Our Family History
The Genealogy of Robert and Christina Barritt
Arleigh Elton DUFF
1924 - 1996 (72 years)-
Name Arleigh Elton DUFF Birth 28 Mar 1924 Jack’s Branch, Tyler, Texas, USA 
[1, 2, 3, 4] Gender Male Also Known As Arlie Duff Also Known As The Singing School Teacher Census 18 Apr 1930 Sour Lake, Hardin, Texas, USA [4] Residence 4 Jul 1996 Woodbury, Litchfield, Connecticut, USA [1, 2] - 8 Parkland Dr.
Education B.S., M.A., Stephen F. Austin State University Occupation Country Music Songwriter and Entertainer Occupation Radio Disk Jockey, Radio Announcer Occupation School Teacher Death 4 Jul 1996 Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut, USA [1] Person ID I31648 Dyal and Speckels Last Modified 11 May 2009
Family Nancy Anne WHITE, b. 11 Jul 1935 d. 24 Nov 2005 (Age 70 years) Children + 1. Living Family ID F21530 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 6 May 2023
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Notes - Arleigh was raised in Southeast Texas. He was a school teacher in 1953 when he heard Lefty Frizzell on the radio and wondered if he could write a country song. He used as inspiration an elderly family friend who would repeat “y’all come” as she left her house. He wrote the song in twenty minutes. He met Jack Starnes of Starday Records who recorded and released Arleigh’s version of “You All Come.” The release reached #7 on the country charts in 1954. Others recorded the song through the years, including Bing Crosby whose version reached #20 on the pop charts and which earned Arleigh a BMI award. A video of him performing “Y’all Come” can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS4g9_F24NY.
Arleigh toured nationally, appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, the Louisiana Hayride and the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee. He recorded for Decca Records in the mid-1950s without any additional chart success. He left touring to settle down and raise a family in Colorado Springs where he worked as a radio announcer. He returned to Texas in 1963 and worked in the radio business in Austin for several years. His autobiography was published by Eakin Press of Austin in 1983. He moved to Woodbury, Connecticut in June 1985 and died while playing golf in Waterbury, Connecticut on the Fourth of July, 1996. [5]
- Arleigh was raised in Southeast Texas. He was a school teacher in 1953 when he heard Lefty Frizzell on the radio and wondered if he could write a country song. He used as inspiration an elderly family friend who would repeat “y’all come” as she left her house. He wrote the song in twenty minutes. He met Jack Starnes of Starday Records who recorded and released Arleigh’s version of “You All Come.” The release reached #7 on the country charts in 1954. Others recorded the song through the years, including Bing Crosby whose version reached #20 on the pop charts and which earned Arleigh a BMI award. A video of him performing “Y’all Come” can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS4g9_F24NY.
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Sources - [S94] Connecticut Department of Health, Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2001, (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003), File #15500.
- [S82] Ancestry.com, U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011), Number: 463-24-5130;Issue State: Texas;Issue Date: Before 1951.
- [S1121] Paul Kingsbury, Laura Garrard, Country Music Foundation, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Daniel Cooper, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum (Nashville, Tenn.), John Rumble, (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2004), p. 154.
- [S15] United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Hardin County, Texas, ED 5, p. 6B, line 82.
- [S1121] Paul Kingsbury, Laura Garrard, Country Music Foundation, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Daniel Cooper, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum (Nashville, Tenn.), John Rumble, (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2004), pp. 154-155.
- [S94] Connecticut Department of Health, Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2001, (Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003), File #15500.