Hard documentation and physical evidence regarding some of the earliest "fathers of gunsmithing" is conspicuous by its absence. The first U.S. census was conducted in 1790 and prior to that, it is essentially hit-or-miss for the serious rifle scholar. Our favorite hunting grounds are old court records, old church records (hats off to the Moravians who, early on realized the value of good record keeping), old business directories, tax lists and estate inventories. Personal letters and serendipity can also lead to hard data.
You might generalize that there are hard-minded researchers and also soft-minded ones...on a continuum from one extreme to the other. The hardest of us won't accept anything as fact unless we can establish it from the above list. We also prefer supporting a "fact" with cross referencing, that is, vectoring it with more than one source.
Now, with that in mind, there are a few names of apparently important gunsmiths and barrel makers that we know to have existed but for whom there are no extant specimens. For instance, Mathias Roessor was one of the patriarchs of early Lancaster, but I don't recall ever seeing a Roessor gun. Yet, I've heard the term "Roessor-influenced." Is this supposed to conjure up some notion of a simple daisy finial and a straight comb? That's my guess. Also, how about his apprentice, the famous William Henry, Sr.?
Love to see just one from either of these men.
Then my favorite. Wolfgang Haga. I have yet to see anyone produce a signed Haga rifle or even a picture of one. I don't think these things exist, but part of our lexicon is "Haga-type." The really crazy thing about this is that even I have an exact idea of the type of gun that is being referred to...the classic early Reading finial and a beefed-up, hefty Reading stock silhouette. We all appear to understand one another, but it is all conceptual with no established base in reality. Remember that the lack of a signature on these early Reading pieces is par for the course; the lack of a signature could almost be argued to be a "school" characteristic in Berks.
Here's what we have been able to find about Haga. He resided in the city of Reading and worked as a gunsmith, which can be verified by the appearance of his name on tax lists from 1767-1781. This tax list compilation can be reviewed in Pennsylvania Archives, Series III, Vol. 18. His will was probated in Reading in 1796. That's all I can offer. Educate me if you have more hard evidence. Also, if I am mistaken and you can lead me to a believable Haga rifle, I'd like to really look it over. Bottom line, how can we make Haga-type attributions when no Haga guns have surfaced?
Also, I would love to see even just a barrel that could be attributed to James Bryan. He appears on tax lists for 1801, Lampeter Twp., Lancaster Co., PA, and he ran a boring mill prior to that which was deeded originally by Richard Penn to Andrew Shultz in 1734.
Also of interest to me, any early (colonial) gun signed 'Baum" other than the one in RCA/Shumway and any early piece signed "Chambers." Again, not holding my breath, but ALR provides chance of something surfacing.
Finally, any of you that have early York guns with a "PH" on the barrel (most likely on the underside) please identify the gun/maker. The PH indicates barrel manufacture by Philip Heckert, late 18th century. I'm compiling a list. JWH
