Wolfgang Haga: Feb 1776

[spgordon]

Here's the last receipt I'd like to share from the materials in the vast Irvine Papers at Historical Society of Pennsylvania:



Here's what I find interesting (please add things that you find interesting!):

A. The receipt includes a signature by this Reading gunmaker. It seems that two others, one in a list of the officers of the First Reformed Church in Reading, the other in a receipt for payment from 1758, have been found as well. 

B. He spells his name "Wolfgang Hachen," though the English-speaker Thomas Hartley who wrote the note spelled it "Haga" (and, presumably sloppily, "Wolfgan.")

C. Haga/Hachen's rifles were "marked W. or V. Ha." Since these six rifles were presumably completed before Irvine's men purchased them--Haga/Hachen promises to deliver the six rifles in eight days--this seems to suggest that Haga/Hachen was routinely signing his rifles at this time. I suppose it is also possible that he agreed to add this signature to these six rifles before supplying them.

D. They must have been relatively ordinary rifles, priced at £4.10.0, the same as the "common" rifle that John Kerlin supplied. I would say 80% to 90% of the rifles procured in 1776, mostly from non-associators but also from gunsmiths, were priced at £4.15.0

[WESTbury]

Outstanding in every way Scott. The importance of this document cannot be overstated.

Perhaps one of the mentioned rifles is still extant and can be identified.

Thank you for sharing your research.

Kent

[Eric Kettenburg]

Yet another incredible document!  Wow.  Thanks for sharing it!

The signature alone is priceless.  The notation of the markings is equally priceless although it's only a snapshot of 1776 and as you note, there is no way to determine if he was generally marking his work or if it was required of this sale that he mark the work.

Given as you mention the 'sloppy' or perhaps hasty writing of Hartley, I wonder if the rifles were indeed to be marked exactly as noted here "W: Ha" or if Hartley was using a shorthand of a kind; it looks like a small dash after the "Ha," so perhaps he figured it would be understood that the gunsmith would mark his own surname however he wanted?  Just speculating.

6 rifles in 8 days.  Most were probably finished or near-finished, but I'd not underestimate how quickly a plain piece could be stocked out if commercial locks (i.e. ready to go) were used and barrels/furnishings were on hand.  Not by one man, but if he had multiple apprentices or journeymen working with him - I don't know how many he may have had at any given time.

[spgordon]

The notation of the markings is equally priceless although it's only a snapshot of 1776 and as you note, there is no way to determine if he was generally marking his work or if it was required of this sale that he mark the work.

For the stuff I'm trying to write about, I wish he were marking it for this transaction--that is, I wish we could know that this showed that rifles or muskets being purchased (or taken, from non-associators) were required to be marked in some way, either by signature or by number. But I don't think, as you say, we can know that from this receipt. They could have been marked previously and purchased as is (or as was).

[KMac]

VERY cool find Scott!

[flinchrocket]

Perhaps “ W: Ha “ is sort of a code, so the name would not be recognized by the British.

[smylee grouch]

I'm thinking that Wolfgang was a brother to the Hawken brothers Grandfather. Am I thinking right?

[WESTbury]

In the "Department of Pure Speculation", I wonder if Oerter received a similar request for rifles, having instructions for marking each of them?

[spgordon]

In the "Department of Pure Speculation", I wonder if Oerter received a similar request for rifles, having instructions for marking each of them?

Probably not--though maybe & I wish! We know that, after October (or so) 1775, Oerter was working hard to provide muskets to satisfy the quota (300) placed on Northampton County. He supplied 50 of them in May 1776.

All of the surviving examples of Oerter's signed & dated rifles are dated 1774 and 1775. I myself (entering that same Department of Pure Speculation) believe that there are no rifles signed by Oerter after 1775 because for the last two years of his life he was making muskets.

Before May 1776, too, the Christiansbrunn shop did supply four rifles to the Northampton County “Committee” (£20) and other rifles (two or three) to the “Township” (£12). These may have been rifles already on hand or newly-produced ones.

