Around the first half of 1905, Justin Ring and Fred Hager split up, and they spent nearly a decade apart from each other. With such a close pair, it would seem uncharacteristic of them to separate for such an extended period of time. One can begin to wonder what would cause them to suddenly come to hate one another. One reason they split up could possibly be because of a third person in their relationship.
Edgar T. Farran might be a familiar name to some record and sheet music collectors, as he was a very prolific and popular songwriter of the late 1900s and into the WWI era. His name was featured on many record labels as composer throughout the 1910s. So who is this fellow? What was it about him that tore apart the “inseparable companions” that were Ring and Hager?
He was born Edgar Thornton Farran on April 29th, 1879, in New York, to a rather working class Irish family. His mother was a dressmaker named Mary, and his father Nick, was a carpenter. Being the middle child of the family, he did prove himself to be the strangest of the Farran kids. Their family was a musical one, the older boys worked in piano manufacturing, carving beautiful art cases and tuning them.
Edgar was musical as well, but he preferred to join his younger sister Madeline in the dressmaking business with their mother. They all lived a simple Irish family life in the Bronx, so they never could have e
