Wednesday, January 30, 2008

In Search of Jacob Albright, Gunsmith

Here's a fantastic article on Jacob Albright, published by the Kentucky Rifle Association. I couldn't find any place on the Internet where this article was posted, so I'm providing the text version here:

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In Search of Jacob Albright, Gunsmith
By Merle E. Campbell, KRA

Jacob Albright (1766-1840), Centre County, PA

Preface

For some time now it has been generally known that Jacob Albright (*J*Alb*), a highly skilled and prolific maker of Kentucky rifles, lived in Penns Valley in Haines Township in Centre County, Pennsylvania, and that he died there in the year 1840.

Beyond this, however, little has been known about his life, family, or real identity. Was he, in fact-as has been assumed for so long by many Kentucky rifle enthusiasts-the son of the legendary Andreas Albright and brother of the famed gunsmith Henry Albright? What relationship, if any, did he share with the gunsmith Zachariah Albright? To the Jacob Albright, gunsmith of Wooster in Wayne County, Ohio? To the gunsmiths who signed their rifles JA and DA and whose work evidenced stylistic similarities to that of Jacob Albright of Penns Valley in Haines Township?

These puzzling questions, together with the acquisition of a *J*Alb* that had been handed down through several generations of an old Penns Valley family, spurred a strong interest in learning more about Albright, in dispelling at least some of the haziness that has shrouded his life and identity.

Finding some of the answers to these questions has proved to be a longish labor of love, complicated no little by the truly astounding number of Jacob Albrechts/Albrights to be found in Pennsylvania during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The author is greatly indebted to the following individuals whose contributions have been of significant importance in the compilation of this study: Gladys C. Murray, Curator of the Centre County Library and Historical Museum; Florence G. Gordon, a descendant of Anthony Albright and a long-time genealogist and chronicler of Albright families; Mary Hull Dyke, a researcher of the Lancaster County Historical Society; and two members of the Kentucky Rifle Association-John J. Albright, an Albright researcher and descendant of Andreas Albright via his son Henry, and Miles W. Farley, a collector of Albright rifles.

Jacob Albright of Haines Township

In his History of Centre and Clinton Counties (1883) James Blair Linn has Jacob Albright living in Aaronsburg, in Haines Township, as early as 1799, when the Township was still a part of Northumberland County. In 1800 Haines became a part of newly formed Centre County, and in 1801 the name of "Jacob Albright, gunsmith" appears for the first time on a list of Centre County taxables.

It would appear that Albright had established residence in Aaronsburg as early as 1798. In that year, according to Linn, Martin and Catharine Brungart, who lived in the vicinity of Hanover in York County, sold their property and with their sons and daughters resettled in Brush Valley, which runs parallel to Penns Valley on the other side of Brush Mountain. The Brungarts were among the earliest settlers in this area of Centre County. Communications between families living in the two mountain valleys were facilitated by a pass located in Millheim, just west of the village of Aaronsburg.

Mention of the Brungarts is made because, as Linn points out, "one of the Brungart daughters was married to Jacob Albright of Penns Valley." Thus one might assume that Jacob had also come from York County, and correctly so, as confirmed by a letter written in 1854 by Jacob Harter of Millheim to his nephew Mathias Harter in Summit County, Ohio, Mathias was the son of Susanna Albright Harter, daughter of Jacob Albright In the letter Harter writes-apparently in response to a question raised by Mathias-"Your Grandfather Jacob Albright was from York County, Pa. Your Grandmother on your Mother's side was a Miss Brungart perhaps also from York County, Pa."

In the early 1790's the Penns Valley region was still not that far removed from being regarded as frontier territory. The "Great Runaway" of 1778, when virtually all of its settlers were driven back into eastern and south-central Pennsylvania by massive Indian attacks, was still a vivid memory. Within a year or two, however, most of the dispossessed had returned and were being joined by newcomers attracted by the availability of the excellent farmland to be had in the verdant and beautiful Penns and Brush Valleys.

The opportunities presented by moving into an area of this kind must have seemed very promising indeed to one at Albright's level of skill at gunsmithing. Guns were needed for hunting, for protection, for recreation, and as far as can be ascertained Albright would have been the only gunsmith in the whole Penns Valley region at that time.

