From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Born February 23, 1849 in Villigen, Baden, Germany; Felix Schoenstein was the father of Erwin A., Leo F., Louis J., and Otto H. Schoenstein.

He was with the family organ and clock firm in Germany; he immigrated to the United States with his brother to establish a branch of the family firm in 1868. He was with Joseph Mayer in San Francisco, California, and became foreman in 1869. He established his own firm in San Francisco in 1877; he built his first organ in 1881. He died March 29, 1936.

Patent #510,521; December 12, 1893; pneumatic action.

Sources:

• The Diapason May 1936, 6.
• The Diapason June 1936, 22.
• Orpha Ochse, The History of the Organ in the United States (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975), 315.

See also Felix Schoenstein & Sons.