Author Topic: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802  (Read 17249 times)

Bob Smalser

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Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« on: January 29, 2011, 02:41:47 AM »
Johannus Andreas Albrecht (John Andrew Albright) 1718-1802

Coat-of-Arms of Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia

Born in Germany’s iron ore and later gunmaking center in the Thuringerwald on April 2, 1718.  His hometown of Zella-Mehlis, near Suhl, was later the location of the original Walther factory.  Young Andreas apprenticed as a gunstocker there at age 13, finishing his training at age 18 when he became a journeyman in Halberstadt and Wolfenbuttel in Saxony.

For readers stationed in Germany during the Cold War, Zella is around 15 miles from the old inter-German border near the Parrot’s Beak due east of the Fulda Gap and Meiningen Plain.

Albrecht joined the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great in 1740 as a gunstocker, and served during the First and Second Silesian Wars in Brandenburg, Anhalt-Nassau, Berlin and Halle, then participated in the invasion of Bohemia in 1744.

A devout Evangelical Lutheran, Albrecht was released from the army in 1748 and moved to the Moravian commune of Herrnhaag north of Frankfurt-am-Main in Hesse.

Christian Springs in the 1750’s


He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1750 with 80 other brethren, and arrived in Bethlehem on June 27, where he taught school.  Later he moved to the all-male commune at Christian Springs, and established the rifle-making program there in 1757.  Farming, shoemaking, writing and silk weaving were also taught there, and Andreas also taught at Nazareth Hall Academy two miles away.

This 1759 List of Trades has #11 Albrecht as the sole Buechsen-Shaefter or Riflemaker between the #10 Nail Smiths and the #12 Wood Turners.

Andreas married Elizabeth Von Orthe in 1766.  Her father Balthazar was from a line of minor nobility originating near Vienna Austria, and had emigrated from the Palatine to farm 300 acres in Lebanon Township in 1730.  Like the later Rupp gunmakers with one noble parent, his family was wealthier than most.  Andreas moved back to Bethlehem and with Elizabeth managed the Sun Inn from 1766-1771.  The inn remains in business today (references below).

Andreas, Elizabeth and their two young sons moved to Lititz in Lancaster County in 1771 where Andreas resumed gunmaking.  There they had four more children, including Susanna Elizabeth (1778-1865) who married pioneer organ builder Philip Bachman, and Godfrey Albright (1782-1835) who served in the War of 1812.

Andreas preceded Elizabeth in death on April 19, 1802 on the second day of Easter after three days in a coma.  He was 84 years old.  Elizabeth lived another 28 years, dying at age 90.


But did you also know…

…that he had two brother-in-laws who served as Lancaster County Commissioners, both of them officers during the Revolutionary War?

…that one of those brothers-in-law was Johannes Gloninger, who later became a state senator, and served in The US House of Representatives as a Congressman?

…that war-veteran Andreas’ two stints as a school teacher were as a music teacher?

…and that Andreas sang tenor in the Moravian church choirs of Bethlehem, Christian Springs and Lititz?

References:

Ancestry Family Trees, Ancestry.com, The Latter Day Saints Genealogical Library, 193 S. Mountain Way, Oren, Utah 64058.

https://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2010/11/moravian-gun-making-of-american.html

https://www.suninnbethlehem.org/history.htm

Whisker, James Biser, Arms Makers of Colonial America, Susquehanna University Press, 1993, pp26, 31.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiansbrunn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Orth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gloninger
« Last Edit: November 27, 2019, 12:37:25 AM by Dennis Glazener »

Offline Blacksmoke

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2011, 02:52:24 AM »
Bob:  Once again you are a "wealth" of information regarding the old master longrifle makers!  Thanks for sharing the short bio on A. Albrecht.   Very interesting indeed! :)  We like hearing from you.   Hugh Toenjes
H.T.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2011, 06:41:38 PM »
To my knowledge, nobody has systematically looked through the Moravian congregational diaries for Lititz or for Christian's Spring (or Bethlehem) for references to Andreas Albrecht: such research would add enormously to our knowledge about him. This project may seem daunting, given that such diaries are written in German and in a script that even German speakers cannot easily decipher (see the example above). But (unlike in the example above) the diarists typically wrote names in a Latin "font" that stands out from the German script around it, and one can page through the diaries (slowly) and catch most of the references to a particular individual. One can then snap digital photos of such pages and hire a translator to translate the relevant entries.

I would be happy to work with somebody on such a project; please feel free to email me (spg4@lehigh.edu) or reply here.

