Erben, Henry

1801-1884

American organ-builder, who was the grandson of an early German settler in Pennsylvania, and son of Peter Erben, an organist. Born in Philadelphia, Peter Erben, about the close of the Eighteenth Century, moved to New York, where he went into the business of organ-building, also playing in Trinity Parish for over thirty years. Henry was apprenticed, when seventeen years old, to Thomas Hall, an organ-builder; rose into partnership with his employer in 1822, and from 1835 carried on the business alone. Many of the best church organs over the United States bear his name.