Monroe Co. PA Records

[nord]

Courtesy of Dr. Whisker


Bisbing, Amos S. gunsmith. 1861, Tannersville, Monroe County; 1870-90, White Haven, Luzerne County [Polk's Gazetteer; Boyd's Directories].



Correll, George.  gunsmith. 1861, Kunkletown, Monroe County  [Directory].



Deschner, Theodore (1815-). gunsmith. 1860, Irondequoit Twp., Monroe County. 1860, Deschner, 45, born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, gunsmith; Florentine, 39; Theodore, 17, born in Germany, laborer [Census].



 

Hess, Philip, Jr. gunsmith and U.S. arms contractor. 1812-30, Eldred Twp., Monrow County; 1832, Lehighton, Carbon County [tax; Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, p. 1233]; after 1832, Lynn Twp., Lehigh County.

 

About 1832 Philip Hess, Jr., erected a large rifle factory at the foot of Blue Mountain on the south side and about a half-mile west of Old Balliet's Factory . . . . The factory was supplied with water power and a very extensive business was done for a number of years by Philip Hess, Jr. He employed Solomon Walter, Sr. and others in the vicinity, and at the same time Mr. Dehring and others from Philadel����­phia. The factory was long ago abandoned . . . . Jonas Hess, Solomon Hess and others in the vicinity continued in the gunsmith business for a number of years after the factory was abandoned.

              [Mathews and Hungerford, Lehigh County, p. 279]



Keenert, Lewis.  gunsmith. 1868, Stroudsburg, Monroe County [Polk's Directory].





Koch, A.  gunsmith. 1861, Henrysville, Monroe County  [Dir.].




Kock, L. gunsmith. 1861, Henrysville, Monroe County [Dir.]. probably same name/ family. Since you did a wholly inadequate job so far this will give you an opportunity to add something!




Secor, ---.  gunsmith. about 1854, Honesdale, Wayne County. The gunsmith Secor was the father of Jerome B. Secor who invented an improvement of the sewing machine [Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, 365]. ditto comment

[fm tim]

Thank you very much!

[ehoff]

One missing on the list, and probably the best know of all Monroe County gunsmiths

Nicholas Hawk, Gilbert, Monroe County, 1782-1844.

His gunshop that stood at the former Hawk farm in Glibert, PA was moved to the site of the Henry Gun works at Boulton, PA (Near Nazareth. PA) and reassembled.

[Curt J]

That gunsmith named "Secor", was Oliver P. Secor. He was born in New York State  and probably learned the trade there. He was listed as a gunsmith in Weston, Missouri in the 1850 census, and was then 35 years old. He could not have been in Pennsylvania for very long, as he had a shop on Washington Street, in Peoria, Illinois by 1856. He moved to Chicago in 1863, then back to Peoria in 1868. He was back in Chicago, 1876 - 1880. His son Jerome, was also a gunsmith, and is listed as one in the 1860 census in Peoria. Jerome was born in New York in 1841, suggesting that his father was already a journeyman gunsmith, married with a son, before he left New York.

Oliver P. Secor was an extremely talented maker. His guns (both rifles and shotguns) have an English look, and the fitting of wood-to-metal makes them look like they "grew that way". According to the 1860 Industrial Census, at a time when other gunsmiths were getting $12 to $20 for a rifle, Secor got $50. For shotguns, he got an average of $250, a small fortune in 1860, but such was his reputation. I am fortunate enough (blessed actually) to own two shotguns and a rifle by O P Secor. The best is a cased 8 gauge percussion double shotgun, with the rib signed "O. P. Secor Maker" in beautiful script.