Scott
« Last Edit: January 30, 2011, 06:42:10 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline nord

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2011, 05:47:05 PM »
Courtesy of Dr. Whisker...

The major portion of Andreas Albrecht's life has been known since the late William S Bowers published Gunsmiths of Pen-Mar-Va, over 40 years ago. It comes from the Burial Book of the Moravian Church and was noted by Professor Henry J. Kauffmam who did essentially nothing with it.


Andreas Albrecht (1718-1802). gunsmith. Albrecht was born on 2 April 1718 in Zelle, Germany. On 19 November 1766 he married Elizabeth von Orthe, who was born on 14 August 1739 at Lebanon and died on 4 June 1830 at Lititz. Andreas died on 19 April 1802 at Lititz. He arrived at Christian's Spring on 30 August 1759, and in 1762 established his gunshop there. Albrecht was listed on the tax records of Moore Township, Northampton County, from 1754 through 1771. In 1771, he took William Henry as his apprentice in gun making [H.H. Beck, "William Beck," Lancaster Historical Society Papers, Vol. 54, p.70]. From 1772 through 1802 he lived at Lititz, Warwick Township, Lancaster County. His gunshop was near the Moravian Church at Lititz. [3 Pa Arch 17 at 775; William S. Bowers, Gunsmiths of Pen-Mar-Va, pp. 9-11; George Alfred Shumway, Rifles of Colonial America, pp.198-204].

 

            The autobiography of Brother Andreas Albrecht, who died at Lititz on 19 April 1802, tells us of his life. "I was born in the little town of Celle, near Suhl, in the mountains of Thurgia. I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran religion. During the years of my childhood I experienced many blessed events, e.g., at Christmas time, when the birth and childhood of Jesus was talked about. When I had reached the age of 13 years, I became an apprentice of a gun stock maker. I prayed to God to help me. I stayed clean of all bad things into my seventeen year. However, as soon as I became a helper, the world began to woo me, and it would have conquered my heart, if had not the Savior, whom I did not know at that time, protected me. When I was 18 years old, in the midst of winter, I started out into the world as a journeyman. Several times I was in the extreme cold, in blizzards, in danger of losing my life, and I heard in my heart, 'If you die now, you will be lost." I cried bitterly and promised dear God to become a different person, if He would guide me safely to the place of my destination. With this resolution, I arrived at Halberstadt. There I frequented the public divine service, and kept away from bad company. However, I remained restless in my heart. Once, a weaver's helper addressed me on the open road and asked me if I loved the Lord Jesus. I was surprised by this unexpected question. I looked at the man and answered, "Yes!" Immediately he took me to pious people. Their singing and praying impressed my heart deeply. In order to become more proficient in my trade in 1739 I continued my journey in the company of another gun maker's helper. In Wolfenbuttel I got a job with him. Our new master liked us very much, especially since we did not go out except to Church. But the restlessness of my soul did not cease. It continued underneath all my apparent piousness because I realized that I was not yet as I had promised the dear Lord that I would be. This oppressed my heart, especially when I wanted to go to Communion. For sometime I had carried on under this conviction, which changed often with new requests of God's Spirit. I made great and many efforts, but I never learned what the Savior was like. Finally, in 1740, it happened that I had to return to Halberstadt for work I had accepted for the soldiers. Here the blessed hour struck, when God's grace came to me. It was on Trinity Sunday in the cathedral when the Spirit of God opened my heart and eyes. There I listened to a sermon of the Counselor of the Consistory, Weisbeck, a very serious man, on the words, 'Except that a man be born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.' Now I saw myself lying in my blood. My misery in all its immensity showed itself before my eyes, not only the bad things I had done from youth on, but also what had seemed to me formerly to be good appeared now as sins. I still lacked the new birth of my heart and so I lacked everything. The pious Weisbeck pronounced the final words of his sermon with a penetrating voice, 'Be born anew or lost for eternity, Amen.' This hit my heart like lightning. I felt what a criminal may feel when he is sentenced to death. For the next seven or eight hours I felt lost and the horror of death hurt me undesirably. I could not eat or drink. All I was able to do was wring my hands and moan, until the Savior showed himself to my poor soul as redeemer of my sins. All at once my terrible fear and everything which had scared me before disappeared. I was able to renew my baptismal vows with God: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; and to dedicate myself to my Savior as His property and I felt in my heart thankfulness and happiness. With this sensation of happiness I carried on uninterruptedly for a whole year.



