This chapter examines the family and community that shaped Harry T. Burleigh's youth. In the early 1860s, as the country moved toward civil war, a young Henry Thacker Burley (the family used the “Burley” spelling during his lifetime but eventually changed to the English spelling, “Burleigh”) settled in Erie and threw himself into the struggle against slavery and for equal rights. On September 17, 1862, Henry and Elizabeth Lovey Waters were married. On December 12, 1866, Henry (Harry) Thacker Burleigh was born. This chapter discusses how the strong music tradition at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Erie nourished Harry's lifelong commitment to church music in general and to the Episcopal Church in particular. It also considers Elizabeth's marriage to John Edgar Elmendorf after Henry. It shows that Burleigh's most profound influence in his formative years was his strong family, for whom education was a primary value. Through his public and business education in Erie, Harry T. Burleigh developed the skills and the confidence that facilitated his entry into New York City's broader public arena.