Jerome Bonaparte Squier

Who was Jerome Bonaparte Squier?

Jerome Bonaparte Squier was an American luthier.

Born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio to a family of nine children, Squier worked in Boston, Massachusetts and made 600 instruments during his career. His best instruments were made in his younger years. He made his own amber-brown, lustrous varnish. Among his notable violins were a dozen violins each named after one of the twelve apostles. Other instruments were named after George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Most of his violins were patterened after Stradivarius, notably the Alard Stradivarius. The tonal quality of Squier's violins was brilliant and clear. Squier taught the art of violin making to Charles Kinney, father of Edward Kinney. In 2007, one of Squier's violins had an estimated worth of US$100,000 because of its tonal quality.

Squier married Olive Brown Raymond and the couple had three children. One of their children, Victor Carrol Squier, also went on to work in violin-making and became renowned for his violins and violin strings.