Timothy Gilbert

Timothy Gilbert (January 5, 1797 – July 19, 1865) was an American piano manufacturer, abolitionist and religious organizer in Boston, Massachusetts.. His brother Lemuel Gilbert (February 10, 1804 – February 27, 1864) was also a piano manufacturer.

Gilbert was born in Enfield, Massachusetts, the second child of Timothy Gilbert and Fear Shaw and worked on his father's farm until the age of 21. He arrived in Boston December 1818, where he apprenticed with cabinet maker Levi Ruggles, and later worked for piano maker John Osborn before becoming a piano maker in his own right. He was an active member of the Baptist Church, to which he converted in 1817, and was an outspoken abolitionist. He maintained his home as a station of the Underground Railroad, and on the passage of the Fugitive slave laws Gilbert announced in the papers that his door would remain open to runaway slaves. He was also member and director in secular charitable organizations and served as president of the Boylston Bank from 1855 to 1860. He was president of the Boston Vigilance Committee, an organization that aided fugitive slaves.

Gilbert married Mary Wetherbee in 1823 (Ashburnham, Mass., July 7, 1796–December 1843), and their only child, Mary Eunice, was born June 8, 1827. Following Mary's death, Gilbert married Alice Davis November 28, 1844, and in 1846 they adopted Alice (b.April 23, 1846). Their second daughter, Martha Fear Gilbert, was born April 27, 1847.

Gilbert died July 19, 1865 at his home in Boston. His funeral was held at the Tremont Temple at the expense of the Evangelical Baptist Benevolent and Missionary Society, both of which he had been instrumental in forming. He is buried at Mount Auburn cemetery.

Gilbert entered a partnership with Boston piano maker Ebenezer Currier (1801–1835) by 1826, and they were listed at 393 Washington street by 1829, but the partnership was dissolved that spring. Currier, with new partner Philip Brown, opened a showroom on the first floor, where they offered "all kinds of Upright & Horizontal Piano Fortes...embracing the latest improvements," and in 1831 he patented a square piano with hammers above the strings.

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