Michael,
Thank you for sharing these great photos. Very interesting topic. Below is a newspaper story regarding a masonic emblem decorated longrifle made by gunsmith John Dreisbach in Union / Snyder County, PA. I hope you find it as interesting as I did when I first came across it.
Mark Loudenslager
Story originally published in the “Mifflinburg Telegraph” newspaper, Mifflinburg, PA on Thursday November 5, 1953
Mifflinburg’s Gunsmith Shop by Dr. Charles M. Steese
One of the better known of the early Pennsylvania industries was the rifle shop or gunsmith shop. Here the famous Pennsylvania Rifles, sometimes erroneously called “Kentucky Rifles” were made. In the early days, one ordered a rifle much the same as today we order a suit of clothes. The gunsmith had in his shop all types of designs with which the stock of the rifle could be ornamented. One of these could be selected, or as often was the case the customer had individual ideas about the ornamentation. Often a religious symbol, an astronomical shape or fraternal emblem was used for the brass, or mother-of-pearl ornament on the stock. While many of the early gunsmiths had shops in which both the gun barrels were bored and the rifle made up, there were some who only did the boring.
The famous Dreisbach Gunshop in Buffalo Valley was established in the village of Mifflinburg in 1793 by John Dreisbach, a son-in-law of Elias Youngman the founder of the town, and a son of Martin Dreisbach for whom the well known Buffalo Valley Church was named. Prior to 1793 John Dreisbach had conducted a small shop on his father’s farm in Buffalo Township.
The shop in Mifflinburg was located on what is now South Fifth Street, first across the alley from the old Elias Church which was built some years later. This shop boasted of a gun boring department, a cabinet shop where stocks were made and a blacksmith shop. Long after the gunsmith shop disappeared a part of the old building remained and was used as a blacksmith shop, and in times within the memory of many as a paint shop.
Dreisbach was assisted in the gun making by not only his two sons, but by a number of other workmen. During the peak of his industry he is said to have had a payroll of seven. When he died, one of his sons conducted the shop for a time on a somewhat smaller scale, and finally mover the establishment to another location. In the original Dreisbach shop many of the rifles used by the local militia companies who took part in the War of 1812 were made, as were many others used for hunting. These rifles can still be found in many Central Pennsylvania homes where they are cherished as prized heirlooms.
Just before the death of the elder Dreisbach gunsmith in 1823, a customer from Milton had left an order for a rifle, the stock to be decorated with a Masonic emblem. The barrel for this gun was bored before John Dreisbach died, but the work of assembling it had not been completed. After several fruitless trips the customer was at last told when he might finally be able to get his rifle. But before that time arrived he died and no one came to claim this specially decorated gun. It hung on the wall in the Dreisbach shop unsold, for many years. Finally on day in 1834 a customer purchased it. The ornamentation on the stock did not exactly suit him, but the barrel was a fine one and the sights were perfect.
It will be remembered that this was one of the years of the famous Anti-Masonic political battles. The issue of secret organizations had been made a state-wide political issue. The feelings were high on both sides. At that time there were no Masonic Lodges in the valley. When the new owner of the rifle stopped at one of the town’s taverns for refreshment following his purchase, and his gun ornament was noticed, he was greeted with silence from the men gathered in the tavern. Next door was a store at which he also had an errand. After his return to the tavern he retrieved his rifle and journeyed home. You can imagine his surprise when he displayed the rifle to his family, to find the fraternal emblem missing. He had no idea what might have happened to it. As he reasoned, the inlayed emblem might have dropped out anywhere along his way from the gunshop via the tavern, to his home.
Several weeks later on another trip to Mifflinburg he made inquiry at both Dreisbach’s and at the tavern, but did not find the missing emblems. This story was told to the writer in his boyhood days by “Popsie” Dreisbach, a grandson of old John, who asserted that one of the ardent Anti-Masons who happened to be in the tavern that day back in 1834, had pried the emblem loose from the gun stock and pocketed it.
“Popsie” proudly exhibited the missing ornament which he kept on a shelf in his kitchen. He then lived in a small, one roomed house at the edge of the cemetery in Mifflinburg, not far from his grandfather’s original shop. The boys were wont to stop at his place on their way to and from school to hear stories and to see his relics. When he died the writer went to the public sale of his few effects, but the emblem above referred to was not among the articles sold. Evidently before his death, someone had persuaded him to part with the relic.
