Valley Girl Views: Philip Dieffenbacher, Turbotville Organ Maker

P.L. Dieffenbacher, Cabinet Maker & Organ Maker
Turbotville, Pa

"Philip Leonard Dieffenbacher was born in 1827 in strawberry Ridge near Washingtonville, Montour county, PA. The youngest of 12 children, he resided in Turbotville, Northumberland County, where he married and pursued the trade of cabinet making. He also conducted singing schools and pursued a part time career of organ building. There is no indication that he has any relation to the Diefenbach organ building family.

In 1869 Dieffenbacher played for the dedication of the Trinity Reformed congregations new building at strawberry Ridge. He also built a four- stop organ for the congregation which he played at its dedication on January 1st 1872. He was paid $250 for the organ. The church replaced the organ in 1893, probably with a Reed organ. It is also likely that he built an organ for the Turbotville Reformed Church. Dieffenbacher was the first choir director and possibly the organist. He was appointed in November 1862 and the organ was installed sometime between 1860 and 1864. This organ was moved from the gallery to the front of the church in 1868 and replaced with an M. P. Moller Oregon in 1924. In addition, he gave the primary department an organ in 1915. Besides building organs Dieffenbacher is known to have built at least two violins and one Viola d’ gamba. He died in 1917 at the age of 90.

Three extant organs by Philip Diefenbacher are [were - the museum sold them some time ago] at the Hershey Museum of American life in Hershey PA. They were donated by his granddaughter, miss Dorothy Robb. All three instruments were built for use in the Diefenbacher home. There are two barrel organs and a one-manual chamber Oregon. The smaller barrel organ, built in 1892, contains 11 open and seven stopped pipes, all of wood. It plays five tunes composed by Diefenbacher, all based on bird calls. The larger barrel organ was built in 1899 and has two ranks of pipes, for a total of 28 stopped and 14 open wood pipes, controlled by 4 sliders. It plays the following tunes: somnambula, sons of the West, Erie Canal March, come soldiers come, Charlotte polka, Jenny Lind polka, German air, and Lieber Augustin. The entire instrument is contained in a child's desk.

The chamber organ was obviously made to be portable and was built in 1892."

From - That Ingenious Business, Pennsylvania German Organ Builders, By Raymond J. Brunner · 1990

======================

One of Dieffenbach's organs, on display at the Historic Warrior Run Church.

"The former Dieffenbacher property at 18 paradise St. was where Phillip Dieffenbacher's workshop was located. At one time there was a barn at the rear of the property As well as a two-story building, which was located between the house and sidewalk on paradise St.

The ladies of the Diefenbacher family conducted a military shop on the 1st floor. The workshop was located on the second floor of the millinery building. To get to the second floor workshop, there were steps outside into the rear of the building. There were no inside steps. Mr. Diefenbacher's tools were all manually operated, as there was no electricity or other power sources.

In addition to making organs, violence, and a Viola de gamba, Mr. Diefenbacher also made furniture including dining room tables and chairs high chairs, and corner cupboards. His work was pre 1900. He died in 1917." - From a description on the organ at the Warrior Run Church