Biography:John Carey

Biographical notes
 John Carey was a native of Limerick who contributed tunes to the O'Neill collections at the start of the 20th century (see "Pipe on the Hob (1)", for example). He is not mentioned in O'Neill's Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), but receives recognition in Irish Folk Music, a Fascinating Hobby (1910), where O'Neill notes he was a fiddler, "long a resident of Chicago." Born and grown to manhood in County Limerick and brought up in the midst of a community where old ideas and customs prevailed, his memory was stored with traditional music. He numbered among his relatives many pipers and fiddlers, and being quite an expert on the violin himslef in his younger days before that arch-enemy of musicians--rheumatism-- ''stiffened his fingers, his settings were ideal. Gradually, from week to week, and'' extending into years, his slumbering memory surrendered gems of melody unknown to this generation, and not until within a few months of death did his contributions entirely ''cease. Even Mrs. Carey's memory yielded up a fine reel, the "Absent-minded Woman," which'' ''her husband did not play."