Compositions Louise V. Gustin certainly left some mysteries behind, just as much as she left hints of the possibilities of great compositions had she pursued rag writing beyond what she did accomplish. Between the considerable efforts of researcher Nora Hulse and additional work by the author, some of these mysteries have been recently unraveled. 
Louise V. Moore was born in southern Michigan to British immigrants Francis B. Moore and Louisa (Rawlings) Moore. Mr. Moore was an office clerk and Mrs. Moore a "dealer in fancy goods." Her listed age of 11 in the 1880 Census would suggest a likely 1868 or 1869 birth date, but her age seemed to shift in subsequent records. 1871 is also a possible accepted date according to the information in the 1900 Census.
Ms. Moore became Mrs. Gustin in the late 1880s, marrying a Canadian immigrant named Gustin (efforts to pin him down were met with some doubt). She first appears as L. V. Gustin in Detroit in 1895 as a music teacher either residing or teaching at 27 Laurel. It appears that Mrs. Gustin was divorced around this same time as she was once again living with her parents from perhaps 1895-1896. They were listed as Frank and Louisa Moore in Detroit city directories. Frank Moore had died by 1897 as Louise, still using Gustin, was then living with only her widowed mother Louisa at a new address. She is shown in the directory at 154 Charlotte Avenue.
In 1898 Louise composed one of her first pieces, a patriotic march written around the time of the military campaign in Cuba after the sinking of The Maine. Ms. Gustin remained with her mother through 1899, but is not mentioned under the name of Gustin in any future Detroit directories. For at least that last year she was employed at Shaefer's, a downtown Detroit department store, likely in the music department demonstrating sheet music. Some of it may have been her own, including her first two syncopated pieces, An Old Virginia Cake Walk and Topsy Turvy. Both were published by Fred Belcher who may have also got her the job.
On November 14, 1899, Louise married her second husband, Harry Bennison Taylor, a clerk for the Pittman and Dean Coal and Ice Company in Detroit. They were wed across the border in Ontario, Canada, then settled in Detroit where both had been living. 
The couple was shown in the 1900 Census in Detroit with a 12 year old named Frank Nelle or Nelli, listed as a stepson, but implying Taylor as the last name. Whose child this was is unclear from the Census records, but given the likelihood that Louise was actually 30, not 28 as listed or 26 as she claimed when married, and that her husband was only 24, there is a probability that it is Louise's son with Mr. Gustin, further reinforced by her listing one surviving child (also a potential error by the enumerator). In spite of her having had four or five compositions in print by this time, Louise has no profession listed. Also as of the same Census, Louisa Moore was living in Franklin, Michigan, with the family of her nephew Samuel Rawlings, which included her older brother Joseph W.V. Rawlings.
Regardless of her new last name change, Louise chose to publish her pieces as either L.V. Gustin or Louise Gustin. A search for titles under L.V. Taylor or Louise Taylor turned up nothing. Her works were published almost exclusively by Detroit publishers. Louise's X-N-Tric Two Step was picked up by Whitney Warner who had acquired Belcher's catalog, and Whitney Warner was in turn acquired by the growing and soon dominant publishing firm of Jerome H. Remick & Company. The quality and good sales of her work made getting more pieces into print a fairly easy task, including her next few works from 1902 through 1905. Then the promising output stopped after around sixteen known compositions. Louise and Harry had a daughter in 1907, Mary L. Taylor. At some point during the decade Louise's mother moved in with the family.
There are clearly inaccurate reports in some published sources that show Louise as having died in 1910. Actually, the June 1910 Census lists the family in Detroit, Harry now as a manager with the coal company and Louise with no profession. There is a probability that her son had died, yet curiously under children born and surviving children only one is indicated, contradicting the 1900 Census. No Frank Gustin or a closely matched Frank Taylor were found in the 1917 draft. Louise's age as 40 also indicates again a probable 1869 birth date.
Two more works did appear in 1915 via Remick, including a waltz and the instrumental Let's Trot, taking advantage of the fox trot craze sweeping the country. Given that the fox trot was not even a glimmer in 1910, it would make reports of her death that year somewhat premature. According to Nora Hulse, Let's Trot was dedicated to Mrs. Adele Strasburg Hyde, a well known dance teacher in Detroit. There is a possibility that Louise had accompanied some of her classes on the piano at some point prior to the composition. Between late 1918 and early 1920 the family had moved to Pittsfield, a far west Detroit suburb. Harry was still a manager for Pittman and Dean. During the subsequent decade Harry died, leaving Louise single once again. She is shown as widowed in the 1930 Census with Mary, who was still single, and a female lodger living with the pair. Mary was working in advertising as a sales promoter. Beyond this the trail currently grows cold, but efforts are underway to find a first marriage and death certificate for Louise, as well as verification for her potential son Frank. Any additional information would be very helpful.
Thanks as always to Ragtime Women historian Nora Hulse, for information on Gustin's Detroit demographics and on her first divorce and second marriage that led to more discoveries by the author.