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Charles Hunter (composer)

American ragtime composer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ2959397 ↗
Source-derived summary

Charles H. Hunter (May 16, 1876 – January 23, 1906) was an American composer of ragtime music.

Early life and education

Charles Hunter was born in Columbia, Tennessee, and at birth was almost totally blind. He was the son of Jordan M. Hunter and Fannie F. Hackney. His father was a musician in the 6th Cavalry of the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Hunter attended the School for the Blind in Nashville, Tennessee, where he learned the piano tuner's trade. He went to work at the Jesse French Piano Company in Nashville.

Career

Absorbing the folk strains of Nashville, Hunter published his first rag, "Tickled to Death", in 1899, which became a hit. This was followed in 1900 by "A Tennessee Tantilizer," and in 1901 by "Possum and Taters," "Cotton Bolls," and "Queen of Love."

In 1902 he transferred to Jesse French's St. Louis store. "Just Ask Me" was published that year, and "Why We Smile" the next.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Charles Hunter (composer)” as american ragtime composer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Charles, Hunter and composer.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1876, 1906, 1899, 1900—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1876-05-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Charles, Hunter and composer providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Charles Hunter (composer)”, the useful work is to connect “american ragtime composer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2959397. VIAF identifies the subject as 58648511. The Library of Congress control number is no93001521. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1906, 1899 and 1900.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Charles Hunter (composer) primary sources, Charles Hunter (composer) archive and Charles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Charles Hunter (composer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.