            Oh! how often did I wish afterwards I should have fallen in the hands of the Brethren to be cared for, but I didn't know them yet. It would have saved me from many detours on the road to Salvation.

            In 1741, when the war started in Silesia, I went with the regiment and served with a gun stock maker in an encampment near Brandenberg. Here the first love of my heart became more and more lost, and the wickedness of my nature showed up again. This would have oppressed my mind if I had not, by the graceful Providence of God, just at that moment joined a regiment at Anhalt-Nassau. This regiment engaged me finally as its gunstock maker. I went with it into winter quarters in Berlin. So I had the time and opportunity to frequent, for the great and lasting blessing of my heart, the service and devotional hours of Pastor Fuhrmann and of other devoted men. In the following year, after the peace treaty, our regiment marched back to its garrison at Halle, where I got in even closer contact with the enlisted Brethren. My heart profited much from their meetings, which were frequented by the citizens, students, soldiers and journeymen. Once I had a very blessed sensation when I heard a soldier-brother preaching on the fourth part of the 'daily bread' which he interpreted as the Savior.



            In 1743 I was so lucky as to see the late Count Zizendorf when he traveled through Halle and to hear a lecture by him. This made me wish to visit a Brethren Congregation. It happened luckily for me at the end of the same year, when I had the opportunity to travel with a soldier-brother to Herrnhag and to spend there a few weeks for the unforgettable blessing of my heart. In 1744 I had to march again into war in Bohemia. At that time I remembered often my blessed visit and I desired to live with such a people as the Brethren, with whom I had become acquainted, and was delighted by their beautiful services, even if it would be only in a corner of a door. After the end of the Second Selesian War, in January 1746, I returned with my regiment to Halle. Many soldier-brethren, even the best ones, had been killed in the war, and I did not trust myself and the world. The desire to live in a Brethren's congregation rose once more in me. But it lasted until 1748 when the Prince of Dessau finally dismissed me [from military service], because if my urgent applications. The following day I started my journey to Herrnhag. I was immediately allowed to stay there, and to my joy and shame, I was soon admitted to the Congregation and to Holy Communion with it. In 1750 I traveled with a group of about 80 Brethren to America. We arrived at Bethlehem on June 27th. There I tasted during the following years many undeserved blessings. Now whenever I look back at those times, I become ashamed of all the grace which He so richly showered on me, a poor worm. [end of Albrecht's narrative; the community historian added the following].



     "At Bethlehem our late brother Andreas Albrecht served for some time in the children's quarters. Then he moved to Christian's Spring, there served our children in Nazareth Hall, especially by giving music lessons. In 1766 he entered into Holy Matrimony with Sister Elizabeth Ort, now his widow, whom matrimony blessed with six children. He had grandchildren, two from his sons and one from his daughter. After the late Brother and his wife had administered the Inn at Bethlehem for about five years, he moved here, to Lititz, and established himself again as a gunstock maker, and enjoyed the blessings of God. The greatest interest in his heart remained the progress of children .... At his last birthday, he was still extraordinarily happy and friendly to his beloved ones. But soon afterwards one could realize that he had been quietly preparing himself for his return home. He weakened from day to day and on April 14 he had to stay in bed. When he was told that the Savior would soon take him home, and when the Congregation came to pray for him, he showed his appreciation with a friendly look. Then three day before his death he went into a coma. On the Great Sabbath the Congregation blessed him and on the second day of Easter he feel peacefully asleep forever. He was aged 84 years and 17 days."



   [from W.S. Bowers, Gunsmiths of Pen-Mar-Va, pp. 8-11]

 

[John] Andrew and Elizabeth [von Orthe] Albright



 had issue. The first son, Johannes [John] was born on 12 March 1768 at Bethlehem, but no additional information is available on him. The Moravian Cemetery at Bethlehem contains the grave of a John Albright who died in 1768, and this may be the same person.



   


« Last Edit: November 27, 2019, 12:37:58 AM by Dennis Glazener »
In Memory of Lt. Catherine Hauptman Miller 6/1/21 - 10/1/00 & Capt. Raymond A. Miller 12/26/13 - 5/15/03...  They served proudly.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2011, 11:17:18 PM »
I don't know what Mr. Whisker means by "major portion" but of course this information, which has long been known, offers only some (I would say a very small amount of) information about Andreas Albrecht's life. Notice that Albrecht's own account ends in 1750, and the supplementary material is extremely brief.

