Pipe Organ Database

From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Jesse Woodberry was born 10 February, 1841 in England. He was the brother of James Woodberry, and father of Henry Woodberry, architect. He and his brother emigrated to the United States in the early 1880s and started with Hook & Hastings of Boston, Massachusetts. After leaving Hook & Hastings, he and his brother were partners with another English emigre and fellow Hook & Hastings alumus, James Cole, in Cole & Woodberry Brothers of Boston, 1886-1889. Jesse was then partner with Charles T. Harris in Woodberry & Harris of Boston, 1888-1893. He established his last venture, Jesse Woodberry & Co. of Boston, circa 1894, and continued there until he retired in 1910. Jesse Woodberry died 8 November, 1922 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Staff: Leslie Frazee; Herman O. Hitchcock; John E. Linhares; Edwin E. Smallman.

Patents:

• Patent #481,089; August 16, 1889; combination stop action.
• Patent #489,887; January 10, 1893; stop action.

Sources:

• The Diapason, December 1922, 19.
• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 246.
• Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England (Raleigh: Sunbury Press, 1979), 417.