From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991, rev. ed., 1997, with updated information). -

Born December 7, 1829 in Belper, Derbyshire, England; son of Joseph Gratian (1784-1863) organbuilder of Belper, England; Father of John William Gratian; immigrated to the United States, 1857; in Quincy, Illinois; established firm in Alton, Illinois, 1858; succeeded by his son, [John Gratian] .

Patent #211,989; February 4, 1879; crescendo pedal mechanism.

Sources:

• Alton Telegraph June 11, 1897.


• Company literature of 1922.


• The Diapason, January 1934, 19.


• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 306.


• Elizabeth Towne Schmitt.


• The Tracker, 9:3, 16.


• The American Organist, August 1965, 20.


• Barbara Owen.