Thomas E. Chickering
d. February 14, 1871 · American
Biography
Thomas E. Chickering, the eldest son of Jonas Chickering, was admitted to partnership with his father and brothers in 1852, when the firm became Chickering & Sons. He soon exhibited pronounced commercial talents and, as a man of the world, represented the firm with excellent results in social circles, making friends among artists, literary and scientific men. His promising career was prematurely cut short by his death on February 14, 1871, which made his brother C. Frank Chickering the head of the firm. A portrait of Thomas E. Chickering accompanies the text. From Spillane (1890): Thomas E. Chickering (referred to as Col. Thomas E. Chickering) was the oldest son of Jonas Chickering and a member of the original firm of Chickering & Sons. He learned piano-making under his father's care in the factory beginning at age seventeen, then devoted himself to the commercial side of the business. Admitted as a partner in 1852 together with his brothers C. Frank and George H. Chickering, he was largely identified with the firm's progress for over nineteen years, focusing principally on its wholesale department in Boston. He was well known in Boston's musical, literary, and art circles, with his name figuring prominently in the records of the Handel and Haydn Society and in connection with the great Boston Peace Jubilee. He died in his native Boston on February 14, 1871, a loss described as a great bereavement to the close-knit Chickering brothers.
Highlights
- Eldest of Jonas Chickering's three sons, admitted to partnership in 1852 forming Chickering & Sons
- Displayed pronounced commercial talents and represented the firm socially among artists and literary and scientific men
- Died prematurely on February 14, 1871
- Oldest son of Jonas Chickering; admitted as partner in 1852 alongside brothers C. Frank and George H. Chickering
- For upward of nineteen years was largely identified with the progress and career of Chickering & Sons, principally heading the wholesale department in Boston
- Prominent in Boston's musical, literary, and art circles, including the Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Peace Jubilee
Sources
Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 272, 273.
Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 261.
Public domain.