Pipe Organ Database

See also: Methuen Organ Co.

From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Apprentice with Johnson firm of Westfield, Massachusetts; in Westfield, Massachusetts, 1860; with Henry Erben firm of New York City, NY, 1860-1862; with George Woods of Cambridge, Massachusetts, reed organs; partner with John P. Richardson in Treat & Richardson of Boston, Massachusetts, 1875-1876, reed organs; with Hutchings, Plaisted & Co. of Massachusetts, 1876; with Edward F. Searles in Methuen, Massachusetts, James Treat & Co.; firm renamed Methuen Organ Co., 1898; briefly partner with James Cole, in Cole & Treat, 1907; with Ernest M. Skinner firm of Massachusetts.

Patent #191,624; June 5, 1877; 'Eclipse' wind indicator.
Patent #220,737; October 21, 1879; pneumatic organ action.
Patent #416,974; December 10, 1889; pneumatic pipe organ action.
Patent #419,737; January 21, 1890; key desk.
Patent #428,706; May 27, 1890; pneumatic action.

Sources:

• The Diapason July 1915, 1.
• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 242.
• Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England (Raleigh: Sunbury Press, 1979), 414.