In his profile photo, Jess Youngquest holds "Fred" - a Martin made mandolin that was designed by Claud Gaskins of Shamokin, and given to W.L. Scott (of the Repasz band in Williamsport) in 1899 for Christmas. Youngquest, a folk singer, found the mandolin at an antique shop in 1972, and has been playing it ever since. It's one of 3 known to still exist - the other two are in museums.
"Short history of 'Fred, She's a Mandolin'-- she was built by C.F. Martin in Sept 1899, given to W.L. Scott, of Williamsport, PA, as a Xmass present that year ( inscribed inside). I found her in an antique shop in '72 and have letting her sing ever since--" - Youngquest
The Martin Museum at 510 Sycamore Street in Nazareth, PA has a mandolin with a sign stating that it's the only known example of this instrument. Made by Martin, it was designed by Claud Gaskins, and interior designer from Shamokin Pa, in 1895. Turns out the museum was wrong - there are at least two others. One is now in a museum in Georgia, and the other, the most interesting is named "Fred" - owned and used by folk singer Jess Youngquest.
Claud H. Gaskins was born in Shamokin in 1867. He was known as a talented musician, and interior designer. His patent applications include a window blind, a dress hook, a fishing reel, and his best known - a "stringed instrument"- which was manufactured at least briefly by Martin, referred to today as the Martin Gaskins Mandolin. At least three of these instruments still exist today. Gaskin lived most of his life in Northumberland County, except for almost 10 years when he resided in Riverside, California. During his time in California, he was a violin maker. Claud's daughter was an accomplished violinist. Upon returning to Northumberland County, Claud lived in Mount Carmel Pa, working for the Grossman store as a designer. Claud died in 1937, at the age of 69. [A much more detailed biography is near the bottom of this post]
In December of 1895, after a series of rejections by the patent office, and then after paying a fee that would equal nearly $800 today, Claud finally received a patent for a "stringed instrument" .
"Fred" - & The Inscribed Case
"Short history of 'Fred, She's a Mandolin'-- she was built by C.F. Martin in Sept 1899, given to W.L. Scott, of Williamsport, PA, as a Xmass present that year (inscribed inside). I found her in an antique shop in '72 and have letting her sing ever since--" - Youngquest
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Washington Lafayette Scott 1851-1932
The tombstone for Washington Lafayette Scott in Montoursville Cemetery, reads "Washington L. Scott 1851-1932 He was one of the oldest members of the Respaz band."
The son of William Remley & Anna Matilda Scott, W.L. Scott married Catherine Rote. His obituary tells us:
"Mr. Scott was born June 29 1851 at Lancaster and came to this city with his father soon after the Civil War. He was engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigars until 1910, and during the '80's he was foreman of John Spelley's cigar factory. He manufactured cigars at Montoursville and was the foreman of the Canton Cigar Factory.
The deceased was an accomplished musician. He played the cornet, alto horn,drums and stringed instruments and was one of the oldest members of the Repasz band. He was a member of the band from 1878-1894 and was the chief musician of the 12th Regiment NGP. The old Stopper band, the Fisk band, the drum corps numbered him among their members. He sang in St. Mary's Episcopal Choir and the Church of our Savior in Montoursville."
When Williamsport's Repasz band was formed there were only 24 stars on the US flag. Organized in 1831, the band has been in continuous existence ever since, and thus is the oldest band in America.
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WITH A LOT MORE OF THE DETAILS
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The Remaining Martin Mandolins
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C. F. Martin / C.H. Gaskins Harp Mandolin
This harp mandolin was produced for C.H. Gaskins & Co. of Shamokin, Pennsylvania in 1901.
" This mandolin precedes other flat back Martin mandolins by nearly 15 years, and predates similar looking Dyer harp mandolins with "hollow arms" produced by the Larson Brothers by a decade."
There are three known Gaskin mandolins in existence:
- Owned by the Martin Museum
- owned by museum Museum of Ag & Historic Village in Georgia
- Owned by Folk Singer Jess Youngquest
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"Youngquest said he purchased the harp mandolin he calls “Fred” in the little town of Brewster, New York, back in the ’70s, for $75 in an old antiques/junk shop. He had just broken his mandolin and was looking for a replacement. Youngquest has the original wooden case as well, now held shut by a bungee cord. Inside the instrument there are three markings: “W.L. Scott, Xmas 1899 Williamsport, PA; “Made for CH Gaskins of Shamokin, PA; and “CF Martin, Nazareth, PA.”
