I posted to my family's geneological website yesterday. Doesn't appear there is anything in the historical records of assorted branches of the family that addresses the question. However, a distant cousin who is near my age (57) in Clemson South Carolina responded that both his grandfather and great grandfather played the fiddle and the fiddles are still in the family.

My father and mother both have good voices but were not raised in families that countenanced music. I am one of three sisters, all of whom are musical, but only my younger sister had sufficient passion about it to work at developing her abilities. In addition to not having the passionate desire to work at it, I lacked the self-confidence to believe I could get good at it with practice. I was 49 years old before I understood that I had the innate ability. But I have never had the passion and the dicipline.

The religious beliefs of my paternal grandparents inhibited and stifled what ever musical urges their children may have had. Or possibly it skipped a generation.

On that same side of the family, my first cousin's daughter just graduated from college with a degree in music and is an accomplished pianist, trying to decide where to go next with her music. However, except for singing in the church choirs, neither of her parents or grandparents indicated any interest in music. My 15 year old son has trouble carrying a tune, but has been playing drums and percussion since he was quite small.   He only began formal lessons 1 1/2 years ago. His instructor thinks he has the capacity to develop to be quite good at percussion if he continues to work hard at it.

The paternal side of my family is of Welsh origin, with generous dashes of Scots-Irish and German added on distaff sides during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.   (My paternal grandparents were second cousins.) Any tradition of music comes from their side. I am not aware of anyone from my maternal side singing or playing instruments. My mother loves music, and likes to sing, but is very inhibited about it. There was no tradition in her family at all.   She would have liked to have been a dancer. I have wonderful memories of her when I was a young child, putting on albums of songs of the 30's and 40's, many from musicals, donning a straw hat and grabbing an umbrella for props, and singing and dancing for us in the foyer on Saturday mornings.

What sticks out for me regarding what little I do know about my family and music, is that in each generation for the last 4, one or more are literally driven to learn to become accomplished musicians, in spite of growing up in families that do not strongly encourage the making of music among their offspring.