ALR Musem Gunsmith: Charles Roth a Swivel

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

There is an very interesting relationship between the patchbox form of this gun and maker and Nicholas Hawk. Does any one know the relationship???

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=5409.0

Please reply here.
Hurricane

[JTR]

This looks like a nice example of a late period swivel.
From what I've read, Charles Roth either knew, or worked for Nicolas Hawk as a young man, and after Hawks passing took up making swivels using more or less Hawks design and his patchboxes.
A couple others I've seen have used a trigger guard release to allow turning of the barrels, but this one looks like it uses a side plate release instead. On this one, Roth has used a regular back action lock, and also deleted the use of brass down the sides of the barrels, so would guess it is a late one even for him.
All in all a nice honest looking rifle that shows the progression from Hawks earlier swivels to a more modern (for the time) example.
John

[Ben Gorey]

Christian Charles Roth, Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, PA   1815-1903  Born in Darmstadt Germany.  Learned gunsmithithing from his father who was a former pupil of Freund in Firstenau.   Roth arrived in the USA April 1837 and in July of 1840 moved to Wilkes-Barre.  Within a few weeks he set up shop on Bank (River) Street. He was an excellent craftsman and businessman. He soon advertised for an apprentice. He produced single barrel half stock percussion rifles and two barrel swivel breech rifles. Bores from .40 to .50.  Marked Chas. Roth  Wilkes-Barre.  He was fully retired in 1887 and the business passed to his sons.  He was a Civil War Vet.  For more detail on his life see the article by James E. Pugh in the Sept 1960 Muzzle Blasts magazine.   Nicholas Hawk died in 1844 in Gilbert, PA  which is approx. 35 miles SE of Wilkes-Barre, as the crow flies.

  Ben Gorey