Two easily overlooked early PA makers

[jwh1947]

Just north of Harrisburg can be found the site of Fort Hunter.  The earliest documentation referring to this site is that of the Chambers brothers, 1726-1730. A gristmill was built there at that time, then the brothers moved to Cumberland County.  One founded Chambersburg and brother James returned to Fort Hunter.

During the F&I War--1755-1758-- this site was chosen for one of the forts built at the base of the Appalachians to serve as a first-line defense for Philadelphia.  This fort was a main transportation link between Lancaster and Fort Augusta.

Primary documentation substantiates that two gunsmiths worked at this site.
James Chambers, gunsmith and Indian trader, was killed in a skirmish here in 1762.  His estate inventory establishes that he was making guns up to the time of his death.

The executor of his estate was one William Foulks.  He, too, was a gunsmith.  He later served in the Revolution--4th battalion of Lancaster County Militia, raised in Upper Paxton and Hanover Townships and commanded by Capt. Richard Manning.
In 1781-82 he was assessed for 150 acres adjacent to the fort.  You can read about this in Pennsylvania Archives.

What was made here and what did they look like?  There are no extant specimens that we know of, so this is my conjecture.  Chambers was apprenticed to an unidentified Lancaster maker, maybe Mathias Roessor.  Likely strong early Lancaster/Germanic overtones.  Probably little, if any, ornamentation.  Many apparently sold to the Indians who lived contiguous to the fort property.  Likely that they did a lot of repairing of militia firearms here, too.  This was the defensive center for the Harrisburg area before the city existed.  The fort was again used during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763, then it was abandoned until a beautiful mansion was built there in the Victorian period.  It still stands and is now an attractive county park along the Susquehanna River, which is a mile wide at that spot.

  If in the area, the park is free, mansion a modest fee for a guided tour, and best steaks in Harrisburg are 1 mile south along the river...shortly after you pass under the longest stone arch bridge in the world.   Heck, I should be touting for the tourist bureau.  

[jwh1947]

Yes, a photocopy of that inventory, courtesy LCHS, appears in my book.  Wayne

[rich pierce]

The history stirs the imagination, but I am not sure how folks who like to build early rifles could use this information.  Any examples of work by Matthias Roessor?  Another random question: Are the earliest Dickert rifles Lancaster-influenced or was he a founder of the 1770's-1790's Lancaster style?

[California Kid]

Rich, never thought about it that way. Interesting observation about Dickert. His stock architecture seems to be the norm . Straight comb, etc.. Fordney carried on the same. Had a Jacob Hoak with the same profile.
Dickert seemed to set the tone for Lanc. arch. as he appears to be the most prolific going by surviving examples. I think Hoak used to hang out with Issac Haines. Earlier guns had thicker butt and got progressively thinner and at the same time having the same profile. Scooter lists Roessor in his Lancaster book, but I haven't seen one either.

[jwh1947]

Roessor would have been in the first recorded wave; yes, no extant specimens have been found.  Dickert would have been the very next generation.  I can't speak ex officio like a professor emeritus of history, but I would call both of these men "founders" of the classic Lancaster style.  I include Roessor from logical assumption, and Dickert from examining physical evidence.  

Incidentally, Henry Kauffman, a pioneer researcher of the subject, considered Jacob Dickert to be the most important Lancaster gunsmith, ever.  He based his opinion on the man's actual work, his influence on others, and his contributions to what we now call the Lancaster style.

For what  it is worth, I concur.  Not the fanciest, by far, not the most graceful hand either, but important, significant, historical...yes.

Global moderator Rich...this was entered under "antique gun collecting" not "rifle building" for a reason.  Is not any documented primary material of use to collectors of "antiques?"  I just don't see this as straying off a subject, which, admittedly, I sometimes do.  

[JTR]

Interesting.
I agree that Dickert was a leading force and/or founder of the Lancaster style. Even his early guns show a strong resemblance to his later fully developed ones, which we know as the Lancaster style.
That's not to say that he was the only one, or even the earliest, maybe just the best documented maker. But Dickert certainly had a strong hand in the development.

Just to keep us from straying the bounds of the forum, here's what I'd call a architecturally fully developed Dickert, 1790/1800ish.
Maybe someone can post some pics of an earlier one for comparison?
John

[Fullstock longrifle]

Very nice John, I especially like the carving on this rifle, it's terrific! 

[jwh1947]

That is about as "classic" as Lancaster style can be.  Most decent.

[JTR]

Very nice John, I especially like the carving on this rifle, it's terrific! 

