The Mysterious Organist Of Belcourt
In 1893, Oliver H.P. Belmont had a reproducing pipe organ installed in the loft above his ballroom at Belcourt, on Bellevue Avenue, in Newport. This was the first modern player pipe organ built. The organ was built by the Ferrand & Votey Organ Company of Detroit, Michigan, and was a two-manual, twenty-nine rank organ (Saint-Saens and the Organ, page 151).
Who would be hired to maintain and even play this organ?
Jacob Chase was born in Philadelphia. At the start of the Civil War, he was living in Massachusetts and enlisted in the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment in 1864, almost a year after the all-Black volunteer regiment stormed Fort Wagner. Because a high volume of recruits enlisted and wanted to join the 54th, Chase was moved to the new 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, where he served as a fifer.
By 1875, Jacob, a tinsmith, and his family had settled on Bath Road, in Newport. Notice in the 1875 Rhode Island Census above, all of the family is mislabeled as white. Ruth, the second youngest child at this time would go on to be a music teacher. Nothing about the youngest child listed in the census is correct.
Remond the youngest of the Chase children was born in 1874, in Newport. In the 1880 US Census above his age is shown as 5. Most likely he is the youngest child incorrectly listed in the 1875 R.I. Census. You can see here that the family is correctly listed as Black.
Little is known about the musical training of the Chase children. The 1894 Newport City Directory has Ruth listed as a music teacher. And then in the 1898 Newport City Directory…
Sadly, their mother, Sarah passed away the year before. Jacob is still alive and working as a Watchman for “Oliver H.P. Belmont’s House.” (His directory listing is on the page before.) Is this how Remond got the job as the organist at Belcourt?
In the 1900 U.S. Census, Remond is listed as the “Caretaker of organ” and his father is listed as a watchman. Both were employed at Belcourt, by O.H.P. Belmont. Remond would stay employed as the organist/caretaker of the organ until 1908. In 1908 Belmont died and his wife Alva (former Vanderbilt) Belmont eventually removed the pipe organ from the house.
In the 1909 Newport City Directory, Remond is listed as a laborer. He is never listed as a musician of any kind for the rest of his life.
Remond died in 1947. His obituary, above, appeared in the August 15, 1947, Newport Mercury. There is no mention of his work at Belcourt or any musical activities in his life. He is buried in the family plot at the Island Cemetery. There are no markers for any of the graves on the plot though.
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