Johannes / John Rupp of Macungie

[Eric Kettenburg]

So for those who may be interested in some background information on Johannes "John" Rupp of Macungie (at the time, Northampton Co.) - I'm talking about the elder man who was a brother of Herman Rupp, not their nephew John who also was a later gunsmith - I've got a preliminary write-up.  I expect it to be a work-in-progress and I WELCOME any additional documentation.  I also do not claim to be a professional writer and it's been 30 years since I had to worry about appropriate format so go easy on me (Scott  ).  Take a look if you're interested, it's a loooooooong read.  Did the best I could at the present time.


http://erickettenburg.com/johannes-rupp.html

[Dan Fruth]

Great work Eric. I always liked this rifle, and you have nailed the history as to clearly put these pieces as post war. Do you believe the Molls were also post war builders?

[Eric Kettenburg]

Johannes Moll was definitely as pre-War gunsmith.  He had a 50 acre property and shop in Rockland township, Berks Co. by 1752, if not earlier, right next to the Angstadt farm.  He sold that and moved to Allentown in the early 1760s and he was noted as "Johannes Moll...Gunsmith" in that document, which Dave Madary turned up a few years back in Berks Co. paperwork.  If you look at his estate inventory when he died, he had a very substantial operation (post War) that his son John II took over.  The most difficult thing, to my mind, is determining which one of the two stocked up the surviving "John Moll" signed rifles.  The earliest of them are fairly stout, much like the Kindig Rupp, but that doesn't necessarily mean they were stocked by the older man.  Frankly, it's currently impossible to prove that Johannes - old John - was signing his rifles as "John Moll."  He was noted as "John" in Northampton tax documents, but he was noted as "Johannes" in the Berks documents.  He likely used both interchangeably depending upon who he was dealing with, but if he used "John" on the rifles is still unknown.  I have seen two restocked guns with barrels marked "IOHANNES : MOLL" in very large inlaid, chiseled letters, much like Oerter's work, but the associated furnishings on those rifles was identical to what is on the earlier John Moll-signed rifles.  Also one had a recycled silver liberty head inlay, clearly an old inlay, which I would expect only on a post-War gun, which would lead me to believe that Johannes was still working at least through the 1780s until his son came of age.  This could make sense I suppose since his son took over after his death and likely was using - at least initially - the same castings.

[Robert Wolfe]

Interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[rich pierce]

It’s very interesting to me that we see masterful gunsmiths who largely escape the public record, at least as far as their gun making is concerned. Of course, deeds, wills, church records, and census data comprise most of the enduring documentation.

[VP]

I think you did a great job using the original sources. I couldn't agree more with your comments about Ancestry family trees. Hopefully one day more material might be brought to light for you to add more details to your story.

VP

[Dan Fruth]

Eric...What you are saying is there are no "clear" rifles that you believe are stocked up by J Moll Sr. in his early career. If not, do you have an idea of what he might have been doing stylistically in his early years.  I'm not trying to derail the original topic, just very curious...Thanks

[spgordon]

This is fantastic! I like all of it but will not soon forget this phrase: "littering Ancestry.com like stale cigarette butts"!

I will keep my eye out for mentions of Rupps (or similar names).

What do you think is the significance of George Rupp being taxed separately "for the land he lives on" in 1762?

[spgordon]

Do you have the records from HSP of George Rupp in other Northampton County assessments from the 1760s and 1770s?

The 1776 one gives detailed info about cleared land, woodland, cattle, sheep, etc. (lower right-hand column):

[jdm]

Eric,   Thank you for doing this research. I know that it was not easy to dig up all that information.  Hopefully a labor of love.  The Northampton area is very interesting and there is so many questions about the makers there .  The Rupp/Kuntz connection ? Whats the deal with that Liberty head / Indian head  ? who started that and why ?  Us nerds out here   thrive on this .   Jim

[Eric Kettenburg]

