doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dewson

Thanks. Still wondering if names of buyers were ever engraved on lockplates as a method of identification.
Searched Dewson and found a construction company by that name and thats it. Emailed them and got no return.
In contact with Theodore Roosevelt National Park trying to get name of cook at Elkhorn Ranch. I suspect he sold the gun in Dawson ND on his way back east after the cattle operation folded.

So looks like the only hope now is British newspapers or business listings.
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Wish I knew someone on ancestry.com that would search Dewson.

Hal, I went into the UK Census DB and for free searched for "Dewson". 294 pages came up.
https://ukcensusonline.com/search/?...=&yr=&range=10&search=Search


Searching through these I found one with "Gun Maker." I rejoined it for a fee - I have to do some other research - and after extensive searching only this young man Joseph Dewson, 17 years old from Birmingham, profession "gun maker", from the 1871 census, appears.



There are no birth records corresponding to a 1854 birth. There is this record for Joseph Thomas Dewson, an 1846 birth but that might be a stretch:


There is one death record for a Joseph H.W. Dewson in Birmingham, born 1854, died 1931.


I'm not a genealogist and this is about as much as I can do. I was for several years a subscriber to the UK newspaper database and am thinking about resubscribing for a year because I need to so some checking on Reilly. If I do, I'll run Joseph Dewson through the papers to see if there is any reference or advertisement.

But am wondering if this might have been a sort of apprenticeship project for young Dewson?

The death record matches the Census record but the birth record was registered in 1846. The names are Jo0seph, Joseph Herman, and Joseph H W. There may be more than one family member involved in these records.

Thanks for your work on this. Would be nice to flesh out the history of one of the Dewsons as a recognized British gunmaker.

What on earth is a Stawper (father's occupation).? Nice bit on research. Lagopus.....

I think it actually reads "Stamper" though can't figure out what that means either. I've noticed before that some of the typed versions of 1800's longhand are wrong.

Victorian occupations:
https://census1891.com/occupations-s.php

Of course nothing to do with guns, but I had a friend who grew up in the fruit and vegetable producing region of California. Harvest was tough work, lots of stooping etc. but my friend noticed one guy who only had to "stamp" the picked boxes of produce. He decided then he wanted to be a stamper when he grew up.

Stampers?