Sara Hershey-Eddy

Sara Hershey-Eddy (née, Sarah Hershey; 1837 - 8 July 1911) was an American musician, pianist, contralto vocalist, vocal instructor, and musical educator. She founded the Hershey School of Musical Art in Chicago.

Of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) ancestry, Sara Hershey was born in 1837, near Indiantown, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Benjamin (died 1893) and Elizabeth Hershey. Her father was a lumber and farming businessman. Her mother was Elizabeth Witmer of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Sara had three sisters, Mary Amanda, Elizabeth and Mira. Elizabeth died in early maidenhood, at Muscatine in 1856, and Amanda died in Munich, Germany where she had gone to complete her studies, in December, 1876. Prior to going abroad she had for several years been chief accountant in her father’s office. For several years past, after completing her studies abroad, Mira has taken an active interest in the operations of the Hershey Lumber Company and has held office therein as secretary and vice-president, before becoming a Hollywood hotel proprietor and property developer.

From childhood, Hershey has been musically inclined. At 14 years of age, she went to Philadelphia where she received her education and early musical training, signing in a church choir for several years. Bad training resulted in the ruin of her voice, and she turned her attention to the piano.

Upon leaving Philadelphia, she went to St. Mary's Hall (now Doane Academy), Burlington, New Jersey, where she remained a year and a half, when she came West with her parents to Muscatine, Iowa, and began teaching, going East at intervals for the purpose of study. In 1867, she went to Berlin, Germany, in order to finish her musical education, and became a pupil of Professor Julius Stern, in the Stern Conservatory, studying harmony, counterpoint, score-reading and piano-playing. She took vocal instruction from Jennie Mayer. This training was followed by piano study under Theodor Kullak of the Conservatory, and vocalization from Gustav Engel. She also was a pupil under Gottfried Weiss. During her sojourn in Germany, she found time to master the German language, and to gain a wide acquaintance with the German poets and dramas of the day.

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