Unknown Builder
1840ca.

Updated through online information from Michael Smith. -- From church's Web site: In June 2002 there was an organ recital to celebrate the restoration of the 170 year-old, hand-pumped organ. Jay Zoller, designer for the Andover Organ Company and organ master at St. Andrew-s Church, Hopkinton made "a joyful noise unto the Lord.�

Of the 170 year history of the St. John-s, Dunbarton organ, very little in the way of fact is known. During the recent restoration by the Andover Organ Company (2002), we discovered nothing in the way of internal clues which would direct our attention to a particular builder or year. The "Empire� style of the case would point to the late 1830-s as a likely time that it was built. There were a number of farmers in New England who built organs during the slow winter months. Some of these chamber organs were rather crude in their inner workings. However, the St. John-s organ shows more refinement than some of these although not as meticulously finished as the work of the Hooks later in the century and whose name has been associated with the organ. The Hook name appears written on low C of the Stopped Diapason and on one rear panel, but it is probably because the Hooks took it in trade at some point in its history. A possibility for a builder might be J. D. Nutter of Mont Vernon who was known to have built some organs about that time. The case was undoubtedly built separately by a local cabinet maker. We do know that it belonged to St. Paul-s School, Concord, and was acquired from them in the early 1900-s. In any event, it is a delightful little organ and one of the few organs in the country in use today which is still pumped by hand.