Besides enjoying listening to early jazz, another hobby of mine is genealogy.
In tracing back my wife's family, I discovered a distant cousin of hers who, in the early 1900's, was a fairly accomplished operatic- style singer in Philadelphia. In the Philadelphia area newspapers of that era there is periodic mention of her and her performances -- though she probably was not nationally or internationally famous, she was obviously well-known in Philadelphia.
Mike -- mrichter@xxxxxxx http://www.mrichter.com/