Patchbox Sunday # 2

The following group of rubbings  were taken  from rifles made by the  Lauck Gunsmiths of Winchester Virginia.  The Lauck family  were active in the gunmaking trade in Winchester from 1788-1875.  Simon Lauck was born  1760 in Pennsylvania and became a gunsmith while living there.  He opened his shop in Winchester in 1788 and died in 1815.  Several of his sons were trained gunsmiths and worked in the Lauck shop until about 1875.  Simon trained many apprentices and employeed journeymen gunsmiths that carried his style throughout the valley and westward.  Hampshire County gunsmiths, Frederick Sheetz and George W Glaze worked in Lauck's shop.  (1) Nicholas Chisler from Morgantown, Monongalia County also worked in Laucks shop. (1) Other Virginia makers who were at  Lauck's shop before going to other areas of Virginia to practice the art of gunsmithing, were John Sheets, Augusta County,  Jacob Funk and Henry Stair. 

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Hope you enjoy these images, Thanks JDM

(1) Van Pitman Research 

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A Scottish Traveler Visit With Zebulon Sheetz

 Zebulon Sheetz was one of Hampshire County's finest gunsmiths.   We have seen his rifles and we know them well,  we hope the following  will shed some light on Zebulon the man.  The following pages came from "Pedestrain Tour of A Scottish Emigrant" , describing his visit to Hampshire County in 1826. 

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This is a little hard to see, you may need your spectacles. 

In the mid-1830s Zebulon Sheetz family moved West.   Zebulon and his family were given a letter of dismissal from their church at Cold Stream to move "to any Presbyterian church in the West, whose neighborhood God might cast his lot.  “He was given a testimonial of appreciation of the high community regard for his church service.

BMS

For more information on Zebulon Sheetz O&Z Sheetz

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Our First Patchbox Sunday

 One of the best gifts I have been blessed with is a collection of patchbox rubbings from an old friend.  Fortunately for us our friend pursued this interest with vigor and we have several Virginia related images from these efforts.  The Opportunity to view and study these rubbings are a blessing to those who want to get a better understanding of rifles built in the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding areas.  The percussion era pieces by gunsmiths who apprenticed to and influenced by these same people that came before them can be seen in their work.  These rubbings gathered from the 1950's through the early 2000's are an affectionate study of valley pieces,  painstakingly made using  onion skin paper to garner these renderings.  We will try to post at least one or more each Sunday for a few weeks. 

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Simon Lauck Winchester Virginia

Circa 1800 

                                                               Rococo Relief Carving 

Simon Lauck Winchester Virginia

Godfrey Wilkin Shenandoah County

Cabinet Maker & Gunsmith

Circa 1800

Hope you find these of interest, Thank You, JDM 

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Wetzel County West Virginia Joe Young

 A man named Joe Young, a gunsmith by trade, and lately living near East Liberty, recently constructed a boat for the purpose of transporting his family and effects to some point on the Ohio River.  The boat was built at the mouth of Dickerson Run, and on Friday last was successfully launched. Mr Young and his family and all their goods moved in, and with the help of the good people of the vicinity of East Liberty and Dawson, the boat was pushed off and committed to the turbulent waters of the "Dare Devil Yough" and was soon gliding smoothly and swiftly down the river out of sight with it's precious freight...

                                       (Uniontown Genius of Liberty, 8 March 1877)

                                                                           

Joe Young was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania 1842.  He moved to Wetzel County in the1870s.  Joe lived in Hanes Run.  He advertised as a gunsmith in the 1884 Polks West Virginia directory.  While many of Joe's rifles are utilitarian, he made some real fine looking rifles.  A few years back a very elegant heavily silver inlaid signed rifle showed up, unfortunately we do not have any photos of that rifle.  There is more than ample evidence that Joe worked for gunsmith J W Stackhouse, a gunsmith who worked both sides of the river, Ohio & West Virginia in the mid 1800s and by the 1870s was working in the Hanes Runs area. 

Joe Young died in 1918 of influenza and is buried in New Martinsville. 

Thanks to  Aspenshadeltd  for the use of their excellent Joe Young rifle photos & a special thanks to James W Whisker for the use of the photo of Joe Young and all of this research that he shared.