The gunsmith William Henry left a lebenslauf (spiritual memoir), too, just as Albrecht did. This document does help us know a bit about his life. But only a small bit. The Moravian congregational diary in Lancaster, on the other hand, offers enormous amounts of information about Henry's life, on a daily basis during some periods: about his comings and goings, the networks he associated with, his business dealings, his side interests (electrotherapy to cure a small child at one point!), important events that are otherwise forgotten (a fire in his and Joseph Simon's shop, serious financial losses in England, etc.). And it records many conversations that Henry had with Lancaster's Moravian minister that tell us a bit about his character.

This is what I meant by suggesting that there are sources in which original research can still be done--rather than relying on older (and often unreliable) sources--on these figures, including Andreas Albrecht.

The above posting, for instance, states that "Albrecht was listed on the tax records of Moore Township, Northampton County, from 1754 through 1771." But Moore Township was not founded until 1765. Before this, as a member of a Moravian community, Albrecht would have been listed on the Bethlehem township tax lists (much as, contrary to published sources, during the 1780s William Henry Jr. was listed not on tax records from Nazareth Township, which did not exist before 1788, but on Bethlehem township lists: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=13711.0). In any case, it was unusual for individuals living at Christian's Spring to be taxed individually (the community as a whole was taxed, presumably by "head") so most members' names don't appear at all on tax lists. I am not even sure that there are tax lists for Northampton County's Moravian communities from 1754-1771; I believe some tax lists exist for these years, but not a full sequence of them. Somebody would need to (re)check to see whether Albrecht appears on any of them.

Scott

« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 11:49:25 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Bob Smalser

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2011, 10:32:07 AM »
...Moore Township was not founded until 1765. Before this, as a member of a Moravian community, Albrecht would have been listed on the Bethlehem township tax lists (much as, contrary to published sources, during the 1780s William Henry Jr. was listed not on tax records from Nazareth Township, which did not exist before 1788, but on Bethlehem township lists....

Interesting.  But only so far.

Many narratives are liberal about using "Northampton County" when if prior to 1752 they should technically be using the term "Bucks County Frontier".  Same with Montgomery versus Berks County.  Of course Montgomery wasn't established until later, but if the description ties the substantive location down tighter, then its a positive, not a negative.  Same with Harris' Ferry and Harrisburg.  Or using the term "Lieutenant Governor" instead of "Vice President of the Executive Council of the Proprietorship of Pennsylvania".

Today any reader who isn't running Wiki in parallel with the text is doing himself a disservice.  There is a limit in breaking up your narrative with notes.  Like keeping quotes in their original, difficult-to-read archaic period prose.  The first few are cute, but they slow reading to a snail's pace.  Eventually they become litter.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2011, 04:57:08 PM by Bob Smalser »

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2011, 01:56:28 PM »
Fair enough point. Although it is easy enough (in a parenthesis) to note the situation rather than provide inaccurate information that will mis-direct future researchers. Writing something like "From 1750-53 John Smith appeared on the XYZ Township tax lists (an area now in ABC Township)" would seem to solve the problem easily and have the advantage of accuracy.

But would it be significant that, in fact, Andreas Albrecht does not appear at all on tax records from 1754-1771? Or does the fact that we know he resided in a particular township justify saying that he appeared on its tax lists? This is the real issue regarding the information I quoted and replied to above.

I don't see the problem with footnotes or endnotes. Having a superscript number in a text doesn't disrupt the reading experience. Readers can choose whether to look at the notes or not. The serious problem with omitting notes is that information can't be checked or traced to its sources. At least, with a citation, an author indicates that he is relying on others: subsequent authors can then choose whether to rely on these same sources (and cite them forthrightly) or to check them.

I realize that nobody has the leisure to check everything. And it wouldn't pay to do that, since--hopefully!--most of the information would turn out to be accurate. But if something seems odd given what you know--and this does happen all the time--I think it pays to check the odd-seeming information rather than try to figure out how to make it fit with what you've learned. More than likely, the odd seeming information is inaccurate, or at least that's what has happened in most of the cases I've followed up on.

In my profession, people are equally divided about the value of, or the disruption caused by, keeping original spelling. Sometimes modernizing the spelling removes meaning that lies in italics, capital letters, even odd spellings. But often, as you say, keeping the original spelling just makes a text a chore to read. It really depends (as does, I suppose, the issue of accuracy of information) on the audience you're aiming for.