Dan - I do not know of any pre-War or otherwise early rifles that are signed or otherwise generally attributable to Johannes Moll.  There are some candidates, depending upon who you ask, but at the present time it's all wishful or speculative thinking.  If I'm honest with myself, I can not view any surviving early gun and find comparisons to the earliest (or I should say, what I perceive to be the earliest) signed "John Moll" rifles.  The two which I consider the earliest are #12 on the KRA LEhigh Disc, and the 2001 best of show on the President's Display disc.  I personally think the 2001 rifle is probably the finest surviving 'Lehigh' but of course that's a personal thing.  A previous owner speculated that the rifle - which was obviously made for someone very wealthy - was made for James Greenleaf who married Anne Penn Allen, but if this is really the case, then it could really have only been made by John II and probably around 1800 or whenever exactly they got married; the wrist escutcheon is marked "I G" if I remember correctly.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Scott are those your images?  I do not have the 1776 assessment, that is very interesting and I'd like to work that into the article if for no other reason to document it.  Most of what I have is based upon work I did 15+ years ago, as I'm not making another trip down there anytime soon, so I have to rely upon the notes I was taking when looking for Moll, Rupps, Neihart etc. information.

I do not have an answer to the assessment taxing him separately, although you can see notations like that periodically and in fact you can see another similar on the preceding page (not exactly the same but similar, John Johnson 'for his land').

If I had to guess - a guess - it may indicate that he had warrant or other ownership to a considerable piece of land that was at the time unimproved, or perhaps a pending warrant, but also had already constructed a substantial dwelling with improvements and so the taxation was broken up to represent the disparity in value between the improved land and structure and unimproved land.  As I said, a guess, as I have yet to find any good researched explanation of the early taxation practices and how assessed values were derived.

I suspect that some of the later assessments noting Herman with 260 acres was land that had been granted to him by his father, but then later, was split somehow between Herman and John and possibly this was the basis of the 'agreement' between George Sr, Herman and John mentioned in George's estate papers.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Jim the liberty head is a hot topic!  I don;t know of any examples which believably could pre-date the War, which is why I have believed for quite some time now that it was something of a 'club' symbol or otherwise representation of something relative to the arsenals set up at Allentown when Philly was evacuated and the guys who worked for the cause in the region.  I know Bob Smalser was pushing a contrary notion that it was representative of a hatred of the natives, hence the reason it's on rifles, and that it was tied to the 'Whitehall Massacre' and the bad goings-on in NH county during the F/I War years, but that would really only make sense (at least to me) if it was found on pre-War rifles or even some early-ish rifles.  I don't know of any.  I also have a hard time viewing the headwear on the majority of the figures to native head dresses - it looks much more like a "liberty cap" to me, especially in comparison to the earliest US coinage which made use of the same type of figural representations of 'lady liberty.'

[spgordon]

Scott are those your images?  I do not have the 1776 assessment, that is very interesting and I'd like to work that into the article if for no other reason to document it. 

Eric, I have images of the complete Northampton County assessments at HSP from the 1760s and 1770s (sparser). I will send you via email the images from each year that contains the entry for Rupp.

[spgordon]

I know Bob Smalser was pushing a contrary notion that it was representative of a hatred of the natives, hence the reason it's on rifles, and that it was tied to the 'Whitehall Massacre' and the bad goings-on in NH county during the F/I War years, but that would really only make sense (at least to me) if it was found on pre-War rifles or even some early-ish rifles.

Also, as I used to ask Bob before he left here, why would this image appear only in Lehigh County?--hardly the worst county hit by Native attacks and certainly not the only one that hated Natives. Without an answer to that, the explanation really doesn't make sense either.

[spgordon]

Eric: I just sent you via WeTransfer 2GB of material from HSP: these are all the Northampton County assessments from the 1760s, 1770s, and a few from the 1780s. I sent the entire document, not just the page with Rupp or the Macungie township lists. I figure maybe there are other things that you'd want to search for in these material.

It will take a bit to download them! But I hope you have happy hunting.

[jdm]

Jim the liberty head is a hot topic!  I don;t know of any examples which believably could pre-date the War, which is why I have believed for quite some time now that it was something of a 'club' symbol or otherwise representation of something relative to the arsenals set up at Allentown when Philly was evacuated and the guys who worked for the cause in the region.  I know Bob Smalser was pushing a contrary notion that it was representative of a hatred of the natives, hence the reason it's on rifles, and that it was tied to the 'Whitehall Massacre' and the bad goings-on in NH county during the F/I War years, but that would really only make sense (at least to me) if it was found on pre-War rifles or even some early-ish rifles.  I don't know of any.  I also have a hard time viewing the headwear on the majority of the figures to native head dresses - it looks much more like a "liberty cap" to me, especially in comparison to the earliest US coinage which made use of the same type of figural representations of 'lady liberty.

