John Osborn

Biography

John Osborn is described as the most talented of Benjamin Crehore's pupils and started in business for himself in 1815. It was in Osborn's shop that Jonas Chickering learned the art of piano making, studying with him until 1823. In that year James Stewart, who had come from Baltimore to enter partnership with Osborn, quarreled with him and instead proposed partnership to Chickering, leading to the formation of Stewart & Chickering. The text gives no birth or death dates for Osborn and no further account of his own business after Chickering's departure. John Osborn is mentioned as the piano-making teacher of Francis Putnam Burns, who studied under him before setting up his own business in 1835. Dolge characterizes Osborn with the single descriptive phrase 'the genial John Osborn,' suggesting a well-liked figure in the trade, but supplies no further biographical detail, dates, firm affiliation, or independent career information about him beyond his role in training Burns. John Osborn is named as one of the two most talented pupils of Benjamin Crehore in the Boston school of piano making, founded about 1792 at Milton, near Boston. His fellow pupil was Alpheus Babcock, later noted for inventing the full iron frame. The text gives no further biographical information about Osborn's own career or output beyond this identification as a leading student of the Boston school. John Osborn came from Boston to Albany in 1829 and made pianos for Meacham & Company, dealers in musical instruments -- probably the first piano factory west of New York City. He was part of a coterie of piano makers active in Albany during the 1830s whose influence on the American piano industry proved lasting. From Spillane (1890): John Osborn moved to New York from Albany in early 1830, setting up business at 184 Chambers Street. He rapidly became one of the city's most celebrated piano makers, winning the gold medal at the Mechanics' Institute exhibition in both 1833 and 1834 for his grand and square pianos, and was described as the technical progenitor and early teacher of Jonas Chickering. A man of superior intellect but belligerent temperament, in 1833 he published a combative business announcement accusing foreign-born New York and Boston makers of having pilfered American methods while sneering at native ability. In January 1834 he began erecting a large new factory at Third Avenue and Fourteenth Street. The strain of the undertaking apparently unbalanced him: according to a colleague's account relayed by George H. Chickering, Osborn became deranged and died by suicide, jumping from a window on Fourteenth Street. His business was subsequently purchased by Stodart, Worcester & Dunham. John Osborn was one of Crehore's cleverest apprentices and went into business for himself in 1815 at the back of 3 Newbury Street, Boston, quickly becoming noted for the superiority of his pianos. By 1819 he had introduced his instruments into general notice in New York and Philadelphia, and newspaper items from 1820-24 indicate he was ranked as the very best piano-maker in the country. In 1819 he moved to Orange Street, where his shop trained a notable group of apprentices, including Jonas Chickering, Lemanuel and Timothy Gilbert, and, of lesser eventual note, William Danforth, John Dwight, and Elijah Bullard. Around 1820 the Scottish maker James Stewart, newly arrived from Baltimore, became his partner, but the two quarreled after a short time and separated, with Stewart going on to entice Osborn's own apprentice Jonas Chickering into a rival partnership. John Osborn was a piano-maker originally of Boston who, according to James A. Gray, made the pianofortes sold by Meacham & Company of Albany and, about 1835, was a prominent manufacturer in New York. In 1829 Osborn settled in Albany, entering a brief partnership with G. King, but remained only about nine months before relocating to New York and starting a business on Chambers Street. He was of a restless disposition, constantly changing his place of business both in Boston and elsewhere, and was described as having a sensitively exacting nature -- a trait consistent with his ability as one of the most nervously progressive pianoforte improvers of his time. This temperament ultimately led to insanity and suicide. John Osborn was a Boston-born piano maker whom Spillane calls 'unfortunate and clever.' He built a factory on Third Avenue and Fourteenth Street, New York, which became an historic landmark in the trade, used as a piano-construction shop until it was torn down in 1880. After Osborn's death, his business plant was purchased by the newly formed firm of Stodart, Worcester & Dunham, whose founder Horatio Worcester had reportedly worked in Osborn's shop at the time of his death. The building was later occupied successively by Worcester alone, by Pirsson, by Dunham & Sons, and by Decker & Son. John Osborn was, in Spillane's assessment, one of the leading piano makers in the United States from 1815 until his death in New York in 1835. He operated successive Boston addresses — 12 Orange Street (1820-21), 1 Boyleston Square (1822-23), and 471 Washington Street (through the end of 1829) — before relocating to Albany. Jonas Chickering was formally employed and trained in Osborn's shop, where he learned pianoforte making alongside cabinet maker Timothy Gilbert. Osborn's later fate in New York is noted as being addressed in another chapter of the book. John Osborn was a Boston piano-maker described by Spillane as 'that clever man' under whom Lemanuel and Timothy Gilbert, and later Ebenezer R. Currier, apprenticed before establishing their own businesses. No further biographical detail about Osborn himself is given in this portion of the text. John Osborn trained in Benjamin Crehore's workshop in Milton, near Boston. Spillane names him, along with the Babcock brothers Lewis and Alpheus, as one of the notable figures ('bright lights') in early American piano-making history who emerged from that workshop. John Osborn owned the historic building at the corner of Fourteenth Street and Third Avenue in New York, which Decker & Son occupied from 1868 until 1880 as the building's last tenants. Osborn was noted as the first employer of Jonas Chickering.

