The "If Only I Could Have Heard Him One Time!!" Story

Jake Parks

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a fellow by the name of Jake Parks who was born in 1847 and was known as a friendly man who always had a banjo and wheelbarrow in tow when making his rounds in the city of Lancaster. Pennsylvania.  A story in the 1915 Lancaster Intelligencer Journal gave a profile of Jake and noted that "There are few men in Lancaster in his walk of life who enjoys the respect of white people to a greater extent than this modest colored man.  He just loved music and it was obvious to see his love if you ever watched him play his banjo.  Jake had the respect of just about everyone who ever heard him perform.  He truly was a self-taught artist who loved his career's occupation.  When he died in 1924, the Lancaster Sunday News started a fundraiser for a proper burial in downtown Lancaster's Stevens Greenland Cemetery.  The goal was to raise $100 to help with his burial.  Mr. Parks' popularity in Lancaster city proved to be strong as shown by the $208 that was raised through donations.  Today that total would have been $3,639.  I would have loved to have had a chance to hear Mr. Parks sing and accompany himself on his banjo.  Must have been one fine exhibtion of mellow soul music.  Mr. Jake Parks was one of Lancaster's finest musicians from the early 1900s.  He, along with The Hamboners, The Crystalaires, and The Tranells formed some of the best black musicians that Lancaster ever had.  If only I could have heard Mr. Parks sing......I realize that I missed some of the best music in Lancaster's history.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.