Henry Hazelton

Biography

Henry Hazelton was born in New York City in 1816 and served a seven-year apprenticeship with Dubois & Stodart, being released in 1831. He then joined the Albany colony of piano makers, starting the firm of Hazelton, Talbot & Lyon in 1840. When that venture did not meet his expectations, he returned to New York and, in 1850, joined his brother Frederick under the name F. & H. Hazelton. A younger brother, John, was later admitted to partnership and the firm became Hazelton Brothers. Dolge praises Henry as a man who, over more than sixty years, retained the respect and friendship of his competitors, calling all three Hazelton brothers artisans of high order who relied purely on product quality rather than commercial tactics, building a name so trusted that it became associated with New York's old aristocratic families. A portrait of Henry Hazelton accompanies the text. Henry Hazelton came from New York to Albany to work for the firm of Boardman & Gray, joining the coterie of piano makers active there during the 1830s whose influence on American piano making proved lasting. From Spillane (1890): Henry Hazelton was born in New York in 1816 and apprenticed to Dubois & Stodart beginning in 1831 for a seven-year term, learning piano construction from case-making upward alongside skilled English and German workmen. In 1834 he witnessed the first American piano-makers' strike, which broke out at Dubois & Stodart's shop over the employment of German workmen. In May 1838 he left New York for Albany with James A. Gray and several other young makers, entering the shop of William G. Boardman, where he was noted as a finished workman. He later manufactured Hazelton pianos in Albany, taking on partners A. G. Lyon and then Talbot to form Hazelton, Lyon & Talbot. When the venture did not meet his hopes for Albany's growth, he returned to New York by the end of 1841. In 1850 he and his brother Frederick founded F. & H. Hazelton, soon joined by brother John, renaming the firm Hazelton Brothers. The firm was among the first in New York to adopt the full iron frame and enlarged square case. As of the book's writing, Henry, with brothers John and nephew Samuel, still constituted Hazelton Brothers, and the firm's upright-piano scale developments were attributed to his genius. Henry Hazelton was the senior member and founder of the New York firm Hazelton Brothers, which began business in 1850. Spillane, who drew on Hazelton as a source for many facts concerning Albany and New York piano-making before 1830, found his statements invariably correct whenever checked against authentic data. Hazelton was noted for being entirely devoid of personal, sectarian, or racial prejudice in his assessments of past and present piano houses, a trait Spillane singles out as characteristic of the man who had led his firm for so many years. Spillane names Hazelton, alongside Jonas Chickering, James A. Gray, and Henry F. Miller, as an example of the caliber of citizen produced by American democratic institutions. A portrait of Hazelton accompanies the text. Henry Hazelton completed his apprenticeship in the shop of Stodart & Dubois in New York City in company with James A. Gray, who would go on to found Boardman & Gray. William Boardman subsequently engaged Hazelton, along with Gray, to come work in his Albany shop. Hazelton went on to work for a short time in partnership with Lyon & Talbot in Albany, as referenced in a letter from James A. Gray recounting the city's piano-making firms. He later returned to his native city of New York. Elsewhere in the book he is identified with the firm of Hazelton Brothers. The text notes he is 'mentioned in various points of reference elsewhere,' indicating a fuller account of his career appears in other chapters not covered here. Henry Hazelton is credited by Spillane with preserving a historically significant book of fixed prices issued by the first piano-makers' trade society formed in the United States, organized in New York following a general trade strike in 1834 provoked by ill treatment of German journeymen. Hazelton's courtesy in making the book available allowed Spillane to reproduce the society's preamble, which described the journeymen pianoforte-makers' aim of associating to regulate and equalize their prices. Henry Hazelton, later of the firm Hazelton Brothers and described as one of the oldest men in the trade, learned the piano-making business at Dubois & Stodart's New York shop, having been apprenticed there in 1831, when the firm's place of business was on Broadway. Henry Hazelton is cited by Spillane as remembering Thomas Loud, Sr.'s piano shop on Broadway perfectly well, including the sign advertising Loud as a 'pianoforte-maker from London.' No further biographical detail is given here. Henry Hazelton is cited by Spillane as a source who personally remembered Thomas Gibson's piano shop in Barclay Street, New York, helping to corroborate the history of the Gibson & Davis pianoforte-making partnership.

Highlights

• Came from New York to Albany to work for Boardman & Gray
• Born in New York City in 1816; served a seven-year apprenticeship with Dubois & Stodart, released in 1831.
• Joined the Albany piano-making colony and in 1840 started the firm of Hazelton, Talbot & Lyon.
• Returned to New York and, with his brothers Frederick and later John, built the firm into Hazelton Brothers, prized by New York's 'Knickerbocker aristocracy.'
• Cited by Spillane as remembering Thomas Gibson's shop in Barclay Street, serving as a source for the Gibson & Davis history.
• Described as one of the oldest men in the piano trade at the time of writing.
• Apprenticed at Dubois & Stodart's New York shop beginning in 1831.
• Apprenticed at Stodart & Dubois' shop in New York alongside James A. Gray
• Was engaged by William Boardman to work in his Albany shop
• Briefly partnered with Lyon & Talbot in Albany before returning to New York, where he was later associated with Hazelton Brothers
• An old New York piano-trade figure who recalled Thomas Loud, Sr.'s shop on Broadway
• Preserved a rare price-book issued by the first piano-makers' trade society in New York, organized after an 1834 strike, and shared it with Spillane
• Senior member and founder of Hazelton Brothers, begun in 1850
• A key source for Spillane on Albany and early New York piano-making history, and consistently accurate
• Noted for being entirely devoid of personal, sectarian, or racial prejudice
• Portrait included in the text
• Born in New York in 1816; apprenticed to Dubois & Stodart from 1831 for seven years, learning piano making from case-making upward
• Witnessed the first American piano-makers' strike (1834) while apprenticed at Dubois & Stodart
• Co-founded the firm eventually known as Hazelton Brothers with his brothers Frederick and John, and is credited with the genius behind its upright piano scales

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 289.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 102, 108, 143, 144, 188, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204.

Public domain.