There is no census for 1890.)  Because "William Williams" was
such a common name, I could not be sure which record referred to the
Maple Leaf Club owner, but I had more success with "Walker Williams".
There were two males by that name in Sedalia, but I could rule out one
because he was too young.  The other fits the bill ... and neither he nor
his parents were born in Canada.  So I have yet to find supporting
evidence for the theory.

Frequently, while researching one topic, one makes an unanticipated
discovery.  Many years ago Trebor Tichenor had been told by one of the
old ragtimers that Joplin's rag "Leola" was named after a young lady he
had loved.  I found that living right next door to Walker Williams in
1900 was a 19-year-old woman named Leola.  Joplin & Walker Williams had
been friends, but was this Joplin's Leola?  I don't suppose we'll ever
know for sure.

Ed Berlin