The Boswell parents first settled in Kansas City, where Martha was born in 1905 and Connie in 1907. Helvetia was born in 1911 in Birmingham, Alabama. Connie was involved in an accident that permanently injured her spine. As David McCain tells it, some kids put her in a coaster wagon that went down a hill and hit a telephone pole. Connie was thrown out. At first, she couldn't move at all. These were the days when infantile paralysis was a major threat and through the years it was reported that polio was the cause of Connie's disability. In 1914 the family moved to New Orleans. Father Alfred Boswell, a one time circus performer, was appointed manager of the New Orleans branch of the Fleischman Yeast Company. After Connie's accident, her mother focused on what other family members recall as a natural musical talent. "I couldn't play hopscotch," Connie said in a magazine interview, "so Mom started me on cello." The other girls moved quickly into music as well. All three were trained in the classics by a German music professor in New Orleans, Otto Finck. Martha took piano, Connie continued on cello, and Vet studied violin, but their interest soon went beyond the classics. Vet learned the banjo and though Martha stayed mostly on piano she learned to play sax as well. Connie picked up the saxophone, piano, and guitar. From the beginning, the girls worked together to keep Connie's paralysis from being noticeable. Initially, without even a wheelchair, Vet and Martha would carry ...
