Johann Koehnken

Johann Heinrich (John H.) Koehnken (1819–1897) was an American organ builder in Cincinnati, Ohio who worked under Matthias Schwab (1808–1862) and with Gallus Grimm (1827–1897).

Koehnken was born on September 14, 1819 on a farm in Altenbuhlstedt in the Lower Saxony area of Germany (not far from Bremen) and was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker.

[1] He worked as a cabinet maker for two years in Germany and two more in Wheeling, (West) Virginia, before coming to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1839 with his older brother, Johann Koehnken (1812–1872).

Johann Koehnken, the older brother, variously went by the surnames Conkey, Konkey, and Koenke and built organs in Cincinnati through the 1840s before relocating to Louisville, Kentucky.

[2] [3] The younger of the two brothers, Johann Heinrich Koehnken, had worked under Matthias Schwab at his factory in Cincinnati.