This is a transcription of the Hattie (Bond) Long biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 49.
Hattie (Bond) Long
To attain high position in Boston musical society, where the taste is pure and classical, is no easy task; yet this gifted daughter of New Hampshire has long held it, on account of rare vocal powers, a pleasing personality, and generous heart. Born in Lyme, she removed with her parents, Thomas and Aurilla Bond, both musicians, to the city of Nashua, at the age of fourteen, where she commenced her musical career, though as a child she had sung in the choir with her mother, who was a leader. At fifteen she was leading soprano in a large Nashua church. She here attracted the attention of C. B. Hill, a man of rare discernment and philanthropic spirit, who provided for her musical education, and secured her a position as choir leader in a prominent church in Lowell, at a high salary for those days. At eighteen her cherished ambition to sing in Boston was gratified, on the occasion of a great festival under the direction of B. F. Baker, where she made a happy “hit.” Here she began study with the renowned Signor Corelli. She was three years soprano at Dr. Miner’s School Street church, and fourteen years leader in Trinity choir, singing also continuously in concert and oratorio. She has appeared with the most noted singers of the day; for six successive seasons sang The Messiah” for the Handel and Haydn society; made her farewell appearance as a public singer in that capacity, and has since devoted her talents to teaching, with eminent success, many of her pupils having already entered upon brilliant careers. At the age of twenty she married J. H. Long, a rising business man of Boston, now deceased, a popular officer of the Handel and Haydn society, and an excellent musical critic. She is a true and loyal woman, as is evidenced by her loving care of her aged mother and the younger members of her family. Mrs. Bond, at eighty-nine, is living at her daughter’s residence on Holyoke street, summering at the old colonial home in Lyme, which Mrs. Long has modernized and beautified for herself and dear ones.