| MOST of the following is taken from a brochure prepared at the time of the organ’s rededication in All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Portland, Oregon. The W. W. Knight Memorial Organ (Opus 1121 of George Jardine & Son, New York, NY, built in 1892) sat unused in the First Methodist Church, Tivoli, New York, which had suspended services in 1971. Even in its silent state, the organ was of interest to The Rev. James E. Lindsley, rector of St. Paul’s Church and diocesan historiographer, who occasionally visited the Methodist church “to see that the organ was protected from rain damage and little beasts.” In a letter to our church, he tells this history: An affluent eccentric, John Watts dePeyster, was a man of many attainments but teetotaling was not one of them. DePeyster liked to quarrel with the living and revere the dead…and he was given to erecting monuments in his churchyard detailing the achievements of those he wanted to eulogize. The organ came to All Saints’ through the efforts of the sanctuary renewal/organ committee, co-chaired by Kathy Dolp Martin and Rosie Hostetter. The committee listened to a number of church organs in town in order to become familiar with the various tonal possibilities and was favorably impressed with the aesthetics of 19th century organ building.Priscilla Williams found the instrument through the Organ Clearing House of Harrisville, New Hampshire, a company dedicated to the preservation of historic instruments. Merle Pierce and Tom Bosson headed east, on a flight to New York City and a train to Tivoli, to retrieve the organ. The instrument was already packed in a rental truck. Merle and Tom drove the truck across the country in about a week—“just took our time,” recalls Merle. x
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