 I always thought the liberty head might have something to do with the Liberty Bell being moved to Allentown during the war. Maybe pride in there part of protecting it  .I  would think it was a pretty big deal for them.  Maybe the Liberty head is a nod ( pun intended ) to there accomplishment.   Sorry for spliting your topic up.  Jim

[mr. no gold]

Just a follow up note on this topic. Lady Liberty appeared on the first coins in 1794 and she does not have a cap. She is shown with long flowing hair. The depiction with cap came later and became very popular much later.
Dick

[Eric Kettenburg]

I believe the cap was on a pole over her shoulder on the 1793-1794 era coins.  This is similar to many engravings of the early 1790s, but the cap was there even if not on her head.  I think this would be tough to do for a rifle inlay, however!

I've certainly seen some of these heads that are clearly intended to be an indian with a feather.  Those tend to be more into the eastern Berks region, by and large.  What does this mean?  I really don't know, as these are all post-War or actually more likely early 19th century rifles.  But the Allentown-area group all clearly seem - to me - to portray a female in a cap.  Also, because of their similarity to each other, these guys were all clearly familiar with the symbol being used by each other in the region, so the assumption is that is was a representation of... something.  Something that they understood and probably needed no explanation at the time! 

[rich pierce]

Jim the liberty head is a hot topic!  I don;t know of any examples which believably could pre-date the War, which is why I have believed for quite some time now that it was something of a 'club' symbol or otherwise representation of.'

The engraving on the buttplate of RCA 19 is quite interesting. Likely completely unrelated except in the context of the variety and chronology of mysterious capped figures on longrifles. I think this would qualify as the earliest but without any close relatedness to anything Northampton.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Good point; I always forget about that figure on 19 because I've never (personally) associated it with what was going on with the Allentown-area heads.  Of course I can't say that with certainty, but my impression is that it really has nothing to do with them at all, it's just a curious engraving on a much earlier, unrelated rifle.

[Craig Wilcox]

Eric, I truly enjoy the "time travel machine" in your dissertations.  It brings a better understanding of the workings of the late 18th century.  Sometimes, reading, it is as if I were there at the time.

The various Rupp doings, even the property taxes paid, really help to understand our fore-fathers.

And, like you, I am puzzled by the "head" portrayed on various rifles of the period.  It is almost like a "membership token" in some secret society.  And, Lehigh County or not, it looks nifty on some of the rifles we build today, even if we are not card-carrying members of said secret club.

[Eric Kettenburg]

My friend Robert Weil has for years said that he thinks it was representative of some kind of 'club membership' token or similar, so you may be hitting close to the mark.  I strongly suspect it means something along those lines as well; maybe not "secret" but I'm positive all those guys using it knew each other, interacted with each other, and that it represented something to them somehow tied to the War.

BTW, William Antes used it as well, and he may be a bit of an outlier in that while having ties to NH county, he was down in Bucks.  I'd like to know more about what he specifically was doing during the War and if there are any records indicating what he was doing, and in particular, where.  We can find some of these heads into eastern Berks, although they have a different appearance and some clearly *are* carrying a feather as opposed to a cap.  But then, most of those arms seem to be later pieces as well, aside from perhaps Peter Angstadt who apparently was using representations of a "ghost" as some have described it, or a crucified Christ as one or two of them appear to be.  So is that tied into the same meaning in some way, or were the eastern Berks guys just being perhaps opportunistic with the approach of, "Hmmmm, we need to stick something here in front of the guard, or on a box lid..."

[Lucky R A]

Eric,  Don't forget the "E. BLOOM"  Bucks Co. fowler that Tom Paulhamous  used to own.  That had the Liberty Cap figure in front of the side plate and lock plate panels very much like the Antes  double rifle.  I believe I shared some images years ago.    Ron

[WESTbury]

The Liberty Cap was revered in Pa. for quite sometime and actually was used in the Pa. Committee of Safety seal. Later it was applied as a component of the proof stamp for the 1797 Pa. Contract muskets some of which were made by Pa. rifle builders.

Attached is the link to the 2005 presentation by Stewart and Reid to the American Society that details what I mentioned above.
 https://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2005-B91-Pennsylvania-Contract-Muskets-1797-Arms-.pdf

1797 Pa musket by Peter Brong of Lancaster.