James Whiting Vose

Biography

James Whiting Vose was born in the old town of Milton, Massachusetts—the same town where Crehore built his first piano—on October 21, 1818. He learned the cabinetmaker's trade and gained experience in various Boston factories before making his first piano in 1851, laying the foundation for a business Dolge counts among the leaders of the American piano industry. He educated his three sons in every branch of the business, admitted them to partnership, and changed the firm's name to Vose & Sons; the concern was incorporated in 1889 with stock owned by the Vose family. Vose served as the first president of the Vose & Sons' Piano Company for a number of years. After his retirement, his eldest son, Willard A. Vose, succeeded him as president and manager, maintaining and improving the firm's distinguished standing. A portrait of James Whiting Vose accompanies the text. From Spillane (1890): J. W. Vose, founder and senior member of Vose & Sons, was a native of Milton, Mass. — the birthplace of Crehore — where he was born in 1818. He served an old-fashioned apprentice course in Milton and Boston, first learning cabinet-making, and at twenty became a piano maker. He subsequently acquired varied experience in various Boston shops before founding his own business in 1851, one of the older Boston piano houses by the time of writing. The firm he headed, Vose & Sons, grew to include his sons Irving B., Willard A., and Julien W. Vose, all trained piano makers educated in Boston.

Highlights

• Born in Milton, Massachusetts, October 21, 1818, in the same town where Crehore built his first piano.
• Made his first piano in 1851 after learning cabinetmaking and gaining experience in Boston factories; founded a business that became one of the leading American piano makers.
• Educated his three sons in the business, forming Vose & Sons, incorporated in 1889, and served as the company's first president.
• Born in Milton, Mass., in 1818 — also the birthplace of Crehore
• Learned cabinet-making, then became a piano maker at age twenty
• Founded Vose & Sons in Boston in 1851

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 293, 294.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 172, 173.

Public domain.