[spgordon]

BTW, looking through some old emails, I remembered this which I'd forgotten. Nearly exactly a year ago I came across this scribble on the back of a receipt from Peter Gonter (Haga's/Hachen's son-in-law). It sure seems to be Haga's/Hachen's handwriting. The Gonter receipt is dated later than the Haga note--so Gonter must have just grabbed paper he had nearby (the note from Haga/Hachen), written his receipt on the other side, and ripped off the part of the paper with his receipt:



The fragment reads:

Reading 6 May 1776
Our friendly greeting much loved daughter and son-in-law, you [plural] write me regarding lock and brass, but I can’t acquire any

[backsplash75]

Pennsylvania Gazette
Date: July 2 1752
 
Extract of a Letter from Reading, June 29. 1752.
We hear from Cumberland, that two men, servants of Indian Traders, had quarrell'd, but seemingly made up the difference, when one of them, watching his opportunity,
cut the throat of the other in such a manner with his Couteau, that he died immediately. On Wednesday evening last, one Michael RENNER, watching at a Deer Lick, in Bern
Township, about twilight, saw something approaching the lick, which he took to be a deer; but being in doubt, made a little noise, that if it was a human creature,
 it might answer him; but the noise not being heard, and the object still moving about the lick, RENNER was fully perswaded it was a deer, so shot at it, and
immediately heard a voice cry out, 'You have shot me to death'. He then went for some of the neighbours, and found that it was one John SHUTZMAN, who was quite dead,
 having receiv'd five wounds; upon which he deliver'd himself up to a Justice, who committed him to Lancaster jail. A sad accident happen'd here likewise on Friday last.
One Wolfgang HAGGAN, a Gunsmith, snapping a gun carelessly in his shop, a spark fir'd about three pounds of powder, that lay near him, which burnt him in a terrible manner;
 and forcing its way thro' to the upper floor, overturn'd a cask of near one hundred weight of powder, which blowing off, rent the house from the first story into a
thousand pieces. The shock was felt thro' the whole town; but happily no other mischief ensued, and 'tis thought the man will recover."
 
We likewise hear from Reading, that the houses were counted there last week, and were found to be two hundred and eight, all built since the beginning of June, 1750.

[DaveM]

There is also one other important discovery about Hachen - by 1789 he was noted as "blind".  So it is unlikely that he was doing anything in the way of gun making after about 1788.

Another interesting discovery is that in 1781, Hachen had a tenant who was a silversmith.  Maybe there is a silver mounted Hachen out there somewhere!

[Buck]

Smylee - Christian Hawken was Wolfgang’s nephew. Father to Samuel and Jacob.

Buck

[smylee grouch]

Thanks for that reply Buck. I thought I had read or heard that some place and now remember that one of the only times I ever talked with George Schumway he told me so and it was also published in one of his books.

[Buck]

Smylee,

I’ve seen it published somewhere as well. There were 3 brothers - Wolfgang, Nicholas and Christian. They emigrated together from Switzerland I believe. How the name variation occurred I can’t recall, sometime around 1750. As a correction Nicholas was the brother of Wolfgang and the Father of Christian Sr. In turn the Grandfather of Samuel and Jacob. I found it online, it’s part of an article from the Ohio longrifle collectors association.

Buck

[smylee grouch]

Thanks again Buck. It's interesting how so many Gunsmiths of old were related and many married into gunsmithing families.

[Buck]

Smylee,

Hers the link to the article.

Buck


https://www.aolrc.com/upload/files/AOLRC.3%285%29.pdf

[Eric Kettenburg]

For the stuff I'm trying to write about...

We're waiting.  Think I'm going to let that little snippet sneak by?  I'd be very interested to hear a little about what you're working on that upon which you are working. 

[spgordon]

For the stuff I'm trying to write about...

We're waiting.  Think I'm going to let that little snippet sneak by?  I'd be very interested to hear a little about what you're working on that upon which you are working. 

