doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Escherich SxS pistol @ Amoskeag

This pistol is lot number 31 at Amoskeag Auction and will be auctioned in 4 or 5 days


Does anyone know about "A Escherich" Baltimore? Francis H Escherich recieved patent# 78519 which was for a breechloading double with an underlever lock-up, which could indicate that the pistol is before 1868...or was F H Escherich son or brother to Francis H ...?


It's the origin of the damascus steel that makes this gun a great mystery...is it American damascus ?...or Rigby (Dublin) damascus ?...or did it come from a wootz cake ?...

Perhaps someone has Whisker's book Gunsmiths of Maryland...

Francis Escherich shows up in the 1870 Census, living in Baltimore. He is listed as Bohemian born, circa 1840 with a wife named Barbara from New York.
He shows again in the 1880 Census living in Buffalo, New York. This time with an occupation of Gunsmith / Machinist. The wife's information is the same, as is his, so I assume he moved.

Would this have been part of a set? These type of guns were very common in Europe. Something a gentleman would carry in his coat.

Pete

Thanks PeteM,
You don't happen to have an address in Buffalo, do you?

Your info is exactly the kind of info that I was hoping to flush out....If Francis was Bohemian born, and we know that he came from a family of gunsmiths (father & brothers), it's conceivable that his family was gunsmithing in Bohemia (Czech). (Escherich is a German/Swiss name)...anyway, Amoskeag doesn't show the name Escherich or Baltimore, so we don't know if the gun was in fact produced in Baltimore, or brought from Europe...If we knew it was from Europe, it would rule out the possibility of it being American damascus...

Damascus barrel production was alive and well in Boston and New York city, it's not too far a strech to think perhaps Baltimore as well....even if someone was just reshaping Indian wootz cakes, and not actually producing the damascus...

Yep, they were listed as resident at:
333 Genesee St, Buffalo, Erie, New York

Interestingly, the wife, Barbara shows as being born in Prussia for the 1880 census. His name is listed as Frank H Escherich in the 1880 tract. 17 people are at that address with 5 surnames. Occupations are doctor, gunsmith (our guy), clerk, apprentice machinist, and special detective for the other residents. All the women are listed as keeping house. From the listing, it does not appear to be a rooming house, which is what I have usually found with gunsmith's of that era.

Pete

Wow, Thank you PeteM,
That is a huge piece of the puzzle that I didn't have before...I live in Buffalo so this is extremely helpful to my understanding of the local trade...that makes 4 gunsmith/double barrel patent holders in the Genesee and Main section of downtown Buffalo over a 75 year span....including Escherich, 2,092,850 Otto Neubrand, Emil Flues, and one other (my Western New York file is out at the moment)....plus the many gunsmiths and apprentices who weren't patent holders...

I'll be digging deeper into this Escherich damascus mystery over the next week, I'll report anything that I find...thanks again

Thanks Robert.
It is serious researchers like yourself that make this passion such a joy. The fact that you so readily share info is an added bonus to us all.
Best,
John

Robert,

You should have said you wanted a broader search...
Gunsmith's in the 1880 Census - 2,132. Those residing in New York - 160. Those residing in Buffalo - 3.

They were:
George T. Drywood
Buffalo, Erie, NY
68 Eagle
born abt 1859 England

Frank H Escherich
wife Barbara
Buffalo, Erie, NY
born abt 1840 Bohemia

James Lawler
wife Ellen
Buffalo, Erie, NY
204 West Tupper
born abt 1824 Ireland

937 residents in Buffalo listed their occupation as machinist. A lot of caveat's apply. Not every one was working for an arms maker.

Since you are local... There most likely was published a Buffalo City Directory. It simply has not been digitized on-line. When I was researching the Lefever "Time Board" photo, 95% of my hits came from the city directory. They often list not only occupation, but also employer. Also if you have the employer you can often find the employees who otherwise did not list their occupations in the directory.

Here is the sort of data you can gather from a city directory:
http://lefeverforum.informe.com/viewtopic.php?p=312&highlight=#312

http://lefeverforum.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=84

Pete

How is the "city directory" or "census" search done (for the layman)? Thanks.

I use Ancestory.com for most of it. If you want to keep using it, there are fees involved. There is also familysearch.org
Ancestory.com seems to me to have the most to offer in terms of records. For some of the Lefever research I was able to pull census, city directories, even found Uncle Dan mentioned in a newspaper article about a state trap shoot. They also have Ellis Island records available. Birth and death records can be useful, if that is the type of research you are doing. Only a few city directories have come online so far. The data is similiar to the census, except in some locations they were updated yearly instead of the 10 year census period.

By law US Census records are public information. Having them in a digital format that is searchable key. More information is coming on-line, Canadian, British, German census, etc.
I found that the small village were my part of family came from has put marriage and birth records online going back about 200 years. So not everything is available on the mega portals.

There are others here that have more knowledge about these tools than I do. Hopefully, they will speak up.

Pete