Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 127
Scan 127
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
11 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 105. See the scan on archive.org.
1Salem, Massachusetts. "His shop was the training school of the brothers Lewis and Alpheus Babcock [of Milton] who served their apprenticeship there." 4 He also made some uprights but they failed to stay in tune. As Peter von Hagen Jr. was in actual partnership with Crehore from [address hidden] thinks that the former was connected with the production of Crehore's first pianoforte. At least he tuned the pianofortes. These were sold first in a warehouse on [address hidden] and after 1805 on [address hidden]. The business failed because of the competition of Mallet & Shaw.
3Other instrument makers prominent in the early nineteenth century were William and Adam Bent. "A press notice of 1799 speaks of William Bent as an expert mechanic whose grand piano attracted much attention." 5 This business apparently started in 1798 as Bent & Green 6 at [address hidden] From 1800 to 1807 William and Adam Bent were musical instrument makers at [address hidden] Then William Bent alone made pianofortes first at [address hidden] and then at [address hidden] about 1809. When Mr. Appleton visited the Bents' shop in 1803 he found them finishing off two pianoforte cases, veneered with bird's-eye maple, which was about that time first introduced as an ornamental wood. He took particular notice of this because he was then an apprentice in cabinet-making. According to Mr. Appleton, "William Bent invented the first leather splitting machine, got a patent on it, … and went to Philadelphia, where he carried on a leather business. Adam also retired from business and became a land speculator." 7
5When William Bent moved to Philadelphia, Lewis Babcock and his younger brother Alpheus had a shop on [address hidden]. In 1810 7 they joined with Thomas Appleton, then a pipe organ manufacturer, and the Hayts brothers, Charles and Elna, importers of music and musical instruments, in putting up a large building on [address hidden], on the site of the birthplace of Benjamin Franklin, for the manufacture of pianofortes and organs under the name of Hayts, Babcock & Appleton. Crehore, then rather an old man, worked for them for a time. "James Cogwell, at that time accounted the best Cabinet-maker in Boston, was persuaded by Mr. Babcock to give up that business and take charge of making the cases for the instru-
74 American History and Encyclopedia of Music p. 317.
85 Ibid p. 318.
96 See section on Band, Orchestral, Fretted and Miscellaneous Instruments p. 195.
107 American Musician. "The Early Boston Piano Makers," July 2, 1887, Mr. Appleton's Statement.
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