Henry Mason

Background

Henry Mason was born on October 10, 1831 and was the fourth son of Lowell Mason and Abigail (Gregory) Mason, was born in Brookline, Massachussets.

Education

Mason was educated in the Boston public schools. Like his brother William he completed his education abroad, studying at the universities of Göttingen, Paris, and Prague. On his return to America he entered the music store of Sylvanus B. Pond in New York and at the same time served as a church organist.

Career

In 1854 he left New York for Boston and with Emmons Hamlin, founded the Mason & Hamlin Organ Company, though he continued for a time as a church organist in Cambridge and was active as a music critic for various Boston newspapers. Mason's partner, who had an inventive mind, was very successful in improving the reed quality and tone-color of their instruments. In 1855 the firm brought out an Organ-Harmonium, an improvement on the existing reed-organ. It was provided with double bellows, making possible a greater volume of sound and the production of a continuous tone. With further improvements the instrument became the American Cabinet Organ, introduced in 1861, and under that name it became widely known. In 1882 the firm branched from organ construction to piano manufacturing, reorganizing as the Mason & Hamlin Organ and Piano Company. Insisting upon the maintenance of high standards of workmanship, the firm produced a piano of excellent quality. In the illustrious musical family of which he was a member, Henry Mason represented the creator of musical values in the mechanical and commercial fields, as his brother William did in those of concert pianism and pedagogy. He died in his home in Boston at the age of fifty-nine.

Achievements

• Mason was the founder of the Mason & Hamlin Organ Company,

Connections

In 1857 he had married Helen Augusta Palmer. One of his sons, Henry Lowell Mason, became the head of the firm of Mason & Hamlin in 1906.

Father:

Lowell Mason

8 January 1792 - 11 August 1872

Mother:

Abigail Gregory Mason

21 July 1797 - 11 October 1889

Brorther:

Lowell Mason, Jr

17 June 1823 - 18 October 1885

Wife:

Helen Augusta Palmer Mason

September 1836 - 28 June 1905

Son:

Henry Lowell Mason

17 February 1910 - 29 March 1986

Son:

Alan Gregory Mason

7 September 1861 - 15 October 1934

References

• Discourses on Miracles
• Pre-Historic Man; The First Settlers on the Western Continent Oriental Free Masons