Not at all what I expected a longrifle maker to look like. Funny how you visualize things one way and reality is so different.
Thank you for posting it. You just turned my world upside down. Not at all what I expected a longrifle maker to look like. Funny how you visualizeMaybe Benjamin tried to make his brother Abraham prettier than he really was. The father is not so attractive, but does look very artistocrat. What a great gift to the society.
things one way and reality is so different. What a treasure for their historical society.
Not at all what I expected a longrifle maker to look like. Funny how you visualize things one way and reality is so different.
Rob, I know just what you mean. Below is a (famous) portrait of his father, William Henry (1729-1786)--who at the time of the portrait was also a gunsmith. He's is holding a rifle but, other than that, he looks like a "elite" figure much as his son is pictured as.
(https://i.ibb.co/tq1cg7Z/William-Henry-I-HSP.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dPH6Fdb)
So had the Henry's elevated their status based on their success in the important industry of gunmaking or were they wealthy businessmen before they ventured into gunmaking? Were they still getting their hands dirty after William's time or were they figureheads of industrial operations of their time?
Can I share these images elsewhere?
Is this the same Henry family that later made all the trade rifles?
SPG, Thank you, that is an impressive body of work. Carefully reasoned and well documented, I am wading through without nodding off even once.
You know, that Abraham rifle in the archive (linked above) is a bit interesting. The guard profile looks very similar to the guards William Antes was using which basically dictated the design of the slightly later Bucks Co. guards. I can't see a bottom view, but that does not look like a Lancaster guard. Also, while the 'daisy' box almost automatically requires that it be placed in the Lancaster camp, there are a number of extant rifles that were clearly made in the Easton area that also used a daisy finial box. Some were more symmetrical in the finial, but there are a few that appear to have been made in eastern NH Co. that utilized boxes copying the Lancaster-attributed form. Wonder where this rifle was actually made?
With regard to appearance in portraits for the Henrys, versus our expectations of what gunsmiths would look like, it's probable that a portrait would be painted in one's finest clothing. Much like today, where lots of blue collar people who dress casually 99% of the time have a suit only worn for weddings and funerals... and portraits. The Henrys may indeed have had more wealth than the average family, but I would expect most portraits to be a fancied-up version of whomever was being painted.