Scott

« Last Edit: February 04, 2011, 04:35:05 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Bob Smalser

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2011, 04:55:39 PM »

In my profession, people are equally divided about the value of, or the disruption caused by, keeping original spelling. Sometimes modernizing the spelling removes meaning that lies in italics, capital letters, even odd spellings. But often, as you say, keeping the original spelling just makes a text a chore to read. It really depends (as does, I suppose, the issue of accuracy of information) on the audience you're aiming for.


My point is that it's easily overdone.

For an example of what I'm speaking of I recommend Peter Silver below.  He likes original quotes, uses them on almost every page, and leaves them archaic.  He's also a politically-correct apologist for French and British-led massacres of non-combatants and uses a lot of terms like "ritual torture" and ritual scalping" to describe the murder of young children.  Well, wading through 400 pages of archaic passages was, indeed, ritual torture.

Silver, Peter Rhoads, Our Savage Neighbors, WW Norton and Company, New York, 2008.

And in the meantime, I'll continue to use "lieutenant governor" instead of "Vice President of the Executive Council of the Proprietorship of the Pennsylvania Colony", the explanation of which serves little purpose.  I’ll save my end notes for things more substantive, ie:

Quote
“There were unintended consequences of Washington’s demonstration of the skills of his frontier riflemen, however.   Between the sunburn incurred on the march to Boston, the fringed hunting shirts, breechclouts, leggings and moccasins, combined with the presence of a company of Mohican militiamen from western Massachusetts in the siege force, initial British reports were that the rebels sniping at their sentries so effectively from great distances were Washington’s tribal allies.  When these reports reached British Commander-in-Chief General Thomas Gage, he stated “the rebels have brought down all the savages they could against us”, and in consequence “opened the door” for British use of Indian allies in the fighting ahead.  This would have disastrous consequences later for families on the frontier.  (Note 13) (Silver, pp242-3.)”

Note 13:  Recognizing that hiring native tribes to murder noncombatant British subjects might be somewhat controversial, Gage had been lobbying British Secretary of War William Wildman, the Viscount Barrington, via letter since early June, 1775 for crown authorization to incite tribal allies.  Barrington and others demurred, and it was hardliner King George III who quickly bought into Gage’s erroneous claims that Washington had unleashed his “savages” against British forces, and gave the approval.  While the arrival during July of a sunburnt Thompson’s Rifle Regiment dressed like natives played a minor role, misreporting on them was part of a continuing conversation between Gage and his superiors in Britain, and added emphasis to a decision already made but not yet in the hands of Gage, who continued to argue for terrorizing families on the frontier as a means to keep the militiamen at home.  Governors and Indian Superintendents were told in a letter of 17 July 1775,  “….it is His Majesty’s pleasure that you lose no time in taking such steps as may induce (the Indians) to take up the hatchet against His Majesty’s rebellious subjects.” Fortunately it took the British two years before the policy would have an effect, because there was no shortage of key officials appalled at the idea who stalled implementation. (Nester pp70-71)

« Last Edit: February 04, 2011, 06:54:13 PM by Bob Smalser »

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2011, 07:50:07 PM »
I take Bob's important point: we make substitutions all the time. We substitute conventional titles for actual titles; we substitute modern spelling for original spelling; so why not substitute modern township boundaries for period ones. My own sense is that these different instances involve different issues.

Nobody, including Peter Silver, uses "Vice President of the Executive Council of the Proprietorship of the Pennsylvania Colony" instead of Lieutenant Governor (or just Governor) when referring to PA in the colonial period. So this seems a bit of a straw man. It is a convention adopted universally to use the simpler title; in this we are simply following period usage. Often when one modernizes spelling, one tells the reader that one has done so. Here, too, there is no possibility of readers being misled. (I prefer original spelling, for reasons I mentioned above, but I see the other side of the argument.)

It seems (to me) to be a more difficult question as to whether one should substitute current township designations for period-accurate ones. As Bob says, using current designations may be helpful in identifying where somebody lived and worked on a current map. On the other hand, such a substitution may mislead readers or researchers, who might go looking, say, for 1781 Nazareth township tax records that don't exist. Moreover, silently making a substitution (Nazareth for Bethlehem, say) obscures a whole range of interesting questions that only come up if one asks why somebody in Nazareth was on a Bethlehem tax list--or, even more interesting, why many adults living and working in "Nazareth" weren't ever listed on any tax list as individuals.

I suppose my own bottom line is that unless an author makes the reader aware that he has substituted current designations for period ones (which can be done with a parenthetical phrase: no endnotes required), a reader is very likely to be misled. But, even more, I'd say that--in my experience--when an author has substituted one township for another in his lists of tax records on which gunsmiths appear, it hasn't been part of an effort to help readers. It has been due to error--and usually other mistakes are nearby.