Seemingly no existing County records can tell us what Albright's age was when he arrived in Haines Township-nor, after his death, any obituary notice, cemetery record, or tombstone marker. However by an extrapolation of age data provided by U.S. Census figures for the years 1800 through 1830 it is possible to conclude that he was born during the period 1766-1770. When he first came to Haines Township, thus, he would have been from 28 to 32 years of age.

According to Township records Albright remained in Aaronsburg until 1814, when he relocated in nearby Millheim ("Home of the Mills"), a growing and thriving trading hub.

His death in the summer of 1840 apparently resulted from an injury of some kind, judging by the nature and timing of the bills for medical services and materials submitted for payment to his executors. His last will and testament, signed and witnessed on April 25, 1840, and found in the Centre County Courthouse, provides us with the first significant insights into his life and times.

In the will, he immediately identifies himself and his vocation ... "I Jacob Albright of the town of Millheim in the County of Centre and state of Pennsylvania, Gunsmith..."

The succeeding paragraphs tell us that he was alert of mind but in failing physical condition; that he was a man of ample means, possessed of real and personal property; that he was a conscientious family man who wished to make certain that his just debts were settled after his demise; that he was a caring man who wanted to be sure that in the years ahead adequate support would be provided for his widow and, after her death, "for my three children, to wit, William, Elizabeth, and Catharine, they being nearly deaf and dumb."

To care for the children he directed that after the death of his widow all of the then remaining assets in his estate were to be sold and the proceeds divided share and share alike and then "paid over to Guardians or trustees that shall be duly appointed to take charge of them and their money..." Named as executors were "my friends Adam Morr and Thomas Weaver, both of Millheim." Witnesses were John Harter and Jacob Bollinger. All four men were prominent and highly respected residents of the Aaronsburg-Millheim community.

The will found in the Courthouse is a copy of the original made by a court scribe. As such, all signatures are in the hand of the scribe. Albright’s is shown as "Jacob Albright in German (seal)". Of speculative interest here is the possibility that the clipped “*J*Alb*” signature found on Albright’s rifles may represent a useful compromise between his personal preference for using his German name (Albrecht) versus the anglicized version of Albright that was apparently in common usage throughout his community.

On October 17, 1840, a vendue was held in Millhein to provide cash for the settlement of Albright’s outstanding debts and funeral expenses. Although pieces of farming gear and a few items of furniture were included in the sale, the bulk of the tools, equipment, and materials listed related to the business of gunsmithing.

With the vendue came a gleam of light as to a probable familial relationship between Jacob and Zachariah Albright. Zachariah was among those attending the sale, and his purchases were:
Lot of patterns $ .50
1 Smiths Vice (sic) 3.50
a Gunsmiths guide 1.20
1 Gunsmith sign .56

The purchase of the gunsmith sign in particular would seem to signal a strong sentimental attachment to the deceased. Within a short time this presumption became a reality with the chance discovery in the Centre County Courthouse of a power of attorney issued on November
26, 1863, by the Judge of Green County, Wisconsin, to Andrew S. Kreamer, a Milesburg, Centre County, attorney.

It is quoted in part:
"Know all men by These Presents, That Zachariah Albright of Clarno, Green County, Wisconsin, and Guardian at law of my sister Catharine Albright of same place, late of the Town of Millheim, Centre County, Pennsylvania, being a deaf and dumb person, and legatee under the last will and testament of Jacob Albright, late of Millheim, Centre County, Pennsylvania, now deceased, do hereby order and constitute and appoint Andrew S. Kreamer... as my true and lawful attorney... to ask, demand and sue for the Legacy due the said Catharine under and by virtue of said will and testament..."

Thus it can now be stated, unequivocally, that Zachariah Albright, gunsmith, was indeed the son of Jacob Albright, gunsmith of Haines Township.

The U.S. Census of 1850 locates Zachariah in Stephenson County, Illinois, and also informs us that he was 54 years of age at that time. With the date of his birth thus established as 1796 it becomes apparent that he was born in York County, before his parents moved to Penns Valley.

