Pipe Organ Database

For further information, see:

Farrand & Votey 1887-1897 - Detroit: Partnership of William Farrand & Edwin Votey, building reed organs, added pipe organ manufacturing 1889

Votey Organ Co. 1897-1899 - Detroit: Votey continues pipe organ building after partnership ends

Aeolian-Votey 1899-1901 - Detroit: Votey merges with Aeolian

Hutchings-Votey Organ Co. 1901-1908 - Boston, then Cambridge, Massachusetts: Votey leaves Aeolian-Votey and forms partnership with George Hutchings

Aeolian 1908-1927, Garwood New Jersey - Votey returns to Aeolian

Aeolian-Votey 1927-1931 Garwood, New Jersey - Votey firm reorganized as Aeolian-Votey

Edwin Votey died in 1931, Aeolian-Votey became Aeolian. The organ department of Aeolian merged with the Skinner Organ Co. of Boston, Massachusetts to form Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co. on January 2, 1932.

Patents held:

• Patent #348,505; August 31, 1886; organ case.
• Patent #374,721; September 23, 1887; reed organ.
• Patent #374,721; December 13, 1887; reed organ.
• Patent #407,800; July 30, 1889; reed organ.
• Patent #407,801; July 30, 1889; mechanical organ.
• Patent #407,802; July 30, 1889; driving and governing mechanism.
• Patent #422,100; February 25, 1890; organ action.
• Patent #468,509; February 9, 1892; pipe.
• Patent #509,850; November 28, 1893; adjustable combination pedal.
• Patent #546,834; September 24, 1895; electromagnet.
• Patent #793,697; July 4, 1905; pneumatic coupler.
• Patent #1,727,144; September 3, 1929; electropneumatic swell.
• Patent #374,722; December 13, 1887; reed organ. (jointly with J. Courville)
• Patent #462,784; November 10, 1891; windchest. (jointly with William D. Wood.)
• Patent #475,831; May 31, 1892; windchest
• Patent #475,832; May 31, 1892; fresh wind box
• Patent #536,975; August 2, 1895; electric pipe valve
• Patent #536,976; August 2, 1895; pneumatic action.
• Patent #536,977; August 2, 1895; electromagnet. (jointly with William D. Wood and William B. Fleming.)
• Patent #536,978; August 2, 1895; electropneumatic action.
• Patent #547,568; October 8, 1895; electric key action

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

Born 1856 in Ovid, New York; Edwin Votey apprenticed with J. Estey & Co., manufacturer of reed organs, in Brattleboro, Vermont, 1873;

By 1883, Votey was manager of Whitney Organ Co., manufacturer of reed organs, in Detroit, Michigan; In 1890, Clark J. Whitney sold his interest in Whitney Organ Co. to Votey and the firm's Secretary/Treasurer, William R. Farrand. The two men reorganized as Farrand & Votey; they began pipe organ work with the acquisition of Granville Wood & Son Pipe Organ Co. in 1889. In 1893, they acquired the assets of the Roosevelt firm of New York City, New York. Farrand and Votey separated in 1897, Votey operated the pipe organ business as Votey Organ Co., while Farrand continued the reed organ business as Farrand Organ Co.

Votey Organ Co. merged with Aeolian Co. of New York City as the Aeolian-Votey Organ Co. of Detroit, Michigan in 1899. Votey left the firm, 1901; and became a partner with George S. Hutchings of Boston, Massachusetts, in Hutchings-Votey Organ Co. of Boston from 1901-1907; He returned to the Aeolian firm —now located in Garwood New Jersey— in 1907, and became vice president in 1916; Votey died January 21, 1931 in Summit, New Jersey.

Sources:

• The Diapason February 1931, 2.
• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 296.
• The Tracker 32:2 (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1988), 18.