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Kerry Mills

American ragtime composer and music publishing executive (1869–1948)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ1274305 ↗
Source-derived summary

Kerry Mills (né Frederick Allen Mills; 1 February 1869 in Philadelphia – 5 December 1948 in Hawthorne, California), was an American ragtime composer and a publisher of popular music during the Tin Pan Alley era. His stylistically diverse music ranged from ragtime through cakewalk to marches. He was most prolific between 1895 and 1918.

Career

Mills trained as a violinist and was head of the violin department of the University of Michigan School of Music when he began composing. He moved to New York City in 1895 and started the music publishing firm F. A. Mills to publish his own work and that of others. The company went bankrupt in 1915 and was acquired by Maurice Richmond, who sold on many of the songs.

Selected works

"In the City of Sighs and Tears"

"Just for the Sake of Society"

"Let's All Go Up to Maud's"

"The Longest Way 'Round Is the Sweetest Way Home"

"Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (words by Andrew B. Sterling)

1895: "Rastus on Parade – Characteristic Two Step March for Piano"

1895: "Shandon Bells – Two Step March"

1896: "Happy Days in Dixie – Characteristic March"

1897: "At a Georgia Camp Meeting – A Characteristic March"

1899: "Whistling Rufus – Characteristic Two Step March, Polka & Cakewalk"

1899: "Impecunious Davis – A Characteristic March"

1900 or before: "Cake-Walk"

1900: "Kerry Mills Medley – Themes from Previous Cake Walk and Songs"

1902: "Harmony Moze – Characteristic Two Step"

1902: "A Brand Plucked from the Burning" (words by Alfred Bryan)

1902: "I Know She Waits for Me" (words by Alfred Bryan)

1903: "Valse Hélène"

1903: " 'Leven Forty-Five From The Hotel – Two Step March"

1903: "Me and Me Banjo – Characteristic Piece"

1903: "Petite causerie (A Quiet Chat)"

1903: "L'amour aux bois (Cupid's Bower)"

1903: "Valse Primrose (Les Primevères)"

1903: "Like a Star that Falls from Heaven" (words by Alfred Bryan)

1904: "We'll Be Together When the Clouds Roll By" (words by Alfred Bryan)

1906: "Old Heidelberg – Characteristic Two Step March"

1906: "While the Old Mill Wheel Is Turning" (words by Will D. Cobb)

1907: "Red Wing – An Indian Intermezzo" (words by Thurland Chattaway; the verse melody [but not the refrain] is from Schumann's "The Happy Farmer")

1908: "Kerry Mills Barn Dance"

1908: "Sun Bird – Intermezzo"

1908: "Hallie (A Little Romance)"

1908: "Sweet Sixteens – March"

1908: "Any Old Port in a Storm" (words by Arthur J. Lamb)

1908: "If You Were Mine" (words by Arthur J. Lamb)

1909: "Comical Eyes" (words by Bartley C. Costello)

1909: "Kerry Mills Rag Time Dance"

1909: "A Georgia Barn Dance"

1909: "The Scarf Dancer – A Novelty Two Step"

1909: "Lily of the Prairie – Two Step Intermezzo"

1909: "Sicilian Chimes – Reverie"

1909: "Kerry Mills Potpourri"

1909: "Don't Be an Old Maid, Molly"

1909: "Where Were You Last Night?" (words by Alfred Bryan)

1909: "A Georgia Barn Dance"

1910: "That Fascinating Ragtime Glide"

1910: "Valley Flower – Intermezzo"

1910: "Kerry Mills Palmetto Slide"

1910: "The Wyoming Prance – A Rag Time Two Step"

1910: "I've Lost My Nannie"

1911: "You've Got the Wrong Number, But You've Got the Right Girl" (words by Arthur J. Lamb)

1914: "Kerry Mills Turkey Trot"

1914: "Kerry Mills Fox Trot"

1918: "Snooky Hollow – Intermezzo"

1919: "Tokio – Fox Trot on Chorus from Geisha Girl"

See also

List of ragtime composers

References

External links

Sheet music for his song "We'll Be Together When the Clouds Roll By"[link removed] from the collection at University of Oregon Libraries

Free scores by Kerry Mills at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Kerry Mills recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Kerry Mills” as american ragtime composer and music publishing executive (1869–1948). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kerry, Mills and American.

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—1869, 1948, 1895, 1918—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1869-02-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Kerry, Mills and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Kerry Mills”, the useful work is to connect “american ragtime composer and music publishing executive (1869–1948)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1274305. VIAF identifies the subject as 75882593. The Library of Congress control number is no92013229. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1869, 1948, 1895 and 1918.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Kerry Mills” 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.