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 168
Scan 168
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
16 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 142. See the scan on archive.org.
1was described by Charles Shaw as "remarkable for the sweetness of its tones." 8
3This in turn was partly or wholly replaced by William Goodrich in 1821. It is considered that he retained the Johnston case as the middle part of the organ front, adding to it on both sides to provide room for his larger organ of 2 manuals and 16 stops. According to the church records his pay was $1200 and the old organ. The Goodrich organ was repaired in 1834, possibly by Stevens & Gayetty who acquired Mr. Goodrich's business after his death. In 1884 Hutchings, Plaisted & Co. rebuilt this and placed the Stevens organ from Trinity, Lawrence, behind the old case. 9 This organ still has a tracker-action.
5Another early organ was one belonging to a mysterious Richard Halliburton, who received permission from Christ Church, Boston, May 10, 1738, to place and fix up his organ in the church belfry for his use, and safekeeping in case of fire, together with the right to remove it when he desired.
7In [address hidden] Peter's Church (Episcopal) of Salem, purchased by subscription an imported organ. A footnote in Foote's Annals of King's Chapel states that John Clark had leave to put up his organ in St. Peter's, 10 while Henry K. Oliver states that this was built by John Clarke of London. According to the latter, "In 1754 the parish procured another made by Thomas Johnston of Boston, and presented its old one to the Episcopal Parish of St. Michael's in Marblehead; . . . This organ of 1754 was, in 1770, exchanged for another, and the latter for another in 1819" 11 "imported from England by Dr. B. L. Oliver who had it in his private residence, and who almost neglected his profession, so fond was he of playing upon this instrument." 12 The Hooks placed a two manual organ here in 1844 and Hutchings has replaced one which has also been rebuilt.
9Who built the first organ in this country seems to be in dispute, for Mr. Lahee states that the first pipe organ completed in this country was built by John Clemm and placed in Trinity Church,
118 Shaw, Charles. A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, 1817. Boston, Oliver Spear, p. 258.
129 Statement by a member of the Hutchings company to William B. Goodwin, organ builder, Lowell, Mass.
1310 Foote, Henry Wilder. Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan Age of New England to the Present Day, 1882. Boston, footnote p. 210.
1411 This information disagrees with the account in Ancestry of Lawrence Williams p. 177. Since Mr. Oliver stated that he played on the Oliver organ in 1823 it would seem likely that he knew about the previous organs.
1512 Visitor's Guide to Salem. Published by the Essex Institute 1927, St. Peter's Church, p. 156.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.