Herbert Ingraham was born to Samuel and Ella Ingraham in Aurora, Illinois. He was the oldest of five, including Robert G. (1887), Solomon (1888), Myrtle (1892), and Edward Roy (1895). Both Robert and Roy would become composers as well. While Herbert's birth year is frequently shown as 1883, the 1900 census was very clear that he was born in July of 1881. Comparing the records of his other siblings, including draft and other official listings, their birth years stay consistent, so it is likely that his age at the time of death was misreported. In addition, the census taken in June of 1910 shows his age as 28, which is also consistent with 1881, so that is the most likely accurate year. The family remained in Illinois until the early 1890s when they moved southwest to Indiana where Myrtle and Roy were born.
Herbert was more or less a child prodigy, and he received musical training early in his life. While not much detail is available, he was listed in 1900 at age 18 as a professional musician in Hammond, Indiana.because i'm married now cover By 1902 he had moved to Chicago to pursue a career as a performer, and hopefully a composer. Ingraham formed and led an orchestra and a theatrical company in his early twenties, which appear on a few advertisements from 1904 to 1906. Nothing of his would be in print until 1905, but even at that his early songs showed a measure of polish in both music and lyrics, and an ability to lean in both comic and sentimental directions. (Hide extended text)...(Read all) Source : Wikipedia