JDM & BMS

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                                        HAMPSHIRE COUNTY GUNSMITHS 1750-1900

1.JOHN G. BRANDT ,  ELK GARDEN

2.WILLIAM BRITTON,  FORT ASHBY

3.W T BROWN

4.JOHN CAMPBELL

5.ROLAND SAVAGE DAYTON,  HEADSVILLE

6.CONRAD GLAZE, SPRINGFIELD

7.GEORGE GLAZE, SPRINGFIELD

8.GEORGE W. GLAZE

9.J J GOOD

10.JOHN HIGGINS

11.JOESPH HIATT

12.JOHN C. HAWKEN

13.WILLIAM HAYDEN

14.WILLIAM HOLLENBACK JR, FORT ASHBY

15.WILLIAM HOLLENBACK, FORT ASHBY

16.HENRY KLINE,HOOKS MILL, CAPON BRIDGE

17.JACOB KLINE, HOOKS MILL, CAPON BRIDGE

18.JACOB KLINE JR, NEAR YELLOW SPRING

19.JACOB LUDWICK

20.JOHN MOORE

21.JAMES E. NELSON,NEAR CAPON BRIDGE

22.NATHANIEL OATES, CAPON BRIDGE

23.NATHANIEL OFFUTT,CAPON BRIDGE

24.MICHAEL RANNELS

25.JACOB REED

26.ANTHONY D. REGER

27.JAMES RINEHART,COLD STREAM ROAD

28.JOHN W RINEHART,COLD STREAM ROAD,CAPON BRIDGE

29.BENJAMIN F SHANE, COLD STREAM ROAD

30.FREDERICK SHEETZ, FORT ASHBY & HEADSVILLE

31.HENRY SHEETZ,  FORT ASHBY

32.HENRY SHEETZ JR,  FORT ASHBY

33.JACOB SHEETZ, THREE CHURCHES JERSEY MOUNTAIN

34.JACOB DICE SHEETZ, THREE CHURCHES JERSEY MOUNTAIN

35.OTHO SHEETZ

36.THOMAS SHEETZ

37.ZEBULON SHEETZ, COLD STREAM ROAD, CAPON BRIDGE

38.CHRISTOPHER SLONAKER, COLD STREAM ROAD, CAPON BRIDGE

39.PETER M THRUSH, BURLINGTON

40.HENRY TOPPER, COLD STREAM ROAD

41.EVAN P. WARD, CAPON BRIDGE

42.SIMEON WARD, CAPON BRIDGE

43.GEORGE YOUNG,  ROMNEY

Added 2/26/2013

44.RUDOLPH RINEHART, BEAR WALLOW HOLLOW

Recently added,

45.JAMES MERRICK, NAME ON BARREL OF  A DEFINITE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY RIFLE.

46. R P

47. H P HARRISON

NOTE: THIS LIST CONSIST OF KNOWN HAMPSHIRE COUNTY GUNSMITHS. THEY ARE NO DOUBT A FEW UNKNOWN OR UNDISCOVERED. NOT ALL GUNSMITHS WERE LISTED AS SUCH IN RECORDS.SOME WORKED AT GUNMAKING A SHORT TIME AND THERE ARE NO RECORDS ON THEM. NOT ALL GUNSMITH SIGNED THEIR WORK.

                                                                       BMS

                                 

 Welcome to Hampshire County Long Rifle.  As you follow this blog we will learn about the Gunsmiths  that operated in Hampshire County West Virginia from 1750-1900 and the rifles they made.  While "Hampshire County Long Rifles " is our title, we will cover all  early gunsmiths who operated in West Virginia . Please check back often as we add to this New Blog.

Hampshire County was home to at least forty known Gunsmiths. Those gunsmiths made complete rifles and kept these " Kentucky Rifles"  , "Home Rifles" or  "Long Rifles" in  good shooting condition. They practiced their craft here in these hills from the last quarter of the eighteenth century through the very end of the nineteenth century.
The abundance of rifle makers was in good part due to the Northwestern Pike. When our ancestors packed up and headed West many of them came through Hampshire County. They needed  new rifles, and old guns repaired. Of course those who stayed here also had much need of a good rifle. Please keep in mind that Hampshire County was much larger than it is today and some of these gun makers may have operated in current Mineral County. These gunsmiths are still considered Hampshire County Gunsmiths by collectors and students of our county's history. I will post a list of the known gunsmiths that operated here in the next blog.  Please feel free to comment, and or ask questions.  Thank you for participating. BMS

                                        Introduction To A Hampshire County Rifle. 

