| Notes |
- "Johann Jakob Dahm....a master builder of Baroque organs from Kempenich. The father (of Johann Jakob Dahm) must have had a special position in Kempenich because he held for long years a position as church advisor and "Schulzen" of Kempenich. He also succeeded in winning the local noble ruler to act as godfather to his son. The ruler of Kempenich at that time was Johann Jakob Schenk von Schmidburg ( 1600-1661) and his wife Maria Katharina Walbott von Bassenheim. Babies in that time were baptized on the day of birth or promptly thereafter and Johann was no doubt interested in solidifying his position as the representative of Johann Jakob Schenk and as such chose his benefactor's name for his son. It is supposed that the distinguished godfather pursued the development of his godchild's talents and smoothed the way for him professionally, recognizing that the boy needed more than the future provided him by the artisans of the area, and that to pursue his career as an organ builder he needed the experience, atmosphere, and the corresponding worldly and spiritual clientel, that could be provided by a larger city. That meant that the boy's apprenticeship could only take place in a large city. Where this took place is not known. It is supposed, however, that the young Johann Jakob Dahm first learned his trade as a cabinet maker, as that is the first step in learning to become an organ builder.
However, the time of youth and learning must pass and the young master, in 1682, marries the daughter of the District Court officer in Wurzburg, Maria Barbara Prexendorfer, age 25. He was already known as an organ builder at the time of his marriage. Whether he had already graduated from his teaching and asssistants' years is not known; he may have studied with Nicklaus Will who was at the organ workshop of Jost Phillip Schleich in Retzstadt in the 1670's. Perhaps, however, Dahm got his education in Mainz, where the brother of his godmother, Johann Friedrich von Eltz lived since 1640 and the grandson of his godmother, Phillip Karl von Eltz, had lived since 1677. Either could have
recommended their favorite to their associate, Lothar Franz Von Schonborn, who held a "Kanonikat" at the cathedral in Mainz since 1667 and Wurzburg since 1665. He could have been the man who got the promising organ builder Dahm of Wurzburg to Mainz after he became the Archbishop there. This assumption is still more likely if one takes into consideration another family connection: Dahm's godmother was related to the Schonborn family. The wife of her brother, George Anton Walbott von Bassenheim was Agatha Maria von Schonborn, and Agatha's brother was Johann Phillip von Schonborn, since 1663 the Elector of the Archhbishop of Mainz was Lothar Their other brother was Lothar Franz von Schonborn. Dahm appears in Wurzburg between 1683 and 1696 where he has six children, completeing his studies with his presumed master Nicholas Will. Records include a delivery of building materials to city authorities, the repair of the skins in the cathedral organ in 1689, and the repair of a valve on the same organ in 1691. Whether he established himself as an independent master in his time in Wurzburg is not known at this time, but we know in Mainz his last and seventh child was born in 1699 and on the 12th of MAy, 1698 he was accepted as a citizen of Mainz. In 1711 he designed and built the Weilburger organ (which has a signed nameplate) in the Schlossburger Kirche there.
Nobody took over the workshop after Jakob's death. Both surviving sons pursued scientific careers. Johann Jacob, born in Wurzberg in 1693, became a Jesuit in 1712 and read as a Doctor of Philosophy in Mainz as well as Bamberg. He died in 1763. Johan Michael, born in Wurzberg in 1689, became a well-know jurist, a Doctor of Laws and also a professor in the University of Mainz where he also served some years in the office of Dean. In a strange twist of fate, his daughter married someone involved in the organ business, the son of Johann Phillip Nauheimer, who was known not only as a master organ builder, but a Cathedral organist in the Cathedral of Mainz. While the extent of his life's work is not totally known, Johan Jakob Dahm of Kempenich, organ builder of the Middle Rhine, did considerable work and had a lasting effect on the numerous masters of the following generation; men like Johann Konrad Burgy in his masterpiece, the organ in Oberorsel and the Cathedral organ of Limburg whose echo register owes much to Dahm. "
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1659 - 1727 (67 years)
