good cause." Ainsworth wrote that the singer "contributed her interest and talents to the upbringing of the community's musical consciousness. . . . Out of all this grew the golden age of early-day musical and theatrical events in Los Angeles." In 1881 Mamie Perry and her father went to San Francisco with the idea of returning "with a full operatic troupe and [to] give a series of three subscription concerts" in Los Angeles. Personal life Childhood Mamie was the daughter of Elizabeth M. Dalton and William Hayes Perry, a "California pioneer and lumber king." She was born near the Los Angeles Plaza to Dalton, "a native of Ohio who came here by boat," and Perry, the first president of the city's water company and the man who first had gas piped to Los Angeles. First marriage In January 1882, Mamie Perry accepted a request signed by twenty-five leading Angelenos to present a concert in Los Angeles despite the fact that "we understand that you have very flattering offers to sing in San Francisco, we respectfully urge that you make your first appearance in America in this, your native city." It was signed by, among others, Isaias W. Hellman, J. S. Slauson, J.W.Wolfskill, Herman W. Hellman, Henry Dwight Barrows, Harris Newmark, Ygnacio Sepulveda, Frank Sabichi, Andrew Glassell, Stephen M. White, John Mansfield, Albert Fenner Kercheval, John G. Downey and James R. Toberman. Perry accepted and gave her performance on February 18, 1882, at Turnverein Hall. The city was so excited that the City Council was compelled to adjourn for lack of a quorum, and tickets were at a premium for the event. The newspapers went into ecstasies over the entire affair, including such headline outbursts as AN OVATION TO THE YOUNG CANTATRICE. At the same time, a man named C.W. Davis of Idaho was staying in the Pico House hotel. Charles W. Davis was the architect for a new Presbyterian Church on the corner of Fort and Second streets. "The Mamie Perry Concert Troupe" was organized in spring 1883 to give a concert at Turnverein Hall and then make a tour of San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Santa Barbara. It included Charles Davis as flutist. At some point, she and Davis were married, because in December 1883, she sang at a Los Angeles meeting of the Grand Army of the Republic under the title and name Major Mamie Perry Davis.