From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). Edited April 3, 2020 (Eberline). —

Charles F. Chadwick was a representative of J. W. Steere & Son of Springfield, Massachusetts; and was with the successor firm Steere Organ Company of Springfield, for 12 years, as factory superintendent, and vice president; he retired in 1918.* After retiring, he established his own service firm in Springfield, Massachusetts; before joining with the Hall Organ Co. of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1922. Chadwick was in the organ business for 40 years; he died October, 1937 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.

*If Chadwick retired in 1918, he can hardly have worked with the Steere Organ Company, since that name was adopted when the company was reorganized in 1919. See also the additional note below. —Ed.

Sources:

• The Diapason: September 1918, 2.
• The Diapason: October 1922, 1.
• The Diapason: November 1937, 9.

From Organ Database Builders editor Charles Eberline, June 23, 2018. —

Charles F. Chadwick was born in Holmes Hole (now Tisbury [the official town name], also known as Vineyard Haven [the name used by the library and post office]), Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in 1863.¹ In October 1884 Chadwick was advertising in the Vineyard Gazette as a piano tuner. In April 1889 he opened “Chadwick’s New Store” in Vineyard Haven. The store advertised roasted shelled peanuts, piano tuning, musical instruments and merchandise, stationery, the Vineyard Gazette, the Boston Globe, confectionery, fruit, and cigars. In 1891 he purchased the City Square Steam Laundry in Taunton, Massachusetts. In June 1897 he returned briefly to Vineyard Haven as a traveling piano and organ tuner. About 1906 he began work as a general sales manager for J. W. Steere and Son Organ Co.²

A note in the February 8, 1908, issue of The Music Trade Review reported: “Charles F. Chadwick, Chicago representative of the Hutchins-Votey [sic] Organ Co., has resigned and will return to his former connection—the J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co., of Springfield, Mass., whom he will represent as general agent through the country, with headquarters at the factory. James Topp has taken over the Hutchins-Votey assets in Chicago, as representative of the assignees of that concern, and will look after their trade in this section.”³ In 1912 Chadwick became the president of the J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co., as reported in the October 19, 1912, issue of The Music Trade Review:

The majority interest in the J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co., of this city, has passed out of the hands of the Steere family in which it has been for forty-five years to new owners.
The company has elected new officers as follows: President, Charles F. Chadwick; vice-president, Harry G. Fisk; treasurer, George O. Kingsbury, who also constitute the board of directors.
The officers they succeeded are Charles C. Spellman, president; Mrs. E. A. Bliss, sister of the late J. W. Steere, vice-president, and Fred R. Steere, son of the founder of the business [sic; no comma] treasurer and general manager. A large stock interest in the company, which is capitalized for $50,000, is held by Mr. Steere's widow, who lives in St. Louis, Mo.
Mr. Chadwick has been associated with the Steere Co. for six years as general sales manager, previous to which time he was Western representative of the Hutchings-Votey Organ Co., of Boston, with offices at Chicago. Mr. Kingsbury has been with the M. Steinert & Sons Co., of Boston, for the past ten years. Harry F. Van Wart, one of the most able and well-known expert organ builders in the trade, will continue to be the general superintendent of the plant.⁴

No later mention of Chadwick has been found in The Music Trade Review. The J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co. was reorganized as the Steere Organ Co. in 1919: “SPRINGFIELD, MASS., March 3.—Announcement has been made of the reorganization of the J. W. Steere & Son Organ Co., which will be known in the future as the Steere Organ Co., and will be controlled by Harry G. Fisk, George O. Kingsbury and Charles H. Beckwith. The new organization takes over the factory at Chestnut and Sharon streets, and plans to develop the business materially along new lines.”⁵ Chadwick died in Nova Scotia at the age of 73. His obituary noted that in recent years he had devoted himself to the business of tuning and repairing organs.⁶

 

1. “Main Street, Vineyard Haven, MA: Centre Street to Church Street: Site 27: Vincent's Paper Store (1885),” Martha’s Vineyard Museum, accessed June 10, 2018, http://history.vineyard.net/mainst/six/27/index.html. On the names of Tisbury, see “Island Towns,” Martha’s Vineyard Online, accessed June 20, 2018, http://mvol.com/island-towns/.
2. “Main Street, Vineyard Haven, MA.”
3. “The Trade in Chicago,” The Music Trade Review 46, no. 6 (February 8, 1908): 23, accessed June 7, 2018, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1908-46-6/23/.
4. “Steere Organ Co. Sold,” The Music Trade Review 55, no. 16 (October 19, 1912): 25, accessed 7 June 2018, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1912-55-16/27/. The story is dated October 12, 1912.
5. “Old Organ Company Reorganized,” The Music Trade Review 68, no. 10 (March 8, 1919): 44, accessed June 9, 2018, https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1919-68-10/46/.
6. “Main Street, Vineyard Haven, MA.” The obituary also stated, “Mr. Chadwick was in the employ of the J. W. Steere and Son Organ Co., for more than twenty years. Late in his career with the company he became president and was active as its head until fire destroyed the building, after which the company was dissolved." This statement appears to conflict with the information in The Music Trade Review. The Steere factory in Springfield, Massachusetts, burned on February 17, 1920, after which the firm purchased the former Johnson factory building in Westfield, Massachusetts, then occupied by the Horsewhip Company. Early in 1921 the Steere Organ Company was purchased by the Skinner Organ Company. See David L. Junchen, Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, vol. 2 (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1989), 634–35.