The home was moved in 1978 to the museum grounds next to the Windsor Center on Adams Street. The period of the home is 1890 to 1910; much of the interior furnishings are from the composer’s estate.

Jacobs-Bond was deemed the “Mother of America” in 1921, and the first great female song composer in the United States. She was also the first female music publisher in America in 1894, according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Carrie Minetta Jacobs was born on Aug. 11, 1862, to Hannibal Jacobs, a family doctor, and his wife, Mary. The family lived in Janesville, Wis., while the country was still in the beginning years of the Civil War. The museum has little information about Jacobs-Bond’s early life, only that times were hard. The economic depression that followed the end of the war in 1865 led her father to financial ruin and he took his own life when she was just 8 years old.

Jacobs-Bond found solace from life’s turmoil in music, teaching herself to play the piano by ear. Later she took lessons and started writing music as a hobby.

THE FORMER IRON RIVER home of Carrie Jacobs-Bond, the first great female song composer in the United States, as it looks today on the grounds of the Iron County Historical Museum at 100 Brady Ave. in Caspian. (Terri Castelaz/Daily News photo)

When she was 14 years old, she met a young man by the name of Frank L. Bond. He was also the son of an affluent doctor and he quickly captured her heart. He knew her love for music and took her while young to see American operatic singer Laura Schirmer, which further fueled her passion for music and sparked her dream of songwriting.

When Frank went to medical school, eventually moving with his father to the Upper Peninsula, he left her in Janesville with a broken heart. She married Edward J. Smith in December 1880. She had a son, Fredrick, and the couple moved to Chicago shortly thereafter. The two divorced in 1888.

Upon her divorce at age 26, Jacobs-Bond took her son and traveled to the mining town of Iron River, where Frank was working as a physician and co-owned a mine with his father. They were married in June 1889.

Frank had a house built for Carrie across the street from the Windsor Center on Adams Street in Iron River. It was a modern marvel, with big windows and state-of-the-art conveniences.

Her reaction to her new home was stated from Peggy DePuydt’s “A Perfect Day”:

“It was a white, two-story frame home featuring a wrap-around porch supported by six great pillars. The width of the home faced Adams Street, and the length of the home bordered Sixth Street. As was the architecture of the day, the porch had no railings.

“Their carriage stopped at the Sixth Street entrance to the home where there were three steps leading up to the porch. The windows were plentiful and extravagantly large for a time in which there was no central heating. Two tall chimneys well above the roof line silhouetted the sugar maples that stood smartly beyond. For Carrie the chimneys held promise of no more chill blains from freezing, damp rooms. Attached to each first-floor window was a planter alive with geraniums, petunias and trailing ivies. Nothing, not even a pouring down rain storm could have hidden the fact that the home was built with the same care Frank was now showing her, and showed to everyone he met, equally. A fair wind is a fair wind is a fair wind, lifting all spirits as it passes, she reminded herself.

“Before she could turn the doorknob, Frank reached around her, snuggling a kiss into her neck and pushing open the door. ‘Your castle, milady.’

“A bright, airy kitchen greeted her. When in the sitting room she saw a four-section bow window into which a melodeon piano was placed, tears sprung to her eyes. She was so full of emotion, she could hardly speak, so she turned quickly to the adjacent bright, cheery room; it was the living room highlighted by large windows facing the front porch.

“Immediately off the long hall, leading from the front door was a stairway guiding to the upstairs. The hall contained Frank’s desk upon with was situated a Smith Corona typewriter. Carrie had seen few of them, the contrivance only having been marketed four years ago. The hall continued giving onto the living room and sitting room on the right, and farther on to the left, the dining room and kitchen. Carrie, opening a door at the back of the kitchen, found a large room embracing a pantry, a storage room, and a housekeeper’s stairway to the upstairs.”

Carrie only spent seven years in Iron County, but she frequently said they were the happiest years of her life. She and Frank enjoyed the outdoors together and she grew to love the community, often accompanying her husband on patient visits and distributing food to the needy. She taught piano lessons, played the organ on Sundays for two local churches, composed music and even painted ceramics. She also began to publish her music at that time, spending six weeks in Chicago, where she sold her compositions and performed at The Bohemian Club. Both she and her music were well-received. Life was good and Carrie was happy.

One snowy day, in 1894, Frank was pushed playfully by a child in a snowball fight, he slipped and fell, striking his head on the frozen ground. Although he got up and assumed he was fine, he died five days later of a ruptured spleen.

Perhaps the silver lining in this tragedy was it became the catalyst for her success. 

The small inheritance was not enough for Carrie to make ends meet for her and her son. She borrowed some money and moved to Chicago. She purchased a house and rented out rooms to boarders.

She continued writing songs and eventually was able to start a company composing and printing music. She went on to sell millions of copies of her songs, the most famous of which include “I Love You Truly,” “Just Awearyin’ For You,” and “A Perfect Day.”

She was the most successful female composer of the era.

Her 1888 home in Iron River changed hands many times in the ensuing century.

The two-story home was moved to the museum grounds in 1978. Much effort from local volunteers, many fundraisers and many donations have allowed the home to be saved and partially refurbished.

While it is not exactly as it was, much of the first floor has been remodeled to look authentically like the early 1900s and features artifacts from the Jacobs-Bond estate. It the museum’s hope the rest of the home will be refurbished in time, including the upstairs, basement, part of the first floor and the gardens.

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The Daily News is bringing back photos of “yesteryears.” Each week, an historical photograph will be posted on The Daily News’ Facebook page. Readers will be asked to identify the location, as well as share a memorable experience of the location. “Back to the present” will then be published in the Wednesday edition, including a current photo. Readers can comment on The Daily News’ Facebook page, or email tcastelaz@ironmountaindailynews.com with subject “Back to the present.”