In 1859 he was with a minstrel company in Chicago, and late that same year was with Dan Scott’s Dramatic Company.
Nelson Kneass was born in Philadelphia; he died in Chillicothe, Ohio, September 10, 1869.
G. Warren White was a famous vocalist in the early days of minstrelsy. He began as a boy singer, and later was with Dumbleton’s Serenaders; also with Ordway’s Aeolians in Boston.
His later years were spent with the Campbell-Castle Opera Company, and the Kellogg Opera Company.
Mr. White was born in Boston, Mass., in 1816; he died in Somerville, Mass., in March, 1886.
Dan Gardner was equally at home as a clown in a circus, or as a minstrel.
At the age of 13, on the 13th of the month, he ran away from home, and after walking thirteen miles, joined a canal boat show.
He soon after returned to his heath, and subsequently held the position of assistant property man at Mt. Pitt Circus in New York, on the site that is now occupied by the Hoe Printing Press Company. Mr. Gardner began his clown business there.
As early as 1835 he did a wench character; it is considerably more than probable that he was the first performer to do a female part in black-face. And he was absolutely the first to do Lucy Long, a famous characterization in early minstrelsy.
In every decade commencing in the 30’s, Mr. Gardner was prominently identified with minstrelsy. He was with Sam Sanford’s Minstrels as early as 1844, and when the latter took the present Eleventh Street Opera House in Philadelphia, he played numerous engagements there in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.