Joe Hill's Last Will

DESCRIPTION: "My will is easy to decide, For there is nothing to divide; My kin don't need to weep and moan...." "My body? Oh! if I could choose, I would to ashes it reduce...." ""This is my last and final will, Good luck to all of you, Joe Hill."
AUTHOR: Words; Joe Hill
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (execution of Joe Hill)
KEYWORDS: execution death lastwill nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1879-1915 - Life of Joel Emmanuel Hagglund, known as "Joe Hillstrom" or "Joe Hill."
1902 - Hill emigrates to the United States
Jan 10, 1914 - The Salt Lake City robbery/murder for which Joe Hill was arrested
Nov 19, 1915 - Execution of Joe Hill for the murder
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
DT, JOHIWILL*
ADDITIONAL: (Barrie Stavis and Frank Harmon, editors), _The Songs of Joe Hill_, 1960, now reprinted in the Oak Archives series, p. 46, "My Last Will" (1 text)
William M. Adler, _The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Joe Hill, American Labor Icon_, Bloomsbury Press, 2011, p. 338, "(My Last Will)" (1 text) plus a photo of the original manuscript on p. 337
Gibbs M. Smith, _Joe Hill_, 1969 (I use the 1984 Peregrine Smith Books edition), p. 259, "Joe Hill's Last Will" (1 text)
Franklin Rosemont, _Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture_, Charles H. Kerr, 2002, p. 143, "(no title)" (1 text)
Roud #30773
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Joe Hillstrom" (subject of Joe Hill)
cf. "Joe Hill" (subject of Joe Hill) and notes there
NOTES [155 words]: Not a traditional song (not a song at all in its original form), but sufficiently well-known that I thought it needed to be included here. The tune commonly heard was set by Ethel Raim decades after Hill's death, but according to Franklin Rosemont, Joe Hill: The IWW & the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture, Charles H. Kerr, 2002, p. 144, several other tunes have also been used.
For the life of Joe Hill, see "Joe Hill."
Photos of the sheet of paper on which Hill wrote these words are relatively easy to find on the web; I found four simply by looking at the images associated with the search terms "Joe Hill's Last Will." No two look alike; it is clear that, after a century, the paper is no longer in good shape, and different lighting techniques and such were used to try to improve the image. Most were still rather hard to read. There is a cleaned-up black-and-white facsimile on p. 132 of Rosemont. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: DTJoHill

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography