William Henry, Sr., was born May 19, 1729, near the Pequea Creek, Lancaster, Co., PA, the son of a Scottish father and a French Huguenot mother. Orphaned at age 15, he was appenticed to Mathias Roessor. At age 21 he entered the gun business for himelf, producing arms and equipment for the Indian trade. He entered into trade with Joseph Simon, and together they prospered in business. Henry's military career started with his appointment as armorer for Braddock's Expedition in 1755. He also served in this capacity for the Forbes Expedition which later reclaimed Fort Duquesne (Fort Pitt) for the British.
In 1755 he married Ann Wood. Originally of diverse Protestant denominations, they joined the Moravian Church in 1763. Both husband and wife took active parts in civic and educational affairs. They had 13 children, two of whom later became gunsmiths; Abraham built guns in Lancaster and William, Jr., erected the famous manufactory at Boulton, near Easton, PA.
During a trip to Europe in 1760, he visited James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. Upon returning to Lancaster, he experimented with steam power, and he is remembered for his early experiments with a steamboat on the Conestoga Creek. Although unsuccessful in building a practical steamboat, he established that the process was feasible. Subsequent inventors, including Robert Fulton, profited from his work. Henry is also credited with the invention of the screw auger, which expelled wood chips as it turned and bored holes.
In 1766 Henry was admitted to the American Philosophical Society in Philadephia; as a result he gained an opportunity to interact with the best minds of the period. Many famous guests spent time in the Henry home, located at the rear of what is now the Lancaster Central Market. Painter Benjamin West, later to become president of the Royal Academy of Arts, received assistance from Henry early in his career. The famous portraits of Ann and him were done by West. David Rittenhouse, state treasurer, and John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence, were Henry's personal friends. Perhaps Henry's most famous house guest was Revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense. While a guest in the Henry home, Paine wrote No.5 in his series of Crisis pamphlets.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Henry put all his energies toward the cause of independence. He increased his gun manufacturing capabilities by leasing additional space and hiring more gunsmiths. In March 1776 he received a contract for 200 muskets from the Committee of Safety. This was the first of many contracts that he filled. In addition to running the arms business, he served as a member of the Committee of Correspondence and Observation. During the War he was named Superintendent of Arms and Accoutrements for the Continental Army, Assistant Commissary General, Commissary of Hides (shoes, belts, and cartridge boxes) and member of the Pennsylvania Council of Safety. He also worked as a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania which ran the war effort for the Commonwealth. At other times, Henry served as county judge, county treasurer, city treasurer, justice of the peace, and canal commissioner. He also worked as an architect, designing the Moravian church in Lititz and overseeing the building of a prison in 1781. His community service culminated with his election to the Continental Congress in 1781.
Henry had little formal schooling, but was an avid reader of scientific books. Descendant J. J. Henry noted in his memoirs that William Henry was a man of commanding presence, tall, vigorous, and muscular, with prominent features. Although a man of power, he possessed an "innate gentleness of nature" which made others gravitate toward him. He died December 15, 1786. William Henry--gunsmith, inventor, community servant, statesman and gentleman--truly a man to remember! JWH
PS: Francis Jordan, Jr., wrote Henry's biography, The Life of William Henry, copyright 1910, New Era Printing Co., Lancaster, PA. Substantial material on the family is held by the Boulton Plantation/American Museum of the Longrifle.
