Richard A. Heritage, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Richard A. Heritage
PROF. RICHARD A. HERITAGE, Musical Director of Northern Indiana Normal School, was born October 28, 1853, in Williams County, Ohio. He is the eldest of seven children born to James and Susannah ( De Long ) Heritage, the former of England and the latter of Ohio. At the age of sixteen, he left home to attend the Normal School at Bryan, Ohio. Three years later, he was installed as tutor in music and mathematics in the same institution. In about two and one half years, he entered the Musical Convention work with W. F. Werschkul , D. Wertz and S. W. Straub . In 1877, he accepted the principalship of the Edon (Ohio) Graded School, working about one year, when, in the midst of the term of school, he received a telegram from H. B. Brown asking him to take the position of Musical Director of the Northern Indiana Normal School, suddenly vacated by W. F. Speer . He accepted, and has held the position ever since. When Prof. H. took the position in the spring of 1878, there was no musical department except the vocal classes and three pianos for private instruction. In the fall of 1878, the musical department was fully organized, with a course of study embracing two years' work, included notation, sight reading, thorough-bass, harmony, fugue, counter-point, orchestration, musical literature, voice culture, piano, organ, violin and band and orchestral instruments. This is divided into four courses. The three pianos, previously mentioned, were placed in the students' rooms; now the department has a room 40x42 feet, with twenty pianos, seven organs, and one set of band and orchestral instruments. The building is arranged with twenty-two private practicing rooms and director's family rooms, musical store and reading room, and an excellent musical and miscellaneous library of over 1,000 volumes, with twenty musical journals on file. It is also connected with the telephonic exchange. Prof H. is editor and publisher of a musical journal - The (Valparaiso) Musical Ideal. This has all been done through the untiring and persistent efforts of Prof. Heritage, who is a genial, affable, gentleman of fine musical talent. The number of certificates of membership was about 150 in 1878; last year the number reached 409. Prof. H. was married, March 22, 1877, to Mary C. Miller , a native of Ohio. They have one child, Harvey H. Of the F. & A. M. fraternity, Prof. H. is a member, having taken twelve degrees, and also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has always been a Republican.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 248-249
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook