The Orphan Violin: A True Story

By Rosalie Bird-Doolittle
Surprise, Arizona
In circa 1917, Rufus Loren Bird (aka R. L. Bird) was deployed to serve in WWI. Military records indicate that he was in England, France, Belgium, and Germany. Although the war ended in November of 1918, he was not discharged until 1919 at the age of 24.
While he was stationed in Germany, he met an old couple with a violin. As a violin musician, he recognized the quality of the instrument and bought it from the couple for $25 as they needed the money. No doubt it was worth more, but they accepted what he was able to pay.
He brought the violin back to Indiana. He enrolled in college at the Indiana State Normal School, now known as Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. For years to come, he would student-teach band and orchestra at the surrounding schools that had a music program. In 1929, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree and was offered a teaching position in Belleville, MI. For the next 17 years, he spent his entire teaching career in the Van Buren Public School system.
In 1946, he died in a tragic accident on the property across the road from the Bird Homestead that is in Mooreland, IN. It was the Bird family home since 1847 and is eligible to be regarded as a sesqui-centennial property. The home has been inhabited for 176 years by a family member or second-generation person/s. The information is verified by the Hoosier Homestead Database. Currently, the Homestead has a plaque in the yard stating it is a ‘centennial farm.’ But it is eligible to be upgraded to sesquicentennial status. (Inhabited for 150 years or more by a family member)
Recently (September 2023) a man named Dan Tinsley of Mooreland, IN, purchased a violin at an auction in Hagerstown, IN, which had carvings on the case. In fact, we were told it had been in two auctions. This orphan violin, which was highly valued by our father, Rufus Bird, and came originally from Germany to Indiana, was now without a home. We have no idea how it made its way into two auctions! And it doesn’t matter; the violin is back.
Mr. Tinsley had contacted the Belleville-Area Independent newspaper of Belleville, MI, where two years ago, Mr. Bird’s bio was written by Rosalie Bird-Doolittle, the youngest daughter of Mr. Bird, and published in the local newspaper.
The bio was published in the Belleville-Area Independent and a framed copy was donated to Belleville High School and the Fairmount Historical Museum in Fairmount, IN, where our father had completed his student teaching before moving to Michigan.
It is the same museum that has devoted an entire wing to the famous hometown actor, James Dean. Another interesting historical fact is that Fairmount is the home of Jim Davis, who created the character Garfield the cat and wrote the comic strip.
Our niece and her husband, Mike and Pam Fleming, were contacted by Rosemary Otzman, the editor of the Belleville-Area Independent to verify the story that Mr. Tinsley from Indiana had shared with the editor. This was the first time that our family realized that the violin was not in the possession of a Bird family member!
We notified the local Indiana family to verify the violin and case and they did. It had carved information on the top of the wooden case. It was well-traveled. The carving said: England, France, Belgium, and Germany; Mooreland, IN, and R. L. Bird.
Our cousins, who live in Mooreland, IN, decided to go to the address for Dan Tinsley, who lives about 4.5 miles from Mooreland. He now owned the orphan violin. A family member remembered it being at the Homestead in Mooreland.
Merrill Coffin and his wife, Carolyn, drove to the address on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, that we found on the internet for Mr. Tinsley. No one was home, so they went back home and waited until after supper and went back. They were kind enough to investigate the situation for our family in Michigan. I am writing this from Surprise, Arizona, where I live with my husband, Harry Doolittle, in retirement.
The following is the e-mail I received at 12:30 p.m. (9/18/23) from Dan Tinsley:
Ms. Doolittle,
I purchased the violin last week at auction near Hagerstown, IN. The lady and her husband were downsizing their farm, mostly equipment, but a small amount of antiques and collectibles were offered. The lady purchased the violin some 25 years ago, she told me, at another auction near Mooreland, IN.
That’s pretty much all I know about it other than what I’ve read about your father online. See attached photos.
Respectfully,
Dan Tinsley
The orphaned violin is no longer an orphan. It has been “bought back” into the Bird family and is now back home among those who knew the man behind the violin.
We knew his life and times, his struggles, his persistence to get an education and who took nine terms of summer school to get his master’s degree in music at the University of Michigan while raising a family.
The violin will remain a family treasure and a living reminder of the patriarch of our family and the once Belleville High School band conductor and teacher. (1929-1946)
We are grateful to Mr. Tinsley and the families who kept our father’s musical instrument and valued it as a valued piece of WWI history.
I am the youngest daughter of R. L. Bird. At one time, I was daddy’s little girl at four years old (1946) when he tragically left this world. He was gone soon after this photo was taken. The violin is as close to him as I will ever be this side of Heaven.
May I leave an encouraging word to collectors everywhere of historical items? There is a family somewhere who would be grateful to you for preserving an important article that belonged to a member of their family. It represents a person who is now gone and lost to their lineage, but still very much alive by you giving their family member’s item a place of distinction in your home or on display, even in a museum, to remember a life well lived.