The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

In 1894, my wife’s Great-Grandmother, Sophie Fischer, started her new life in America. Born in 1873 in Bayern, Bavaria, she soon married her husband, August Balling, and the two of them lived and worked as farm hands saving until they could buy their own farm in Warsaw, New York. We don’t know many details of Sophie, but we have many artifacts of her life and the subsequent generations that followed.

One artifact is our Edison Home Phonograph with Hawthorn and Sheble red Morning glory horn, which we are very proud to still use and display as a cherished family heirloom.

Another heirloom that we've only recently discovered is a violin that we brought home with us in many, many loads from my wife’s mother’s home a couple of years ago, after we were forced to sell it to pay for her medical care. She has advanced Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s one of the few things we were able to keep for ourselves after selling as much as we could because of space considerations and out of financial necessity for her.

We speculate that Sophie played this violin and the tradition was passed down to her Granddaughter, my wife’s mother, as we know she played one herself.

When cleaning it, I noticed that it had a label in the case that was the same Mackie Music Co. that George F. Paul and Timothy C. Fabrizio had mentioned in their book, A World of Antique Phonographs, on page 42.

The story grows.

Very recently, I was doing my daily search on the local Craigslist, and noticed an Edison Standard 4 latch “Suitcase” Phonograph listed for sale. It had the Mackie Music Co. dealer tag on the cover. I emailed George P. and asked him if he had seen it and he told me he had and I asked him if it would be a good purchase. His response was, "...I think that one of us should buy it", so I called the guy, jumped in the car and went to look at it. It was missing the Automatic reproducer, horn and shaver/swarf box, also the belt and mainspring were broken.

 I purchased a new mainspring from Ron Sitko and after I discovered I couldn't get it into the spring barrel with using just my two hands, took it over to George P’s and he graciously did it for me. Thank you, George! I made a new belt and replaced the missing reproducer with a Model C with sidearm and had a 14“ brass bell horn to use until I procure an original all brass one.

Here are a few pictures of them together:
The newspaper I placed in the picture is the "Sheldon Democrat" issue of September 26, 1912 that gave notice of Sophie Balling's eldest son, Ralph, receiving confirmation during the dedication of St. Joseph's Church, in Varysburg, NY. He was born in 1900, the same year that this particular Model A Standard Phonograph was manufactured.

I also placed my Eagle in the background, as it presumably would have been pushed back to allow for the new (and expensive) Standard.

A short history of the Mackie Piano, Organ and Music Co. that I found on the web:

From the book:
Rochester and the Post Express; A history of the City of Rochester from the earliest times-the pioneers and their predecessors - frontier life in the Genesee country - biographical sketches; With a record of the Post Express 
Compiled for The Post Express Printing Company by John Devoy, 1895
(pg. 213)

HENRY S. MACKIE
 Henry S. Mackie was educated in the public schools of this city, and is a graduate of the Free Academy and of the University of Rochester. In early years he was prepared for a business career by education and successive trips to Europe. In 1840 his father, William S. Mackie, established in this city a music house which soon became very prosperous. In after years the son became associated with his father in conducting the enterprise, the firm's name being first Wm. S. Mackie & Son and later on Henry S. Mackie & Company. In March, 1890, the business had grown to such proportions that the house was duly incorporated under the laws of the State, with a capital stock, fully paid up, of $100,000, and the present style adopted, the officers of the company being: H. S. Mackie, president and treasurer; Samuel Ledes, vice-president; John J. Haller, secretary. Mr. Mackie, the head of this extensive enterprise, is one of Rochester's most respected citizens. Both in commercial and in social circles he is highly regarded. He is an enthusiastic devotee to art; is an extensive real estate owner; president and director of several land and loan associations; a stockholder in the Rochester Trust and Safe Deposit company, Genesee Fruit company, Electric Light company and other home and foreign companies; he is also a highly valued member of the Chamber of Commerce and on a number of its important committees. He is past eminent commander of Cyrene Commandery Knights Templar; a Scottish Rite Mason, thirty-second degree; commodore of the Rochester Yacht club and generally active and interested in the development and prosperity of Rochester. Mr. Mackie married the daughter of the late Colonel William S. Thompson and has a family of three sons and one daughter.

Image and text courtesy: http://www.libraryweb.org/~digitized/bo ... xpress.pdf

A short expose was written in the Music Trade Review, October 26, 1895 on pg. 16 with the following tribute:

Mackie Piano, Organ and Music Co. Rochester, NY is one of the old established concerns in the State, having been founded in 1840. The business has grown with unabated success until it now enjoys the reputation of being one of the largest music houses in the Empire State. The entire Mackie Block is occupied in the conduct of the Mackie business, each of the five floors being devoted to some of the music departments, and all are systematically arranged and conducted. In the sheet music and book department every publication intended for vocal, instrumental, orchestral or brass band purposes is found, and the collection is daily increased by the arrival of fresh productions and creations. Every detail of this elaborate music emporium is carefully conducted, and the high standing attained by the company is well merited reward for their efforts in giving the devotees of music in Western New York such an admirable institution. We present to our readers a portrait of Mr. Henry S. Mackie, president and treasurer, Mr. Samuel W. Ledes, vice president, and John J. Haller, the secretary of the Mackie Piano, Organ and Music Co.

Courtesy: http://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1895-2 ... -14-16.pdf

I would like to thank George F. Paul for his continuing inspiration and help.

What a fascinating and interesting story. You are very fortunate to have nice family heirlooms, and a machine with local history. Those items are real treasures.
Harvey Kravitz

Thank you Harvey.

Can you guys believe that Fran has been at this for only about 4 months? I'm waiting for his first book - - at this rate, due out in time for Christmas!

Here's my only Mackie artifact...

George P.

Thanks George for the kind words.

I don't know how you manage to write as much as you do, it's very difficult. And that was short!

Good work Fran.
I enjoy finding out about these things as well.
Thanks for sharing.

James.

Wonderful heartwarming story, thanks so much for sharing. It's so nice you've kept and reunited those items. I too have an heirloom gramophone, an HMV 111 (there's a thread about it in the British section). My sons don't really have an interest in all this but my elder son feels strongly about that machine and says he will always keep it in years to come... I must "introduce" him to it more, ans see if he gets any more enthusiastic about the others!

Roaring20s wrote:Good work Fran.
I enjoy finding out about these things as well.
Thanks for sharing.

James.

Thank you, James.

It's very gratifying to put the pieces of a puzzle together and come to an understanding of how our ancestors lived. There are always more questions to be answered and for me the moment of "enlightenment" is the real prize.

I guess this is the apex of our hobby; to preserve yesteryear for future generations. Being able to preserve family history at the same time, is a rare and very satisfying culmination of that.

Fran

Orchorsol wrote:Wonderful heartwarming story, thanks so much for sharing. It's so nice you've kept and reunited those items. I too have an heirloom gramophone, an HMV 111 (there's a thread about it in the British section). My sons don't really have an interest in all this but my elder son feels strongly about that machine and says he will always keep it in years to come... I must "introduce" him to it more, ans see if he gets any more enthusiastic about the others!

Thank you for the kind words, Orchosol.

This is my exact challenge, and I'm sure, many others as well. I do think that with time my children, or perhaps my Grandchildren, will come around to realize how important preserving these things are. History is a funny thing, I've always been fascinated by the past, but in the course of my life, I never had the time to really focus on it until very recently. Maybe being able to appreciate how we arrived at the present day is incidental to maturity (for most of us).

Fran