Oxton Kennels and The Piano
Jake and Sally Huizenga (of Oxton Kennels in Salinas, California) and my parents (Gerry and Shirlee Roberts of Robalee Setters) became best of friends in the late 1960's. Robalee Setters raised show- and utility dogs while Jake raised and trained gun dogs. Jake was a little older than my dad so they became almost father and son in a familial way. They both raised purebred dogs. Oxton Kennels was on River Road in Salinas.
Oxton was originally built to breed and train setters and pointers for Mr. Gene Harden, a Salinas produce icon whose name and foundation still benefit the Salinas community.
When Mr. Harden passed, Jake and Sally opened the kennel to dog boarding as well as breeding.
When Jake passed, his wife Sally ran the kennel for many years. Upon deciding to retire in 1985, she sold the kennel to Charlie Sammut, a police officer in Seaside, California. Charlie closed Oxton Kennels in 2021, primarily due to the COVID pandemic.
When the Huizenga's gave the Steinway Box Grand piano to my parents, it was moved from Salinas to the room between the Robalee Kennel office and the living room.
My dad called Steinway in New York City for more information. Steinway asked for the serial number and when my dad gave them number, they came back with, "That's not enough digits." After repeating the number on the piano, he was asked to describe it. "A shipping container with four Redwood Trees for legs.
After a good laugh, Steinway offered to buy it sight unseen for a lot of money. "I don't want to sell it, I want to find someone to tune it."
A loud gasp preceded the, "What? Do you mean it still plays?"
After many calls and letters back and forth between California and New York, the history of the piano was rebuilt.
It seems a ships captain from Boston and his wife were being transferred to the company offices in San Francisco in the late 1880's. She agreed to the move if she could take a piano with her. He was named Captain Roberts, (no relation to my family) and he moved his entire family and their household effects to San Francisco: overland by wagon across the Isthmus of Panama. (The canal would not be built until three decades later in 1916.)
They bought a house on the northeast quadrant of Telegraph Hill (today, it is the site of Coit Tower) where she could watch the ships entering the harbor before sailing to Howard Street or Mission Rock whaling stations. They had several children, one of the girls married into the Huizenga family and moved to an estancia in the Salinas family. Two generations later the piano was owned by Jake and Sally.
Another period passes, and the piano passes back to another part of the Roberts family name.
When my mother passed away, my sister had it auctioned off. I don't know where it is today, but I would like to hope this 1880-era piano has a good home.
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