Talk:Blind Willie McTell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.svg/80px-Flag_of_Georgia_(U.S._state).svg.png) |
This article is part of WikiProject Georgia (U.S. state), an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Georgia (U.S. state) on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page to join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. |
| Start | This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale. |
| Low | This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale. |
 |
This article lacks sufficient references and/or adequate inline citations. |
 |
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page. | ||
| Start | This article has been rated as start-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ] | ||
 |
This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed biographical guide to musicians and musical groups on Wikipedia. | ||
Pending more information, I have removed the reference to the death of McTell's wife ("In 1959, a year after the death of his wife of 24 years, he died of a stroke") as McTell apparently left a widow behind him. Chris k 22:15, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
- Yeah, he was still married to his first and only wife, Kate McTell when he died. Stevage 01:19, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] His date of birth and blindness
The article states without any equivocation that McTell was born on 5 May 1901. Older accounts have him born in 1898, presumably based on his original gravestone that misidentifies him as Eddie McTear, and also on John Lomax's statement in the 1940 recording that McTell was then 42 years old. But Michael Gray has shown pretty conclusively that he must have been born in 1903 or perhaps 1904, since he is recorded in the census of April 1910 as being six years old. His mother, Minnie Dorsey, was born in October 1887, making any earlier date very unlikely. The 5 May date comes from files held by the local blind association in the 1970s, making it more likely than any other date (since no other is known), but again not certain.
The article also says that McTell was blind in one eye and lost the sight in the other by late childhood, but there are conflicting reports about his blindness, and it seems most likely that he lost his sight (virtually) completely in infancy if he wasn't actually born blind. It is possible that he could perceive light levels through one eye. 90.194.154.240 (talk) 09:21, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
