Samuel Mack, comments and selected references

Samuel Mack was a carpenter by trade who began making pipes in his fifties. He was born in Co. Clare and immigrated to the US in 1869, leaving behind his wife Susan and probably five children. During his years in the US he lived briefly in Omaha, Nebraska and Providence, Rhode Island. Most of his time was spent in Massachusetts; at least ten years in Lawrence and perhaps 20 years in Lowell, where he made pipes.

There is evidence that Mack was living in Boston in 1900 and may have had a licence as a street musician in Boston in 1903. Besides the articles about him as pipemaker there are two references to Mack playing publicly in Lowell, 1910-11.

It is not known where, when, or from whom he learned piping and pipemaking. Supposedly the "first set of pipes which he turned out were sent to Ireland, where they were exhibited in Dublin and Cork, and later sent to Skibbareen for exhibition at a county fair." Skibbereen, County Cork, was the home of Bernie O'Donovan, who acquired a set by Mack in 1905. Are these references to the same set?

Last reference to Mack is from October 1913, when he fractured a thigh and was taken to the hospital. It is not known when or where he died.

Could "Mack" be a shortened form of the name he used in Ireland? As one might shorten "McDougal" or "McNurney." Michael Kelly of Dublin tells me that the 1901 Census of Ireland shows "420 people with the surname Mack in Ireland, including 22 in County Clare." It could well be that Samuel Mack did not shorten his name.

Nick Whitmer July 2020 additions Sep. 2020
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City of Lowell, Massachusetts. Overseers of the Poor. "Samuel Mack" folder 1301, Feb. 1, 1889. 5 pp. Courtesy of the Lowell Historic Board, Lowell, MA
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How Boston Guards Against Untuneful Street Organs
[About the licencing and regulation of street musicians in Boston, 1903. Mostly about Italian musicians, with pictures, including a man playing a zapogna.]
"June 1 licences had been issued to 134 street musicians, who had the following instruments: Sixty street pianos, 18 hand organs, 19 violins, 14 harps, six French organs, four accordeons, two flutes, four bagpipes, two clarinets, four guitars and one banjo.
"The greater part of these were played by Italians. There were eight colored people with licences, two Irish bagpipe players, Messrs. Scannell and Mack, and one Frenchman, who owns a very fine French organ. The rest ate macaroni."
Boston [MA] Sunday Post Sep. 13, 1903 p. 18 column 5
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The Finest Pipes in the World in Possession of The Carbery Piper.
"What is undoubtedly the finest set of union bagpipes in the world are now in the possession of Mr. Bernie O'Donovan, the famous Carbery Piper. They have been made to his order by Mr. Mack, of Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.A., who is universally admitted to be excelled in the manufacture of these instruments. Mr. O'Donovan has found that the ordinary Irish union pipes, rich and mellow though their music is, were not sufficiently powerful to adequately fill a large concert hall, and early in the present year he conceived the idea of securing a set of special construction, whose tone would be of enough volume to be heard distinctly in the largest building. We have had the pleasure of hearing the talented young musician play on the new instrument, and the experience was a treat, indeed. The tone is exceedingly clear and powerful, but strikingly mellow, even in the highest notes. The pipes are of a very elaborate and highly ornamental construction. Our readers will form an idea of their elaborateness, and the care exercised in their manufacture from the fact that they took four months of unceasing daily work to complete. The chanter and all the wooden parts are of South African ebony, the hardest and dearest timber of its kind in the world. The set possesses three drones, and three sets of regulators, with thirteen silver keys. All the mountings are of real ivory and silver, giving the instrument a most elaborate appearance. The cover of the bag is of brown velvet, fringed with silver lace. The music of the new instrument reminds one strongly in its richness and volume of that of a Church organ. We may mention that the maker, Mr. Mack, is a native of County Clare. The first appearance of the new pipes in public was at the distribution of prizes at the Presentation College, Cork (of which Bernie O'Donovan is a pupil) on yesterday. The Most Rev. Dr. O'Callaghan and all the other distinguished men who took part in the function were greatly delighted with our brilliant young townsman's performances. At the conclusion of the proceedings, he received quite a number of special congratulations."
Skibbereen [Ireland] Eagle Dec. 16, 1905 p. 10
Irishnewspaperarchive.com
Brought to my attention by Emmett Gill of Na Píobairí Uilleann.
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Only Maker of Irish Bagpipes in the U. S. is Expert Player
'A Lowell man claims the distinction of being the only man in the United States who can make a set of Irish bagpipes. This man is Samuel Mack of Cedar street, and he can not only make the pipes but is an expert performer on them.
'And, by the way, Mack claims that the Irish bagpipe is a high-class musical instrument, worthy of extensive study and profound consideration. He says:
' "There is no comparison between Irish and Scotch bagpipes. The Scotch pipes play only the air, about the same as a flute does, the bag simply acting as a reservoir for the air blown into it by the player.
' "On the other hand, the Irish bagpipes is blown by a bellows attached to the player's arm, and this air is conveyed to another bag or reservoir. The music is melodious and soft, can be tuned to concert pitch, or may be played in conjunction with any other instrument. Every note has its chord, and quick or slow music may be played."
'Mr. Mack was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1845, and he learned the trade of a carpenter, but like many others of his race he decided that there were more opportunities for him in America. He came to this country in 1869. After many vicissitudes, during which he travelled as far West as Chicago, he finally brought up in Lowell on July 3, 1870.
'He suffered an accident to one of his legs by a fall while doing some carpenter work, and while incapacitated from his active calling he commenced the manufacture of bagpipes more as a pleasure than as a means of livelihood. He was successful from the start.
'Pipes Sent to Ireland
'The first set of pipes which he turned out were sent to Ireland, where they were exhibited in Dublin and Cork, and later sent to Skibbareen for exhibition at a county fair. Letters in Mr. Mack's possession state that people journeyed from miles around to see the Irish pipes made by an "American." Mr. Mack has made pipes for many of the prominent pipers and clubs of this country, and has orders enough to keep him busy for some time to come.
'In the making of the pipes he finds use for all sorts of bits of ivory which may have seen service on many a felted field of billiards and now treasured and saved by this skilful artisan for further service on his work bench.
'Care in the Making
'So very important is the process of drilling the holes through the ebony strips that six weeks or two months are often required to complete a set of Irish pipes. The labor is further complicated by the perfection required of the drilled tubes. No gun barrel is more carefully finished or harder to drill than are the tubes of the pipes. All sorts of odd looking drills and augers are used by this mechanic. Anything and everything from a pod-auger to a converted bayonet is used in drilling the tubes.
'Added to this are the careful and exacting brazings of German silver ferrules, ornamented here and there with ivory tips, and all done to an exactness that makes cartridge-making a simple art in comparison. The fraction of an inch mars the perfect tone of the instrument; hence the care required in the labor.
'The Irish pipes consist of a bellows, a chanter, which connects with three drones (chords), with more keys than a jail turnkey, and a queer little watch-like affair called a trumpet surmounting the whole. All these are tuned in perfect harmony, and in the hands of an expert player like Mr. Mack the most charming melody is readily produced.'
Boston [MA] Sunday Post March 1, 1908 p. 29 column 5
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"Since the death of William and Charles Taylor of Philadelphia in 1901 no capable successor in the art has appeared on the American continent. We emphasize the word capable because an amateur in Massachusetts turns out a set once in awhile which though pleasing to the eye is disappointing to the ear. In fact, the drones of a nice looking set owned in Chicago cannot be fitted with guills at all, by the most expert in that line in the city."
O'Neill, Francis Irish Minstrels and Musicians 1913 p. 166
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