The curious Rev. War events of one John Brooks, Lancaster

[jwh1947]

My good friend Reaves Goehring asked me to put out an advance on his recent mini-study regarding one John Brooks, gunsmith.  He has yet to print it up, and may never do so, and he is not inclined to sit at a computer, so, with his permission, here goes.

Many are familiar with John Brooks (J. Brooks/I. Brooks), known to be an itinerant gunsmith, taxed first in Lancaster boro, then later in Harrisburg.  Reaves wonders what, if any relationship, this story could have.

1780 Lancaster.  One John Brooks (J. Brooks/I. Brooks) was brought before the magistrate and charged with refusal to make arms for the continental army.  He was ushered to the county line and told never to return. 

Reaves believes that, considering the size of the county at the time, that he was taken down to the Susquehanna and banished. 

We don't know if this is one-in-the-same to our gunsmith who is taxed again in 1803 in Lancaster and about a decade later in Harrisburg.  That would make him rather mature, assuming that he was more than an apprentice in 1780.

Anybody have anything more on this?

[Eric Laird]

Any indications he might have been a Quaker? That could explain his refusal to make military arms. Just a  thought.
Eric

[jwh1947]

Reasonable inquiry.  Lancaster was not a center of "Quakerdom" but we have not ruled that out.  That begs the question, do we know of any Quaker gunsmiths?  Hey, Philadelphia collectors, what say you?  Ron G., do you have any material on this?

[JV Puleo]

I don't know about Pennsylvania but Samuel Galton, who was undoubtedly the largest Birmingham gunmaker in the first half of the 18th century, was a Quaker.

[jwh1947]

That's important.  One ignorant of the details of the faith might conclude that gunmaking was acceptable as long as those tools were not used to kill people.

[JV Puleo]

Actually, I should have added that it was the partnership of Galton & Farmer... both were extremely prominent Quakers. They were large contractors to the British Ordnance in addition to supplying huge numbers of cheap guns for the African trade, all in the early - middle 18th century. This did not become an issue with the Friends until late in the 18th century as the accepted interpretation of Quaker principals gradually changed. The impression I get (not being all that conversant with Quaker teaching) is that as the 18th century progressed the strictures on what was permitted became more rigid.

The third member of the Galton family to head the business was expelled from the Birmingham Meeting but continued to attend with no one apparently making any comment on this. I believe that it was his son who finally left the Friends. By this time the Galtons were extremely wealthy... the Samuel Galton who had troubles with the local Friends left an estate of 300,000 pounds, and astronomical amount of money for the time. He was probably wealthier than most members of the peerage. The family abandoned gunmaking and opened a bank. He wrote a famous letter to the Meeting on the subject of his trade which I will post if I can find my copy.

As to the original question, if Mr. Brooks was a Quaker, this is precisely the time when making military arms was falling out of favor with the Friends as an acceptable occupation.

Joe Puleo

[mkeen]

Happy July 4th!

Another consideration on the reluctance of some gunsmiths to make guns during the Revolution is payment. If the payment was made in Continental or Pennsylvania currency the gunsmith could lose quite a bit of money versus payment in silver. The payment terms and the value of the currency at the time of the contract would have to be known to determine if it was good defense contract or not!

Martin Keen

[SCLoyalist]

Another possible explanation for refusing to make arms for the Continental Army was that he was either a Loyalist, or else believed the Crown would ultimately prevail and he didn't want to risk being tried as a traitor when the war ended.

And, if he was a Quaker, he was in a tight spot.  Neither the Loyalist or Patriot/Rebel side trusted them.

See    http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/quaker.htm

The American Revolution had a lot more elements of a civil war than most folks realize today.

SCL