Author: KR Foundation

Palm, John

School: Berks (Pennsylvania/PA) John Palm was a versatile gunmaker located on Second Street, Womelsdorf, Heidelberg Township until he died in 1865. His work shows little influence by the earlier Womelsdorf makers, making a variety of rifles from plain guns to fancy silver inlaid rifles. Palm often numbered his rifles alongside his signature. He also worked […]

Blackburn, John

School: Maryland Emmitsburg Blackburn was born October 17, 1786, and was a son of Alexander Blackburn, He was apprenticed to John Armstrong to learn the gunsmith trade on April 15, 1804, for a term of three years. During the War of 1812 Blackburn was in Hagerstown and served as a private of infantry in a […]

Wolf, Elmer P.

School: Maryland Frederick County Elmer P. Wolf was born March 31, 1868, a son of Herman and Mary Gordon Wolf. He was reared at Foxville and learned the gunsmithing trade from his father. He married Eliza Jane Stottlemyer and had a sawmill and made guns in Eyler’s Valley north of Thurmont. For further reference, see […]

Fitzwater, Nelson

School: Maryland The federal census of 1860 for Randolph County, (West) Virginia, census listed Nelson Fitzwater as having been born in Maryland in 1816, working as a gunsmith. His wife Sarah, aged 34, and their children were born in Virginia. They were residing in the house of a shoemaker named John DeWitt. For additional information […]