John Berwind (1813-1893)

He emigrated from Bavaria to New York in 1837, when he described himself as a cabinetmaker. He was connected by family to several prominent German-American instrument-making families, notably C.F. Martin Piano Makers & the Wannamakers of the Wannamaker Department Stores. Therefore, it was no surprise that he became a guitar and piano-maker too, opening his own shop in Philadelphia in 1856. His sons went on to establish the largest coal mining company in the United States and counted themselves personal friends of the American President and the German Kaiser. Of those sons, only Harry had sons too to carry on the Berwind name.