He continued with this company several years, and on July 17, 1850, in company with James Norris, Jos. D. Murphy, and Luke West, organized another company; with the exception of the first named, all were performers. Subsequently and for a few years the organization was known as Murphy, West and Peel’s Minstrels, and later Matt. Peel’s Minstrels, by which it was known until the death of Mr. Peel.
Mr. Peel was one of the first minstrel performers to sing an Irish song on the end.
Matt. Peel was born in New York, January 15, 1830; he died in Buffalo, N. Y., May 4, 1859.
Charley O’Neill, a well-known comedian who was with Unsworth’s Minstrels in 1861, and subsequently with Hooley in Brooklyn, N. Y., committed suicide by drowning, in St. Louis, Mo., July 21, 1863.
John Hooley, a brother of the famous manager, R. M. Hooley, ran a minstrel company in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1873.
He died there April 12, 1891.
Mert. Sexton was prominent as a comedian and dancer; his chief fame rested in his ability to dance the “Essence of Old Virginia.” He played with many famous organizations, notably Matt. Peel’s in 1858; Fox and Worden’s in 1859, and Collins’ “Christy” Minstrels in 1862; the two latter companies were in England.
Mert. Sexton is said to have died in Long Island City, N. Y., in May, 1866.
Seth Howard, one of the old-time interlocutors and straight men, who was one of the original Bryant’s Minstrels at Mechanics Hall in New York City in 1857, died at Hornellsville, N. Y., February 11, 1860.
George Langdon, an aged darky impersonator and singer, and who sang duets with John L. Carncross in Philadelphia before Carncross joined Sanford’s Minstrels in that city, died at Pawtucket, Mass., May 12, 1859.