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CADIZ – The demonstration of 23 shotguns at the Puskarich Public Library earlier this month represented the largest gun gathering ever held by Harrison County gunsmiths in the 19th century.
The guns were presented through creditors for a Nov. 9 show on Harrison County gunsmiths, presented through the Harrison County Historical Society to a status crowd. Two of the rifles have belonged to the same circle of relatives since they were manufactured.
The program was presented through Jim Thompson de Jewett, trustee of the Historical Society. He had displayed a rifle that had belonged to his ancestor Joseph L. Thompson and manufactured through John G. Righter of Cadiz.
“All those rifles are small calibers. They’re Array32, Array36,” he said. “These weapons were designed to shoot squirrels, rabbits, and combat pests such as crows, hawks, and owls. We didn’t have a lot of white rifles. ” Tail-tailed deer running around here at that time. “
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The deer was hunted to extinction in the early 19th century in Ohio and returned to this region until the 20th century.
Although gunsmiths bought many parts for their rifles, such as barrels, they made their own stocks, making them by hand from giant pieces of curly maple.
There were a total of 23 gunsmiths in the county at one time. There are no longer any examples of the paintings of some of those men. Thompson said the use of black powder was destructive to weapons unless they were well maintained.
“If you didn’t take care of them, they would corrode a lot. You can take a look at some of them. You can see the damage right where the percussion primer breaks them,” he said. He declared, emphasizing that he cleans his ancestor’s rifle after shooting him twice.
He spoke of two prominent Harrison County gun manufacturers, as well as two gun-producing families.
One of the most prolific Alexander Ager of New Rumley, the hometown of General George Armstrong Custer. Ager, also an instructor and talented musician, opened his workshop in 1848. He was known for solving anything that needed to be constant in the community. Fourteen of his weapons were on display at the event. They originally sold for between $13 and $18.
Two men worked with him before the Civil War. One of them, Eli Roser, who died in 1850. After Roser’s death, Ager bought from his estate a lot of blacksmithing equipment, as well as thirty yards of curly maple, a gunpowder horn, and a slate. Another gunsmith bought 195 gun stocks. Ager’s other colleague, Samuel Devore, worked for Ager for six years before leaving in 1861.
John G. Righter raced in Cadiz in 1850 and indexed in the 1860 census as a master gunsmith. Righter numbered his weapons by engraving a Roman numeral under the key plate and on the bolt. Thompson said his Righter rifle was No. 105.
Four members of the Johnson family from Nottingham Borough were gun manufacturers. Abiram Johnson, a Maryland native, arrived in Harrison County in 1806 and lived in the Minksville area, a crossroads between Deersville and Freeport. Thompson said that Abiram’s weapons were elaborate and contained a lot of money.
His son Joel is also a gunsmith. Joel bought his father’s gunsmith’s equipment on the farm.
Another son, Lemuel, lived in Deersville. Il rifles with his son, James, and marked them as L. L. Johnson and Son.
Moses Wright, a local to Bedford County, Pennsylvania, gunsmith in the Freeport area, as were his sons William and Benjamin. Benjamin is also a doctor. Moses moved to a giant farm two miles west of Freeport in 1817, building a one-story cabin and armory and planting an orchard.
“His workshop had a forge, a bellows, and an anvil,” according to an article written through a grandson and published in the Freeport Press newspaper in 1934. “I made workbenches, tool racks, and just about every single tool I used. He made guns, cannons, and did a lot of repairs. Almost every single rural proprietor possessed one of Mr. M. ‘s guns and sickles. Wright.
He also made knives and two-pronged table forks, scissors, razors, shovels, wide axes, and eyebrow cutters. “He didn’t qualify to pull his teeth and he did it quickly,” his grandson wrote.
“One day, three men came into the tent, almost swarthy as Indians because of their exposure. Grandpa shook hands with them and greeted them warmly. They were trappers of the waters of the Missouri River, where they had spent the winter obtaining furs and trading with the Indians for their furs. “
In the spring, trappers would build a raft, pack their furs and other furs, and sail down the Missouri to St. Petersburg. Louis, where they sold their furs for money. They would then go up the Ohio River to Wheeling, W. Va. From there they would walk to Freeport for Wright to repair his guns.
“They were successful consumers and paid cash,” the grandson wrote. “I listened with open eyes, mouths, and ears to their stories about killing bears, panthers, and fights with other harmful animals. They would leave in the autumn to return to winter hunting. “
Moses Wright died on June 2, 1854 and was buried at his farm.
Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter and can be reached at jon. baker@timesreporter. com.
This article appeared in The Times-Reporter: The Great Skills of Harrison County Gun Manufacturers.
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