An unpublished study-Protocol and Baptism Records of the Aaronsburg Lutheran Church, 1794-1854 (N. D.), translated and copied by the Reverend L G. Shannon, reveals that Jacob and Catharine Brungart Albright had these additional children:
1798 - Susanna
1800 - Juliana
1801 - John
1803 - Jacob Jr.
1804 - Catharine
1807 - Elizabeth
1809 - Daniel
1811 - William

A fifth son, David, is strangely missing from the Shannon study. His presence, however, has been documented by The History and Genealogy of the Brungart Family (N. D.) by Vera Catherine Brungart, Genealogist, and Jasper Royer Brungart, Historian, and by the genealogical records of the late Guy H. Albright, a Jacob Albright descendant.

David first appears in Haines Township tax records as a single freeman in 1827. In Township usage at that time a single freeman described an unmarried male of 21 eligible to own property. This information would set his year of birth as 1806, a date that would seem to fit into the Albright’s busy birthing schedule.

Jacob's first wife, Catharine, died in 1813. A year later he married Barbara Homan Rockey, the wife of Jacob Rockey of Haines Township. This union produced the last three of Jacob's thirteen children:
1815 - Samuel
1817 - Andrew
1819 - Amos

Separating the Jacob Albrights

The separate identities of Jacob Albright of Haines Township and Jacob Albright, son of Andreas and Elizabeth Orth Albright, can best be verified by a comparison of their ages and family situations.

First, and most notably, there was a marked difference in the size of the families of the two Jacobs.

A genealogy of the Andreas Albright family written in 1885 by Thomas J. Albright, son of Henry Albright the gunsmith, and himself a gunsmith and gun trader of St Louis, Missouri, tells us that Andreas' son Jacob had three children-William, Charles and a daughter. It also notes that Jacob "may have died at Northumberland, where he was a tollkeeper" . . . and that his daughter "married _________ Parks and lived and died in Chillisquaque, Pa."

It is interesting to note that Northumberland and Chillisquaque are neighboring communities along the Susquehanna River.

Confirming and expanding upon the above, genealogical records of the Andreas Albright family provided by researchers Gordon and Albright show that it was a Charles Parks that married Jacob's daughter Rebecca, and that Jacob married a Charlotte Leinbach and had five children:
1800- Rebecca
1803 - Charles
1806 - Edward
1809 - William
1813 - Catherine

Second, the ages of the two Jacobs differed. Jacob of Haines Township, born in the period 1766-70, was from five to nine years older than Jacob, son of Andreas, born in 1775.

Thus it is now possible, and at long last, to conclude that the Jacob Albright of Haines Township in Penns Valley and the Jacob Albright, son of Andreas, were two distinctly different persons.

The Jacob Albright Family of Gunsmiths
In view of its ultimate findings perhaps this study should have been titled "In Search of the Jacob Albright Family of Gunsmiths", for it has opened a surprising vista in this regard. No less than five gunsmiths descended from Jacob Albright of Haines Township have been identified thus far.

1. Zachariah Albright (1796-1889), identified earlier in this report. He first appears in the tax records of Haines Township as a gunsmith in Millhein in 1819. He remained there until 1827, when he began a series of resettlements that took him to Mifflin County (PA) to Bedford County (PA), to Stephenson County, Illinois, and finally to Clamo, Wisconsin, where he lived the rest of his life on a large farm.

2. Jacob Albright, Jr., Jacob's third son (born 1803 in Aaronsburg, died 1884 in Wayne County, Ohio), first appeared on Haines Township tax rolls as a gunsmith in 1825. During his years as a gunsmith he signed his rifles variously as J Alb J, J Alb, JA, and J. Albright. Rifles made during his Haines Township period are almost indistinguishable from those made by his father. In 1828 he moved to Mifflin County and then, in 1830, to Wooster, in Wayne County, Ohio.

Some insights into Jacob JR’s life are provided by Genealogy of the Morr Family (1886) by Calvin Moyer (Jacob Jr. married Elizabeth Morr of Haines Township). Moyer informs us that in Wooster, Jacob Jr. "worked at gunsmithing, retailing groceries, and brewing." Eventually, like his brother Zachariah and other members of his family, he turned to farming to make a living.