Frank,

So can anyone offer up an earlier rifle for comparsion,, say a Rev War wood box Lancaster?

John

[rich pierce]

Roessor would have been in the first recorded wave; yes, no extant specimens have been found.  Dickert would have been the very next generation.  I can't speak ex officio like a professor emeritus of history, but I would call both of these men "founders" of the classic Lancaster style.  I include Roessor from logical assumption, and Dickert from examining physical evidence.  

Global moderator Rich...this was entered under "antique gun collecting" not "rifle building" for a reason.  Is not any documented primary material of use to collectors of "antiques?"  I just don't see this as straying off a subject, which, admittedly, I sometimes do.  

Great and provocative discussion.  No doubt Dickert had a big impact on the Lancaster style.  I'll always wonder where he trained, and if at Christian's Spring, why his earliest rifles have no hint of a stepped wrist, while the carving is clearly related.

Who knows, maybe someday a rifle by Matthias Roessor will appear or be identified as his (in case there's already one out there, unattributed).  The elder Newcomer may have had quite an influence as well, I suppose.

[jwh1947]

My guess is that the famous Andreas Albrecht rifle, which is a beautifully restored piece and a testament to my friend Alan Gutchess' hand and mind, is close to the "archetype" Lancaster, as are the earlier Dickerts in Joe's 1960 book.  Kauffman  (1960) hit it on the nose for basic butt architecture with his triangular drawing with points on the lock and the two extremes of the rather straight butt plate.  Add two simple juxtaposed C-scrolls on the cheek side (not necessarily fancy), a rounded fore-end, and, for totally classic,  the daisy finial on the 4-piece box.  That's early Lancaster to me. What did I miss?  All the best, Wayne

[rich pierce]

I agree that the Albrecht in the Lancaster style is an early touchstone.  But I am still fascinated about the style of Lancaster rifles made before Albrecht arrived, and perhaps even before Dickert arrived.  It seems to me that Albrecht was instrumental in the development of the Christians Spring style, not the Lancaster style.  Yet for some reason when he moved to Lancaster he immediately produced an archetypical Lancaster rifle.  This suggests to me that he must have simply adapted to the style already established at Lancaster when he got there.  And I'd like to have a gander at those roots someday.  I also don 't fully understand why the earliest Dickerts, purported to be made before he moved to Lancaster, were stratight-stocked.  Questions that may never be answered.

[mr. no gold]

The Lancaster School seems to have been influenced by the straight lines of the military musket; perhaps the Brown Bess, although there are enough German guns of that configuration to have inspired it. This would have been a normal progression to my mind.
The bigger question here may be this: where did the NE PA styles of architecture, e.g. Bucks/Northumberland/Lehigh Schools come from? The French trade guns could have played a role there much as they seem to have done up in the New England Schools. At one time they were the predominant arm in the colonies. Over a half million were brought into French America, according to Hamilton, so the influence was not inconsequential, I suspect.
Wish we had more material to work with.
Dick

[rich pierce]

Those curvilinear-stocked NE Pennsylvania longrifles were all descended from this one single Germanic rifle- mitochondrial DNA tests prove this is the "Lehigh Eve" as well as the "Mother of the Oerter Griffon Rifle".  Just kidding, but it is a provocative picture.

.

A friend sent me the picture which he got from an auction catalogue. Wish I knew more.

[Stophel]

Did I send you that picture?

I have it, and it is labeled "Austrian".  I have NO idea where it came from, but it does NOT look Austrian.  More like Zweibrücken.....which, by the way, is a WHOLE lot closer to where so many of the Germans who came to PA in the 18th century were from.     Wherever it is from the buttstock is shaped after French fashion, which would not be uncommonly seen most anywhere, as German gunsmiths from all over would do French styled butts on occasion.  However, it is rather more commonly seen in the SW German regions.

I believe very strongly that the prototypical Lehigh gun can be found in the Frankfurt am Main area.  Look very closely at guns particularly by the quite well-known Freund family of Fürstenau.  One or more early gunsmiths in the Lehigh/Bethlehem/Bucks conty area MUST have come from this region...again, shouldn't be surprising since so many Germans in PA were from this region, more so than any other.

[jwh1947]

Are you s8ure this was not Lilith, the spirited one that got left out of the canon, rather than Eve?  Now there's an apocryphal tale that really gets my attention,  She would have been my type. 

That is a neat old rifle.  Thanks for sharing a noble specimen.  I put another list of early central PA smiths up under its own heading.  Wayne

[rich pierce]

Did I send you that picture?

Not this one; got it from JWF.  Great gun for inspiration.

Wayne, keep feedings us- great stuff.