2004-10-30/2019-02-11 - From Builders editor Charles Eberline, August 13, 2018. - David Cannon, a mechanic, built an organ for the Second Church [Congregational] in the precinct of Mattapoisett in Rochester, Massachusetts, in 1840. Dr. Thomas Robbins, pastor of the church, recorded in his diary entry for the Sunday before July 4 of that year, "Our new organ performed and well. It is certainly a very fine one, made by one of our mechanics, David Cannon,â€1 who was Robbins-s next-door neighbor. In his diary entry for July 4, Robbins noted, "We had with our new organ excellent music.†On October 28, 1841, Robbins recorded that the congregation had broken ground for a new meeting house, which was dedicated on November 9, 1842.2 The history of Mattapoisett and Old Rochester does not state whether the organ was moved to the new meeting house, and nothing more is said of it. David Cannon is probably the David H. Cannon listed in Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850: "[CANNON], David, ch. Eliakim and Mary, Sept. 7, 1811. [David H., Sept. 8, G.R. 17.]â€3 His gravestone (photograph at Find a Grave) records that he was born on September 8, 1811, and died on September 1, 1886 (Find a Grave gives his place of birth as Rochester and his place of death as Mattapoisett; this information is not on the gravestone).4 Sources: Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts: Being a History of These Towns and Also in Part of Marion and a Portion of Wareham; Prepared under the Direction of a Committee of the Town of Mattapoisett, special Mattapoisett ed. (New York: Grafton Press, 1907), 235, Internet Archive, accessed April 11, 2018, https://archive.org/details/mattapoisettoldr00matt. Mattapoisett was set off as the Second Precinct of Rochester in 1735 and was incorporated as a separate town on May 20, 1857. Ibid., 76 and unnumbered page facing the copyright page. This may explain "either†in Barbara Owen-s information on Cannon: "DAVID CANNON, a mechanic, built an organ for a church in either Mattapoisett or Rochester, Massachusetts in 1840.†Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England (Raleigh: Sunbury Press, 1979), 399. Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts, 241. Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, vol. 1, Births (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1914), 67, Internet Archive, accessed March 20, 2018, https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordsofro01roch. The bracketed text is additional information that does not appear in the vital records; "G.R. 17†stands for "gravestone record, Cushing Cemetery, near Mendell-s Corner, Mattapoisett.†"David H. Cannon,†Find a Grave, accessed March 20, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126452228/david-h.-cannon.
2018-05-07/2019-02-11 - __________________________________________________________ / / / / Archived Note / / / / The following note is from a previous version of this entry; it has been superseded by the note above, which contains new information or corrects errors or inaccuracies. From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). - Built organs for Mattapoisett and Rochester, Massachusetts, c. 1840. Sources: Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 143. Barbara Owen, The Organ in New England (Raleigh: Sunbury Press, 1979), 399.
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