National Republican (Washington City

The First Organ in America.

The first organ ever brought to this country is still in constant use in St. John's chapel, Portsmouth, N. H. The Hon. Henry C. Oliver, of Salem, Mass., thus gives its history: "It is sometimes known as the Brattle organ, having been the property of the Hon. Thomas Brattle, who was born in Boston in 1658 and was treasurer of Harvard college, (where he graduated in 1676, one of a class of only three members from 1693 until 1713, the year of his death (unmarried) in Boston. Brattle square and Brattle street and the now extinct Brattle Street church, Boston, of which he was the leading founder, giving the land on which it was built, take name from him. The organ (not large) referred to was of English make and imported. Mr. Brattle in his will says: 'I give, dedicate, and devote my organ to the praise and glory of God, in the said church (Brattle street) if they accept thereof, and within a year after my decease, procure a sober person who can play skillfully thereon with a loud noise; otherwise to the Church of England (King's chapel), in this town, on the same terms and conditions, and on their non-acceptance, or discontinuance to use it as above, unto the college, and on their non-acceptance, to my nephew, William Brattle.' Brattle street church refused the gift, the opposition to organs in dissenting churches being then as great as it is now in churches in Scotland. But the parish of King's chapel (Stone's chapel) accepted the gift, complying with the terms and procuring a 'sober person,' Mr. Edward Enstone, from England, on a salary of £30 per annum. Here it was used until 1756, when it was replaced by a new and larger one from England. It was then sold to St. John's church, in Portsmouth—though rumor has it that it was for awhile in a church in Newburyport. It is now at least 175 years old, and yet in good order. Why, on 'its discontinuance,' it did not go to Harvard college, according to the terms of the will, is not known."