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

William Benjamin Dearborne Simmons: Born April 27, 1823 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; apprentice with E. & G. G. Hook firm of Boston, Massachusetts, age 15; with Thomas Appleton of Boston, Massachusetts; partner with Thomas McIntire in Simmons & McIntire of Boston, Massachusetts, 1845-1851; partner with George Fisher in Simmons & Fisher of Boston, Massachusetts, 1856-1857; partner with John Henry Willcox in Simmons & Willcox of Boston, Massachusetts, 1858-1861; operated W. B. D. Simmons & Co. of Boston, Massachusetts, 1860-1876; died October 31, 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Staff: Eadward A. Tilton.

W.B.D. Simmons may have been used as an alternate nameplate for W.B.D. Simmons & Co. -Ed.

Sources:

• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press) 1975. 135.
• Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England (Raleigh: The Sunbury Press) 1979. 412.