2004-10-30/2019-04-29 - From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991, rev. ed., 1997, with updated information). - Born December 7, 1829 in Belper, Derbyshire, England; son of Joseph Gratian (1784-1863) organbuilder of Belper, England; Father of John William Gratian; immigrated to the United States, 1857; in Quincy, Illinois; established firm in Alton, Illinois, 1858; succeeded by his son, [John Gratian] . Patent #211,989; February 4, 1879; crescendo pedal mechanism. Sources: Alton Telegraph June 11, 1897. Company literature of 1922. The Diapason, January 1934, 19. Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 306. Elizabeth Towne Schmitt. The Tracker, 9:3, 16. The American Organist, August 1965, 20. Barbara Owen.
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