Florence Beatrice (Smith) Price (1888 - 1953)

Born 9 Apr 1888 in Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Jewell Price — married 9 Sep 1912 in Pulaski, Arkansas, United States

Wife of Pusey Dell Arnett — married 14 Feb 1931 (to about 1934) in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

Died 3 Jun 1953 at age 65 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

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Biography

Florence (Smith) Price is Notable.

Florence Beatrice Price was an American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. She is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra.^[1]

Florence Beatrice Smith was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1888.^[2] She was the daughter of dentist James Smith and Florence Gulliver.

In 1912, she married Thomas J. Price.^[3] Florence and Thomas had three children: Thomas who died young, Florence Louise Price (1917-), and Edith Price (1921-1963).

Florence married Pusey Dell Arnett in 1931 in Chicago.^[4] Pusey was an insurance agent; he was widowed and had two grown sons. They were only together for a short time. By 1940 Florence declared "Divorced" on her U.S. Census record.

She died in 1953 from a stroke while preparing for a music tour.^[5] Florence is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Price
2. ↑ "Arkansas, Birth Certificates, 1914-1917," Ancestry.com, Florence Beatrice Smith, Race: Colored (Black), Birth Date: 9 Apr 1888, Birth Place: Little Rock, Pulaski, Arkansas, USA, Father: James H Smith, Mother: Irene Gulliver, Certificate Number: 5960; Arkansas Department of Vital Records. Birth Certificates. Little Rock, AR, USA., Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2019, Lehi, UT, USA
3. ↑ "Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQT1-943 : 18 March 2019), Florence B. Smith in entry for Thomas J. Price, 9 Sep 1912; citing Marriage, Pulaski, Arkansas, United States, county offices, Arkansas; FHL microfilm 495,035.
4. ↑ "Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q21J-FFKQ : 23 January 2023), Pusey D Arnett and Florence B Price, 1931.
5. ↑ "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1994," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M4-8RGS : 17 March 2018), Florence Price, 03 Jun 1953; citing Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference , record number , Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm .
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #46114770

See also:

• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3XS-WT4 : 10 March 2022), Beatrice Smith in entry for James H Smith, 1900.

• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDFC-1B9 : 31 January 2021), Florence R Price in entry for Thomas J Price, 1920.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSTM-QZK : accessed 1 April 2023), Florence Price in household of Thomas Price, Chicago (Districts 0001-0250), Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 76, sheet 6B, line 73, family 133, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 418; FHL microfilm 2,340,153.

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWTR-N5N : 8 January 2021), Florence Price, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 103-220, sheet 62A, line 32, family 18, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 928.

• Encylopedia of Arkansas; Biography of Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887–1953); https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/florence-beatrice-smith-price-1742/

• University of Arkansas Libraries Digital Collections; https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/digital/collection/p17212coll3

• Jackson, Barbara Garvey. “Florence Price, Composer.” The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 5, no. 1, 1977, pp. 31–43. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1214357. Accessed 1 Apr. 2023.

• Naxos Digital Services, Ltd. PRICE, F.: Songs of the Oak / Concert Overtures Nos. 1-2 / The Oak / Suite of Dances (Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Jeter)[1]

• Reese, L. (2013, January 10). Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/price-florence-beatrice-smith-1887-1953/. Online resource accessed 3 April 2023.