Russell Hallet
co-founded firm c. 1835
Biography
Russell Hallet was a member of the Brown & Hallet combination whose firm reorganized as Hallet, Davis & Company, composed of Hallet, George H. Davis, and Henry Allen. When Davis withdrew to form a separate partnership with F. B. Hallet, Russell Hallet and Henry Allen carried on as Hallet & Allen. That firm subsequently took William Cumston into partnership, a practical piano maker and inventor, and upon Allen's later withdrawal the business became Hallet & Cumston, which the text says continued down to its own day (over forty years) as a popular-priced instrument maker. Russell Hallet co-founded the Boston piano firm of Brown & Hallet around 1835, furnishing the financial backing for the enterprise while his partner Edwin Brown, a Chickering-trained maker, supplied the technical expertise. The firm's reasonably priced pianos gained a strong reputation in New England by the early 1840s and stood as a precursor to later Boston firms including Hallet & Cumston, Hallet & Davis, Woodward & Brown, and Henry F.
Highlights
- Furnished the financial backing for Brown & Hallet, Boston, co-founded with Edwin Brown around 1835.
- Founding partner of Hallet, Davis & Company alongside George H. Davis and Henry Allen
- After Davis's withdrawal, formed Hallet & Allen with Henry Allen
- That firm evolved into Hallet & Cumston after William Cumston was admitted as partner
Source
Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 165, 167, 168.
Public domain.