Francis Shaw

Biography

Francis Shaw was a piano maker who came to Boston about 1804 from New York, beginning that year to make pianos on Chambers Street; a Boston Gazette notice of 1804 speaks of the arrival of an expert pianoforte and musical instrument maker from London, apparently referring to Shaw, though he seems to have lived a few years in New York first. Shaw holds a significant place in early Boston records as the taker-out of the first patent relating to improvements in pianofortes -- or in musical instruments of any kind -- ever granted by the National Government to a resident of Massachusetts, issued July 2, 1806. Beyond the fact that several of his pianos were said to survive, little is known of his subsequent career.

Highlights

• Came to Boston about 1804 from New York and began making pianos on Chambers Street.
• Took out the first patent relating to pianoforte improvements ever granted by the United States government to a resident of Massachusetts, issued July 2, 1806.
• Several of his pianos were said to still be in existence at the time of writing, though little else is known of his later career.

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 53, 54.

Public domain.