Highlights

• One of Benjamin Crehore's two most talented pupils in the Boston school of piano making, alongside Alpheus Babcock.
• The most talented of Benjamin Crehore's pupils; started his own business in 1815
• Jonas Chickering learned piano making in Osborn's shop and studied under him until 1823
• Came from Boston to Albany in 1829 to make pianos for Meacham & Company, probably the first piano factory west of New York City
• Described as 'the genial John Osborn,' under whom Francis Putnam Burns studied piano making.
• Trained in Benjamin Crehore's Milton workshop, described as one of the 'bright lights' in early Boston piano-making history.
• One of Crehore's cleverest apprentices; opened his own shop in 1815 and was soon ranked the best piano-maker in the country.
• By 1819 had introduced his instruments into general notice in New York and Philadelphia.
• Trained apprentices including Jonas Chickering, Lemanuel and Timothy Gilbert, William Danforth, John Dwight, and Elijah Bullard; briefly partnered with James Stewart.
• One of the leading US piano makers from 1815 until his death in New York in 1835
• Trained Jonas Chickering and Timothy Gilbert in his Boston shop
• Operated successive Boston shops before relocating to Albany at the end of 1829
• Master to whom Lemanuel and Timothy Gilbert, and later Ebenezer R. Currier, apprenticed as piano-makers.
• Described by Spillane as 'that clever man Osborn.'
• A Boston maker who built pianos for Meacham & Company of Albany and, about 1835, was prominent as a New York manufacturer
• Settled briefly in Albany in 1829 in partnership with G. King before moving to New York's Chambers Street after about nine months
• Restless and 'sensitively exacting' by nature, one of the most progressive piano improvers of his time; his career ended in insanity and suicide
• Won gold medals at the Mechanics' Institute exhibition in 1833 and 1834 for his grand and square pianos
• Described as the technical progenitor and early teacher of Jonas Chickering
• Became deranged from the strain of building a new factory and died by suicide, jumping from a window on Fourteenth Street
• Boston-born piano maker described by Spillane as 'unfortunate and clever'
• Built the Third Avenue/Fourteenth Street New York factory later used by Stodart, Worcester & Dunham and successive firms until 1880
• His business was purchased by Stodart, Worcester & Dunham after his death
• Owned the historic building at Fourteenth Street and Third Avenue, New York, later occupied by Decker & Son
• Was the first employer of Jonas Chickering

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 270, 287.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 54, 56, 57, 87, 88, 89, 96, 137, 138, 139, 156, 157, 181, 239.

Public domain.