"Short history of 'Fred, She's a Mandolin'-- she was built by C.F. Martin in Sept 1899, given to W.L. Scott, of Williamsport, PA, as a Xmass present that year ( inscribed inside). I found her in an antique shop in '72 and have letting her sing ever since--" - Youngquest
"Fred" is quite possibly the weirdest looking mandolin I've seen, with the possible exception of Bernunzio's anchor-shaped "no-name" monstrosity. I'll post one of Jess's YouTube videos below so everyone can get a look at it. Jess plays it well, in an energetic, open-string, ragtime-slash-Celtic style. The instrument has a thin, trebly tinkle, belying its huge body, but rings clearly in an ensemble. We finished up the set with a Celtic jam on Wind That Shakes the Barley/Merry Blacksmith, played at breakneck pace, and "Fred" held his or her own against two whistles, guitar and my Eastman mandola.
The one thing that gave me a bit of pause, was that Jess has obviously played the tar out of it, and it shows lots of pick wear around the pickguard, scuffs and scrapes and scratches. The old case is pretty disastrous, worn and stained lining, wooden surface gouged. I almost never begrudge playing damage to an instrument; my attitude is that mandolins are tools to make music, not art objects to sit in a case. But when you have one of the only two in existence, made by one of America's premier instrument builders and something that many collectors would go well into five figures for -- well, if I owned it, it would be on display, not getting whupped in the meeting room of the Clifton Springs library on a Wednesday night. Just sayin'.
Anyway, I felt privileged to be close to a unique piece of mandolin history. I'll post one of Jess's videos below.... Definitely an eccentric, with a truly eccentric instrument. (Which I dearly wish I owned.) " - Allen Hopkins, 2006
In another forum post musicians commented that the above video is not the best example of the sound -
"That instrument should have WAY more open sustain than that! I had my hands on one once, and it rang on with a great wooomph!" Others agreed and Youngquest explained:
" note tail piece. the original bridge raised the strings to high, so every few years I carve a new one out of a block of ebony. consequently the sound of 'her' changes with each new one. I'm still not happy with the sound today, some buzz, not enuff resonance. so, back to the table saw. "
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Photo found on the internet - but I have no idea where this one is located. Is it one of the above, or a 4th?
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The Gaskin String Patent
(includes correspondence below, as well as the details of each of the revisions. 35 pages in all.)
- 1900- Slide Bracket
- 1907, a patent for a hook and eye was issued to Claude H. Gaskins and W. Keiser II, of Shamokin Pa. Patent # 875 255
- 1908 - Patent for a fishing reel
Claud H. Gaskins was born July 4th 1867, the son of James & Minnie Gaskins, of Shamokin Pa. In 1889, he is listed in the Shamokin Directory as a clerk. In 1893 he married Catherine "Katie" Houghton.
Claud applied for the patent on his "stringed instrument" in 1895, and it was denied a number of times before being accepted that year. He applied for patents on other items, including a garment hook, a window blind, and a fishing reel, between 1900 and 1907.
In the 1901 Boyd's directory, Claude H.Gaskins is listed as affiliated with Beaver, Gaskins & Co, with his Residence at 705 Liberty Street, Shamokin Pa. A 1934 obituary for Edward Beaver (born in Lewisburg) further tells us that Beaver was in business with Claud H. Gaskins, "of east Race Street" in general dry goods and notions under the firm name of Beaver and Gaskins. The Beaver and Gaskins business was located in the former Llewellyn building, near the Elks home on East independence Street.
In the 1910 census, Claud, Katie and their daughter Madeline are found in Riverside California, where Claude is working in a department store. The directory in Riverside California lists him in 1913 as a "finisher", and from 1914-1916 as a violin maker.
In 1928, the Mount Carmel Item reported the "Claude H. Gaskins, interior decorator and artist craftsman at Louis Grossman Son's store here, conceived the idea of making a Spanish loggia out of a room which had previously been of little use" in the elks home.
In the 1930 census, the Gaskins are in Mount Carmel Pa, on South Oak Street. Claude's occupation is given as Interior Decorator in a Department store. A 1933 article in the Mount Carmel item tells us that he resigned as display manager for Louis Grossman's Sons, "after 14 years of pleasant business relations". The couple planned a trip to New York, and "after spending several months there he will return to this section and will take up arts and crafts."