 Here's a brief introduction to our gunsmiths here in the county.  First of all Hampshire County was formed from Frederick Co. in 1754.  In 1786 Hardy Co. was formed from Hampshire Co.  Morgan Co. was formed in 1822 from Hampshire Co.  Mineral Co. came along in 1866. This is to give you a general idea of  how large in size Hampshire County was at this time.

 Now I'll give you some idea of the settlement of this part of Virginia.  Port of entry to our country at this time, 1735 to 1800 can generally be considered to be Philadelphia. Baltimore and Williamsburg  were also ports of entry, but for this time frame Philadelphia saw the most movement to this area.  So for the most part we were seeing the movement of people from the North to the South traveling the great wagon road down the Shenandoah Valley. This influx of people populated areas we know as Martinsburg, Harper's Ferry,Winchester, Woodstock, New Market and so on.  The important factor here is Winchester.  From there our area gunsmiths migrated to Romney and other out laying areas.

 The earliest known gunsmith was Jacob Reed.  In 1751 he was found in South Fork of the South Branch area, South of present day Moorefield.  This area at that time was Augusta county Va., but by 1754 was a portion of Hampshire county.  The next early smith that would be close to this area was George Glaze senior of Springfield, settling there around 1768.  Then we have Rudolph Rinehart,  around 1785 he was established near Augusta in or near Bear Wallow Hollow.  Frederick Sheetz set up shop around present day Fort Ashby around 1790.

 No examples exist of the work that Reed, G. Glaze senior or R. Rinehart produced.  So to study their work to see who influenced them is not possible.  However we can surmise that their work was heavily influenced by builders from  Lancaster ,York and the surrounding areas.

 Adam Haymaker and Simon Lauck Sr. both of Pa. establish shops in the Winchester Va. area around 1780 or a little earlier.  We know that George W Glaze Jr. and Frederick Sheetz of Hampshire county both apprenticed under Simon Lauck of Winchester Va. and their work reflect that of the Lauck shop. Frederick finished his apprenticeship just prior to establishing his own shop in present day Fort Ashby,(1790) and later Headsville, near the confluence of Beaver run and Pattersons creek.  This is where he produced his 1812 contract rifles for the state of Virginia.  However his normal work reflected that of the Lauck shop, with low relief carving and silver inlays found on many of his Golden Age guns.

 G. W. Glaze Jr. apprenticed a little later with Lauck and his work also reflects that of the Winchester School.

Gunsmiths here in the county were numerous, numbering up into the 40's.  All moving in and out of the county going to Ohio, Indiana and further points West.

For a more in depth study on the individual smith's . I suggest reading " Early Gunsmiths of Hampshire County" by William H. Ansel, Jr. and the ( Hampshire County Longrifle blog) both sources have a wealth of knowledge for those who want to learn more about the Hampshire county rifle. Known locally for years as the (home rifle.)  JDM

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CHARLES MILLER MONROE COUNTY GUNSMITH

The above headstone marks the final resting place of gunsmith Charles Miller (1804-1884) interned in Miller-Halstead Cemetery, Monroe County, West Virginia. The rifle engraved near the bottom of the stone was Charles's family's  tribute to his lifelong work.

I wanted to get a picture of one of Charles's rifles to post, but was unable to find anyone who currently has one. However, from information we have received, he usually signed his rifles, "C M," and put the year they were made on the barrel.

From an article by Shirley Donnelly in the February 15, 1956 Beckley Post Herald, Donnelly tells a story related to him by another, of a hunting trip that Charles took in Raleigh County. The story goes that Miller killed a couple deer, and not being a man to waste anything, made a bellows from the deer hides. The bellows were likely made for his forge in his gunsmithing.

Charles is listed as a gunsmith in the 1850 census, as well as the 1870 census. In the 1880 census he is listed as a blacksmith.

If anyone has a West Virginia rifle signed "C M," please contact us. We would greatly appreciate pictures.

Request answered today 8/31/2020 & here are some photos of a wonderful Miller rifle.   This rifle has been in the same family since bought or traded for in 1849.   The icing on the cake is the rifle, bullet mold, bag & horn are still together. 

45 inch barrel 35 cal. 

Signed & Dated

Set Triggers & Percussion Lock 

Thanks to the owner of this rifle  & outfit for sharing. 

Thanks to the person who shared the picture of Charles Miller's headstone. 

As with our other posts, this is a work in progress, and we will add more information in the future.

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