A Family of Whistle Makers

From time to time I attempt to tackle the monumental task of classifying and committing to paper the description and identification of all of the whistles in my collection. I have attempted this several times only to get frustrated and abort the whole idea about half way through. However every time that I have tried it, I found that the name "Hayden" keeps surfacing. It appeared to me that there might be a common link to a number of different styled whistles that had the name Hayden as part of the signature.

My first concrete piece of information was that I had several examples of marked Hayden-Gere whistles. The only catalog copy that I have of Hayden Gere is an 1866 catalog that shows a variety of plain bell whistles of various configurations and the cover pages stating that Hayden Gere & Co. was located in Haydenville, Mass, and New-York. The  catalog is titled Illustrated Catalog in Steam Work for Stationery , Portable and Locomotive Engines. It would appear that they made a wide variety of steam related apparatus in addition to the whistles. A little internet research indicated that the co-founder of Hayden-Gere was Josiah Hayden who was also instrumental in founding the town of  Haydenville, Mass, the hometown of his company.

Josiah Hayden (1768-1847) had one son, Joel Jr. 1798-1873), and a grandson Joel III 1869 -1912. Both of the sons apparently continued the family business which at some point in time became the Haydenville Brass Co. of Haydenville Mass. Josiah Hayden's death was in 1847, so by the time Hayden-Gere was making whistles, his son Joel was likely running the company. Joel Jr. died in 1873 leaving the charge of the family business to his son Joel Hayden III.

I have several whistles with the name clearly stamped into the neck of the valve inlet Haydenville Brass Co. Haydenville, Mass.

In 1882 The Haydenville Brass company relocated to Lorain Ohio. There had been a major flood in Haydenville when a major dam broke and a good number of businesses were destroyed including the "Brass Factory" by which Haydenville Brass was known locally. Also because the American industrial revolution was moving west, the Haydenville Brass likey found an expanding market in Ohio for its steam related products.

At this point it is not exactly clear what their major products were for no catalogs have been found, but presumably they continued their line of steam related fittings. I have found references to the Haydenville Brass Co of Lorain Ohio and also the Joel Hayden Brass Co. of Lorain Ohio.  I do have one 2" plain bell whistle that is marked Joel Hayden Brass Co. Lorain Ohio. Research shows that the Joel Hayden Brass Co, flourished from 1882 till about 1903 at which time it closed due to severe financial problems.

Joel Hayden however was also an officer of another company in Lorian, Ohio, the Lorain Manufacturing Co. founded in 1881 coincidentally about the time of the arrival of Joel Hayden Brass Co. The Lorain manufacturing Co made at least few whistles which have several characteristics very similar to the Joel Hayden whistles. While there are many differences, the most common similarity is how they were marked, both having the name stamped in very small letters about 1/32" tall near the top of the bell. Research has failed to learn the ultimate fate of the Lorain Manufacturing Co.

Any information you have would be appreciated by the author.

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