Katie, Catherine Elizabeth [Houghton] Gaskins, was the daughter of one of the earliest settlers of Shamokin. The daughter of John M. Houghton and Anna Brocious, she was born "in the family homestead erected by her father at Shamokin and Race Streets... Mr. Houghton was one of the city's earliest settlers and a builder by trade.." Katie's obituary in 1936 further tells us that her husband Claude was, in 1936, the "present advertising manager of L. Grossman Mercantile" in Mount Carmel Pa. And, also, that the Gaskin's "had resided in Mount Carmel for 18 years before returning to their own residence on Race Street here two and one half years ago."
Claud Gaskins was a member of the Shamokin lodge of masons No 255. He died at the home of his daughter in Flushing NY, in 1937. He, like his wife, was cremated, with his ashes taken to the Shamokin Cemetery.
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READ EVEN MORE
EVEN MORE DETAILS
REFERENCES, NOTES, MENTIONS
SOURCES
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Fabric, Fancy Goods & Notions, Volume 39, 1905 Gaskins and Keister Garment Hook
A 1927 newspaper article about a Halloween dance at the elks states that "Claude Gaskins, well known interior decorator of this city (Mount Carmel)" was a member of the Elks.
Johnson and Boak's new Martin Book (volume 2) - a reference on page 199 of the Gaskin Mandolin
https://www.harpguitars.net/history/patents.htm
TIFTON — When the Martin Guitar Co. shipped out five new harp mandolins on Oct. 21, 1899, there was no way to know that 122 years later one of those instruments would have a connection to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
“It’s an incredible story,” Polly Huff, curator at ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture, said. “When I first saw it, I knew we had something special on our hands.”
When long-time ABAC Professor of Art Donna Hatcher passed away on Aug. 9, 2020, she left a key to a safety deposit box. When Hatcher’s parents found the mandolin in the safety deposit box, they brought it to ABAC to be examined by Matthew Anderson, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Susan Roe, the college’s Fine Arts Department head.
Anderson and Roe immediately called on the curatorial expertise of Huff.
“I wanted to provide Donna’s parents with as much information about the artifact as possible, in order for them to be able to make the right decision about where it should go,” Huff said. “I was also interested in studying the artifact since it was from the period of history that we cover at the museum.
“Above all, it was a rare artifact with a seemingly lost story, which is the type of item that is at the top of my research interest list.”
Hatcher’s parents said they believe their daughter purchased the mandolin for $200 in late 1996 or early 1997 from Millport Landing, an antique store in Millport, New York.
With some assistance from her ABAC research intern, Lyndsey Pryor, Huff followed a long trail of evidence to find that the instrument was one of five Style 18, Ebony guard mandolins sold on Oct. 21, 1899, by C.F. Martin of Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Huff said it appears the mandolin is the only one of the five that survives. The mandolins were originally priced at $13.50 each. Founded in 1833 and still in full operation today, the Martin Guitar Company made 22 of the instruments between 1895 and 1899.
The patent for this mandolin was drawn by C.H. Gaskins of Shamokin, Pennsylvania. The features of the Hatcher mandolin are more along the lines of Style 18 Martin guitars, and it has an ebony guard. Martin mandolins usually had their own style, so it is interesting that the company referenced guitar styles for some of the Gaskins’ mandolins.
As a part of her research, Huff contacted a well-known New York state folk musician, Jess Youngquest, who has appeared on YouTube playing his own Gaskins/Martin harp mandolin. He owns the single mandolin made in the Oct. 12, 1899 batch, the one with Ivory guard and bound, probably the most unique of the bunch.
Youngquest said he purchased the harp mandolin he calls “Fred” in the little town of Brewster, New York, back in the ’70s, for $75 in an old antiques/junk shop. He had just broken his mandolin and was looking for a replacement.
Youngquest has the original wooden case as well, now held shut by a bungee cord. Inside the instrument there are three markings: “W.L. Scott, Xmas 1899 Williamsport, PA; “Made for CH Gaskins of Shamokin, PA; and “CF Martin, Nazareth, PA.”
Huff said her research led her to believe that at least three other harp mandolins survive from the 1895-1899 original batch of 22 besides the Hatcher mandolin and the Youngquest instrument.
Huff collaborated on the project with the Martin Museum in Pennsylvania, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, the Millner Harp Guitars Museum in Pennsylvania, and the Sigel Music Museum in Greenville, South Carolina.
“Throughout the process of researching the instrument, I was reminded of my friend Donna’s eye for the unique and different,” Huff said.
“I quickly understood why she had purchased and preserved this rare piece of history.”
Huff said the Hatchers are now in the process of finding the appropriate home for the rare mandolin, which undoubtedly has traveled thousands of miles and played many a tune during its 122 years of existence.
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GASKINS MILITARY BAND
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