Christopher Breidenhart

[spgordon]

I was at the Lancaster County Historical Society today and thought I'd look, among other things, at the inventory of goods taken after Christopher Breidenhart's death in 1789. He had been working as an innkeeper in the 1770s but also was recruited to do some gunsmith work in 1776. At his death, you'll see, he had some "Gunsmith tools," as well as "One New Riffle and eleven old guns." He also had an enslaved woman.

[VP]

Judging by the inventory he was pretty wealthy, must have done well with his inn.

VP

[Eric Kettenburg]

Fantastic work as usual Scott.  As I mentioned in the other thread - more and more information is popping up via publicly accessibly sites such as this, or online access to archival microfilm and photos.  I hear the death knell pealing loudly for the era of speculative bs presented as 'fact.'  We've all got to up our game.

I would love to see a rifle made by this guy.  I'll wager - speculatively - it was extremely professional.

[spgordon]

Posting these here just so various Christopher Breidenhart stuff will be together. These are three receipts (all dated 25 July 1776) for repairs that Breidenhart did for soldiers' arms.

[DaveM]

Nice finds Scott! 

There was a fowling gun pictured in the old KRA book signed by him.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I only know of the piece in the Vaughn/Heckert 'Lancaster Legend' book.  I don't believe I've known anyone to question the signature but I sure don't know everything.  It's a very nice piece, and very professional - it's not a hack job.

Great finds Scott!

[spgordon]

I don't recall seeing the signature on that rifle, though I remember it's pictured in Heckert/Vaughan. (And: away from home for a week, so can't check the book.)

FWIW, although the different folks writing out these 1776 receipts spell the gunmaker's name with a "d," the gunmaker himself spells his name on all three of the receipts with a "t" rather than a "d" (Breiten....).

Scott

[DaveM]

On the signed gun I have a photo of, the signature is with a "t".

[DaveM]

It would be interesting to know where his shop was located on Queen Street in relation to Fainot’s shop. The fowler by Breitenhart has similarities to Fainot’s work. Scott do you know where their shops were?

[spgordon]

I've never tried to find where Fainot's shop was. Dickert ended up owning Breidenhart's Queen Street property--and while I sure ought to know exactly where Dickert's shop was I can't recall the location at this point. Often eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century advertisements for one spot (a gunsmith's shop) will say something like "two doors down from ..." or "across from" or "next do" a more familiar landmark, and that's a good place to start to identify these locations.

[spgordon]

These receipts indicate that Dickert owned lot 212--but that (according to the chart from the Lancaster County Historical Society journal, which I think, Dave, you posted at some point) wasn't on Queen Street: it was on Prince Street. So Dickert must have owned another property on Queen Street.

[Some of these receipts indicate that lot 212 was the property of the Moravian church, which is probably why they are preserved in the Moravian Archive! Payments on Dickert's Queen Street property, having nothing to do with the Moravian church, wouldn't be preserved in its archive.]



Looks like this Prince Street property was sold after Dickert's death.

[Kevin]

Greetings All,

The Kentucky Rifle Association's "Selected Articles from the KRA Bulletin (Volumes 1 - 30)" contains a short article, with photos of a signed piece, about Johann Christoph Breitenhard, Gunsmith, who settled in Lancaster.  Same fellow?

Kevin

[WESTbury]

Great documents Scott.

Interesting that they seem to have still been using British denominations for their currency.

Was this universal in this period?

Kent

[spgordon]

Yes, for a generation or two after the Revolution, Americans toggled (apparently without confusion) between both currencies (dollars and pounds)...

[DaveM]

I dug a little and no luck yet in locating exactly where these shops were on North Queen Street in Lancaster. but that would be an interesting to find out because it seems like several gunmakers had their shops there, including also Peter Gonter. I found a secondary source saying it was thought to be located at what is now the Hotel (Imperial?), formerly Hotel Brunswick. That would be 151 North Queen Street. This is the southeast corner of Chestnut and Queen.

I did come across this 1798 tax description of Dickert's properties in 1798 (I think Scott you have a copy of this from your Dickert article). It is interesting to me that if this was Dickert's primary shop in 1798, it was rather small - only a log building 12 x 18. I always pictured a number of men working there - but maybe others worked for / with Dickert out of their own shops? Scott, do you have any idea of the log gun shop noted on this 1798 tax form is the one on Queen Street originally owned by C. Breitenhart?  It is log so maybe it dated to the 1750's. Or do you believe this is Dickert's 212 Prince Street property noted in your post? 

As you can see at the bottom Dickert leased another home to an Abraham East. I learned that this Abraham East was a "joiner" by trade. Sorry if I am getting off track of the OP.

[spgordon]

I did come across this 1798 tax description of Dickert's properties in 1798 (I think Scott you have a copy of this from your Dickert article). It is interesting to me that if this was Dickert's primary shop in 1798, it was rather small - only a log building 12 x 18. I always pictured a number of men working there - but maybe others worked for / with Dickert out of their own shops? Scott, do you have any idea of the log gun shop noted on this 1798 tax form is the one on Queen Street originally owned by C. Breitenhart?  It is log so maybe it dated to the 1750's. Or do you believe this is Dickert's 212 Prince Street property noted in your post? 

When I wrote that article, I certainly believed that this was the Queen Street property in which Breitenhard had worked. (I am away from home for a week so cannot check any of my notes.) Dickert was living in this property by the late 1760s and using the smith's shop. His production was presumably modest at this time. By the 1790s he may have supervised additional workers at another property, which he either owned or rented? During the Revolution there was mentioned a "factory" in Lancaster; the supervisor of this factory was not mentioned (people used to think it was William Henry, which is wrong), but I'd wager it was Dickert. I don't think anybody knows where it was.

The Prince Street property was, some of the rent receipts say, owned by the Moravian Church; I don't think there was a smith's shop on this property. The advertisement for its sale (copied here again) doesn't mention a smith shop, just a brick barn & good water from a well.