Jessie Bartlett Davis

Jessie Bartlett Davis (1860 – May 14, 1905) was an American operatic singer and actress from Morris, Illinois, who was billed as "America's Representative Contralto".

After Jessie and her older sister Arabelle "Belle" (1855–74) had become known locally as singers, they were approached by traveling managers and began touring along the West Coast of the United States.

[2] Her most famous role was as Alan a-Dale in the 1890 opera Robin Hood by Reginald De Koven and Clement Scott.

[3] She starred in grand operas, including Les Huguenots, Martha, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Il trovatore and Dinorah.

She performed with Adelina Patti in Faust while in the James Henry Mapleson Opera company, and toured with them for one season in Europe.

[6] The Davises had one son who survived infancy, William J. Davis Jr., who as an adult worked with his father in Chicago theater management.

Other friends of the Davises included playwright George Ade, newspaper cartoonist John T. McCutcheon, Australian landowner William Pinkerton, and Civil War hero, Orville T. Chamberlain.