Henry Kirk White

Biography

Henry Kirk White was born and raised on a farm near Hartford, Connecticut, descended from English settlers who landed at Nantasket, Massachusetts, in 1630. Rather than farming, he pursued music, becoming a singing teacher and chorus leader by age twenty despite no formal musical education. He learned piano and organ tuning and traveled the country practicing that trade, gaining deep knowledge of instrument construction. In 1845 he began making musical instruments, manufactured melodeons at New London two years later, and moved his factory to Washington, New Jersey, in 1853. The Civil War forced him to relocate to Philadelphia as a tuner and repairer. In 1865 the Estey Organ Company hired him as superintendent of its tuning department in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he worked twelve years and trained his three sons in organ making. In 1877, prompted by H. C. Wilcox, the family moved to Meriden, Connecticut, and founded the Wilcox & White Organ Company. Henry Kirk White died January 13, 1907.

Highlights

• Self-taught musician from a Connecticut farm who became a singing teacher and chorus leader by age twenty
• Learned piano and organ tuning, then began manufacturing musical instruments in 1845 and melodeons in 1847
• Co-founded the Wilcox & White Organ Company with his sons in 1877 after twelve years superintending Estey's tuning department

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 367, 368.

Public domain.