Unknown Builder
1860ca.

Updated through online information from Scot Huntington.
The organ was relocated to Whiting's care in the 1970s, through the Organ Clearing House. An electronic instrument had been in regular use here since the early 1960s. Following some minor rehabilitation, it was relocated by volunteers to an Episcopal Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania. When that church closed ca. 2013, the organ became the property of the Philadelphia diocese and is currently in storage on the Cathedral property(2016).

It is hoped if funding can be secured, to restore the organ on a movable platform for use in the Episcopal Cathedral as a movable chamber/continuo organ. The disposition is atypical for most organs of the period, but was virtually identical to an organ of similar vintage in nearby North Afton, New York, (a post-1865 tonal rebuild of an older organ)- junked in the 1980s.

The metal pipework is the product of different makers and the Gamba 8' is on a toeboard that once held an 8' treble wood flute. The presence of two pedal stops in an organ so small is a trait typical of builders of the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania school, although the wood Pedal Open Diapason 8' has certain characteristics that suggest it is younger than the other wood pipes in the organ. Coventry is the neighboring town to Guilford- the location of the first upstate New York organbuilding works- Elsworth Phelps (operating ca. 1815-ca. 1845) succeeded by his foreman Nathan Holt (died ca. 1868). The presence of an active organbuilder so close by in this remotely rural locale should be considered as one of a number of possible sources for this instrument.

This church sat on a hill and was visible from Guilford. The removal of this unusual organ was fortuitous as the architecturally stunning 199-year old church was struck by lightning and burned to the ground on the evening of June 4, 2003.

Sold to R. B. Whiting. Schwenksville, PA. [Not in this database there.]