Scott
« Last Edit: February 04, 2011, 08:08:03 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Bob Smalser

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #9 on: February 06, 2011, 06:20:24 PM »
... a reader is very likely to be misled. But, even more, I'd say that--in my experience--when an author has substituted one township for another in his lists of tax records on which gunsmiths appear, it hasn't been part of an effort to help readers. It has been due to error--and usually other mistakes are nearby.

I agree.   My complaint is damaging the clarity, flow and tight logic of a narrative with unnecessary words and practices or devices.

The average target reader should be able to obtain the meaning in the first read-through.  If the reader can't, the passage needs a rewrite.  David Hackett Fischer and Aaron Spencer Foglemen are among the best examples, Peter Silver is one of the worst.

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2020, 05:12:15 AM »
Andreas had a son named Andrew who was a sheriff and lived beyond 1814?  Was he also a gunsmith?
« Last Edit: January 20, 2020, 06:05:42 AM by Shreckmeister »
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2020, 02:48:24 PM »
Rob -- I found three letters from Andrew Albright (Andreas Albrecht, Jr.: 1770-1822) and published them in the Lititz Church Square Journal (links below). He never worked as a gunsmith. He trained as a tanner and worked as a schoolteacher and a nailsmith before leaving Lititz. By 1798 he left Lititz for Lewisburg, where he opened a tavern and served as postmaster. After moving south to Sunbury, he resettled at Upper Buffalo Creek (west of Lewisburg). Albrecht became a public servant: he was elected as Andrew Albright to Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives (1808-1810), served as Northumberland County’s treasurer (1812-1813), and was appointed an associate judge (1813-1818). He was elected to the state Senate in 1822 but died in November before he took office.

Letter 1: https://f5b97accd102bbd14951-7ec62e239b234ba5fc66c7521617b03e.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/2/0e7913494_1539020212_22-fall-2017-csj.pdf

Letter 2: https://f5b97accd102bbd14951-7ec62e239b234ba5fc66c7521617b03e.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/c/0e7907479_1538772953_csj-fall-2018-final.pdf

Letter 3: https://f5b97accd102bbd14951-7ec62e239b234ba5fc66c7521617b03e.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/2/0e8491511_1551918440_2019-spring-church-square-journal.pdf
« Last Edit: January 20, 2020, 02:53:28 PM by spgordon »
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2020, 07:33:25 PM »
I just came across an 1814 indenture signed by him for the property of John & Catherina Brown.
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2020, 07:39:30 PM »
And where were they? Does he sign it "Albrecht" or "Albright"?
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
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https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2020, 08:52:17 PM »
They were near Sunbury signed Albright
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #15 on: January 28, 2020, 11:34:12 PM »
This Northumberland County deed is signed by Andrew Albright, the younger.  I believe he was Sheriff.







« Last Edit: January 29, 2020, 12:35:20 AM by Shreckmeister »
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #16 on: January 29, 2020, 12:26:13 AM »
Here's his signature in 1794, when he was still in Lititz:


Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #17 on: January 29, 2020, 12:34:51 AM »
Scott,  Wouldn't that be Sr's signature?
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #18 on: January 29, 2020, 12:39:29 AM »
No, that is the same person. It says "Junr" (he was still junior in 1794, as Andreas Albrecht the gunsmith was still alive).

Signatures are very different ... but also decades apart.
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook

Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #19 on: January 29, 2020, 12:47:28 AM »
Interesting that they changed so much.  Really no shared elements. 
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Offline spgordon

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Re: Andreas Albrecht 1718-1802
« Reply #20 on: January 29, 2020, 12:54:21 AM »
It is possible that the clerk who wrote out the "Personally came before me ..." part also signed for Albright. Often/usually, you see the formulaic text ("Personally came before me....") written by a clerk and then a signature added by the official (sheriff or justice or judge or whomever) himself. But in this case, the handwriting on the formulaic part and the signature seem to be the same. So I would wonder whether that is Albright's own signature or a clerk's.

Or the difference could just be due to the twenty years that had passed.
Check out: The Lost Village of Christian's Spring
https://christiansbrunn.web.lehigh.edu/
And: The Earliest Moravian Work in the Mid-Atlantic: A Guide
https://www.moravianhistory.org/product-page/moravian-activity-in-the-mid-atlantic-guidebook