William Lewis & Son - was a distinguished firm in Chicago that specialized in fine musical instruments and bows.
Established in 1874, stayed in the business for over 80 years. They amassed a very important collection of the finest instruments (of the violin family) which included Antonio Stradivarius, Giuseppe Guarneri, Domenico Montagnana, Sanctus Serafin, Lorenzo Storioni, Rugeri, Joannes Baptista Guadagnini, Nicolas Lupot, J. B. Vuillume to name a few, as well as an important fine bow collection including bows by François Tourte, Dominique Peccatte, Nicolaus Kittel, Jean Pierre Marie Persois and many others.
The firm built up a clientele extending from coast to coast, enjoying the confidence of prominent musicians, professional and amateur. With broad experience, came the recognition of their establishment as "Violinist's Headquarters" to which resident and visiting players flocked when in Chicago. Many important makers and restorers worked for their firm including Carl Becker and Frank Kovanda.[1]
This firm was responsible for many important publications such as "How Many Strads" by Ernest N. Doring (who worked for the firm), Violins & Violinists magazine (of which Doring was also editor) and "BOWS for Musical Instruments" by Joseph Roda.[2]
William Lewis was born at Devonshire, England in 1837, the son of a noted cellist, from whom he inherited his unusual talent for music. As a violinist, William was regarded as a child prodigy. At age of eight young William was appearing in concerts and some English critics were hailing him as a musical prodigy. In 1850 he was brought to America by his parents, the family settling in Bellevue, Ohio. Soon after he joined a musical troupe known as the Continental Vocalists. While on trips to NYC, he took lessons from Theodore Thomas, who was later to become renowned not only as founder of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra but as the foremost of American conductors. With the outbreak of civil war, came the arrival of William Lewis in Chicago in 1862, where he joined the music house of Root & Cady, which had been established in 1860. Unfortunately the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which among other things destroyed the Crosby Opera House and brought an end to the leading musical firm of Root & Cady.
However out of the ruins of that fire, arose the musical house of William Lewis & Son. When Root & Cady came to an end, its senior partner was Ebenezer Towner Root, brother of George Root. In 1874 William Lewis and Ebenezer Towner Root joined hands and formed the new musical instrument house of Root & Lewis. This was the parent firm of William Lewis & Son Co.