Moyer relates this interesting story about Jacob Jr.:
"Mr. Albright was the inventor of a stump puller which he frequently used to pull stumps on his own farm. His masterpiece of workmanship was a gun made of curly maple. On it was an engraving of a fox chase, inlaid in gold and silver. The weapon was beautifully carved with silver and gold trimmings. He took the gun to Washington and showed it to President Jackson. He sold it to a government official for $150 with instructions that he was to place it on exhibition there. The gun was valued at $450, but it was considerably damaged at one time while Mr. Albright was defending himself against a vicious dog. Jacob Albright was a man of fine physique and strong personal character."

3. David Albright (born 1806 in Aaronsburg) was the fourth son of Jacob and Catharine Albright. Haines Township tax records for 1827 list him as a single freeman. No occupation is given, but like his brother Jacob Jr. his tax assessment was fixed at $200, seemingly the going rate for gunsmiths at that time. Later assessments show him with a shop, 1 lot, and 1 house.

That he was trained as a gunsmith Is evidenced by a rifle signed DA on the barrel in script letters remarkably like those used by Zachariah and Jacob Jr. Of more significance is a large DA carved in the cheekside of the butt in the same graceful script form and decorative embellishments seen in rifles by Jacob1, Jacob Jr., and Zachariah.

4. Zachariah Albright, Jr. (born in Millheim in 1822, died in North Hampton, Iowa, in 1886). Like his father, Zachariah Jr. appears in the U.S. Census of 1850 as a resident of Stephenson County, Illinois, where he is listed as a "Pennsylvania born gunsmith." Later he is described in the genealogical records of Guy Albright (his grandson) "as a gunsmith by training and a farmer by necessity."

Parenthetically it is interesting to note that the artistic strain so inherently apparent in the Albright family emerged full blown in one of Zachariah JR’s sons-Adam Emory Albright (born 1862, who became a prominent American artist and writer. That prominence, in turn, was carried forward by Adam Emory Albright’s twin sons-Ivan LeLorraine Albright and Malvin Marr Albright (born 1897, both of whom achieved wide-spread recognition in American art circles in the t~~tieth century.

5. Albert Albright, the second son of Zachariah JR., was born in Millheim in 1825. He seems to have followed the trail of his father all the way to Clamo, Wisconsin. The History of Green County; Wisconsin (1903) relates that Albert Albright "learned the trade of gunsmithing, at which he worked a good many years" . . . and that he had originally "purchased a farm of 137 acres" . . . and that "he now owns 185 acres, raises stock and manufactures butter."

To date the author has not seen any examples of the work of either Zachariah Jr. or Albert Albright It would be interesting to note if their rifles bear any imprint of the master, Jacob Albright of Penns Valley, whose characteristic handiwork seems to have been steadily reflected in the work of his other gunsmithing descendants.

In Conclusion, Some Speculation
Thus far in this study there has been an absence of any reference to Jacob Albright's origins. The reason is that quite a bit of murkiness surrounds the subject It needs further illumination, and the author's efforts to date have failed to shed any light on the situation.

The most persistent view of Albright's forebears is that Jacob's parents were Jacob "the Weaver", son of Socias "The Peddler" (merchant), and Clauderena Glocker Albrecht, who came to America in 1759 and settled in southern York County. They were thought to be of Swiss descent

Another view is offered by an Albright researcher who believes that Jacob's father came from the area of SuhI, Germany, and may well have been a brother of Andreas Albright This investigation is alive and on-going.

Perhaps, with further study, the two views may even merge. A fascinating possibility!

4 comments:

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Johnny said...

Looking for any decendants of J.N. Albright(Allbright), that lived in Jennings, La. at one time. If you can help me, please e-mail me at jhnlegros@yahoo.com Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Chuck Wolfe, Akron, Ohio. One of the owners of a camp site on Shrine mountain in Aaronsburg. Believes he is the great, great, great grandson of Catherine. Any other connections out there?

Alan Albright said...

Contact me at nhsarmdrag@gmail.com if you'd like the true lineage of Jacob Albright. Also can help with descendents.