Longrifles

Andrew Fichthorn Jr. (Reading, PA) 1779 – 1822 Fichthorn apprenticed to John Bornewitz in Womelsdorf from 1792 – 1799.  He returned to Reading to marry and establish a business before 1803.  He worked in Reading until his death in 1822.  

This rifle is patterned after the “Edward Marshall” rifle from the 1762-1765 time period.  The maker could have been Andreas Albrecht or another gunmaker in the shop at Christians Spring.  This rifle exhibits a very strong architectural Germanic influence.  

ISAAC BERLIN (1754-1831) Born 1754 in Berks County, 15 miles northeast of Reading, PA, Berlin was shown on tax records in Easton, PA as a gunsmith from 1778-1781, then again from 1783-1786.  He remained in Easton until 1788 when he moved to York County.  Berlin died in 1831 in Crawford County, PA.   [...]

Haymaker lived and worked in Frederick County, Virginia, located in the northern end of the Valley of Virginia near the current City of Winchester. He was at work there from 1753 until 1804.  This rifle is patterned after his work from 1765-1770.

His name first appears in records in 1800 as a gun-smith in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  From 1817 until his death in 1822, he lived and worked in Liverpool, located in Perry County. This Shuler-style rifle is from the 1800-1805 time period.  

Reading, Pennsylvania tax records show Schreit purchased a town lot in 1758.  From this date until 1777, he lived and worked as a gunsmith in Reading.  In 1777 Schreit moved to Lancaster.   After 1780 his name is lost from the tax records. The original Schreit this example is patterned after is dated 1761, the earliest [...]