I recently got a copy of this piece from a family friend whose grandmother (the previous owner) has recently passed away. Although it is simple, it is one of my favorite pieces with lots of 19th century charm. The publisher was Jos. W Stern & Co.

I live in Kansas, I tell people it is the land of OZ. I come from a family of 19. I'm the 12th. There only 3 of us left. My older sister, just told me our Mother played this song and a lot more, in the Baptist Church, in Newton, Ks. I found this very interesting. Thank you GOD Bless & Merry Christmas.

Wow. This was the first piano music I ever heard. My mother played this all the time because it was written by her cousin, a spinster who lived in Iowa. But her name was Charlotte Brackelsberg, not Mary E. Welsh. I had a copy of the sheet music, which did not look like the one pictured, and it was composed and copyrighted by her. I recently lost my home of 44 years to the fraudulent bankers, and all of my sheet music was left behind because I had no one to help me move. This music included the copy of the Blackhawk Waltz and other compositions by Charlotte Brackelsberg. I feel terrible that this family heirloom got left behind, and of all the belongings I had ro abandon, my sheet music and album collection are the ones I feel most upset about. Who knew? Music endures, as does the written word (I was able to take all my books), and are really the only things that matter because they are conveyors of beauty and truth and are timeless in their value....and greed, theft and destruction can't touch their integrity. But now a great mystery unfolds. I can't prove my statement because I no longer have the physical proof of my claim. I am, however, thrilled to see people performing the waltz on YouTube. I'm sure this would be very heartening to dear old Charlotte, a single woman living alone in 1800s Iowa. And certainly watching and hearing my dear mother play this piece is one of my fondest memories of her.