It's taking longer than I expected--so much material scattered in so many places. I'm trying to write about how Pennsylvania armed its troops in 1776, first by making arms (but the quotas imposed on each county were a total failure) and then by taking arms. Though most historians and legal historians in particular talk about "disarming the dangerous" (that is the only legal justification, today, for taking somebody's arms), actually Pennsylvania authorized taking arms from anybody who wasn't using them and acknowledged that most of these non-associators were "well-affected." That is, Pennsylvania authorized taking arms from peaceable citizens. I use the Oerter/Baer rifle to tell this story, since it was taken from a peaceable citizen and was used by somebody, presumably, in Zantzinger's company which was in camp in New Jersey by late July 1776. It's a lot of info to manage and it's going slow.

[far55]

Ok, Does the W and the H in his signature look totally undecipherable to anyone else ? If the initials only were used on a Hachen built gun in this fashion, would a shallow engraving look any different than a couple of random scratches after 250 years ? Just throwing this out there, I know his work is supposedly all unsigned. Thanks,  Roland.  P.S. This from a guy who knows nothing about Reading guns.

[WESTbury]

far 55,

Possibly Old German Script or a variation.

[spgordon]

As Kent notes, Hachen writes in German script. His "W" is a bit wonky (just because spread out a bit) but the "H" is perfectly clear.

We've drawn too many settled conclusions from the peculiar set of objects that happened to have survived. This receipt shows that the notion that Hachen didn't sign his products is mistaken. He may not have signed them all; but he signed some. If these six rifles were indeed on hand (rather than produced because of the immediate need), then he was routinely signing products "W. or V. Ha[ga]" in the 1770s.

[RAT]

I hope this forces a reevaluation of many rifles "attributed" to Haga/Hachen over the years. Some of which are clearly post-1800.

One thing I ran into while doing some J & S Hawken research last year...
Some of the Ohio "Hawken" members that claim to have been descended from the Swiss, gunmaking, Haga/Hachen family, in fact, originally came from Wales/England. These individuals had no family connection at all to the Swiss gunmakers. The find-a-grave site had an obituary claiming Haga/Hachen kinship for one of these individuals. The ancestry genealogy website also contains errors. People often post family lore and myth convinced it's true.

[Eric Kettenburg]

This receipt shows that the notion that Hachen didn't sign his products is mistaken. He may not have signed them all; but he signed some. If these six rifles were indeed on hand (rather than produced because of the immediate need), then he was routinely signing products "W. or V. Ha[ga]" in the 1770s.

Scott not to pick an argument but I think that's a stretch; all this document proves is that in 1776, he was required to mark 6 rifles.  Even if completed rifles, if the marking was a requirement of the purchase he could have very easily either engraved or stamped the barrels to satisfy the purchaser.  On the other hand, perhaps he was marking them whether regularly or not, but I don't see this specific document as proof of that conclusion one way or the other.  I do think it says something that to date, no rifle or musket with any marking remotely interpretive as his signature has materialized, yet we do have a good extant string of fairly early (almost certainly pre-War) rifles attributed to Reading and long attributed to him, yet all unsigned.  This would be 20-22 in RCA off the top of my head, and a couple of others of approximately the same age and unique style that were not known at the time of initial RCA publication.  Are these Hachens?  I don't know but they're sure very good candidates.  They definitely seem early enough and conservative enough.

There are others here who have been in the game longer than I who may be able to offer 1st-hand info as to why first Kindig and later George were attributing all these pieces to Reading.  I've been told a couple of different stories but they seem to revolve around numbers of them being recovered (in the 20th century) in Reading or nearby.  One or two, well that's a stretch, but I do buy into the notion that when you find numbers of antiques all very similar clustered in a small area, chances are pretty darn good that they were made in that area.

[smart dog]

Hi Eric,
Quite a few early Reading attributed guns lack any engraving.  I think either Kindig or Kaufmann assigned that as a common feature of the "school".  Concurrent work from other areas such as Lancaster usually have some level of engraving.  John Schreit excepted, I wonder if the group of Reading gun makers influenced by W. Hachen were not very skilled in engraving.  Marking their guns might have been a chore they were not very good at beyond being required to do so by a public contract.  As an aside, I've always wondered how Schreit fit in to all this.  He seems to be an anomaly among Reading gun makers.

dave