http://www.danlo.com/cramer contains a database that I have been creating of early American gunsmiths. This isn't going to give birth or death dates, but you may find that it provides some useful pointers to sources that can give you a bit more information about an ancestor. There are about 1880 entries in the database right now, involving gunsmiths who were active at least partly before 1840. I will be updating it from time to time as I get more entries added. There is no provision for searching for a particular name, so just take the default settings when you ask for a list, and use the Find command in your browser to search for surname, firstname. I am not primarily interested in genealogy (though I can tell you the names of at least one my ancestors in that database--Thomas Nash of New Haven Colony). I am writing a book about gunsmithing and gun manufacturing in early America. If you run into information in a reliable source (primary source or a properly footnoted secondary source) about gunsmith or gun manufacturers in early America, I would appreciate hearing about it, especially if it is someone who is not in the database mentioned above. By the way, before you make any assumptions: there are both female gunsmiths in that list, and African-American gunsmiths as well, some of them slaves, some of them apparently free. clayton@claytoncramer.com

Someone who looks an awful lot like Clayton E. Cramer <clayton@claytoncramer.com> wrote: > I am not primarily interested in genealogy (though I can tell you the > names of at least one my ancestors in that database--Thomas Nash of > New Haven Colony). I am writing a book about gunsmithing and gun > manufacturing in early America. Sounds like a great project - and it's a good reminder to folks that sometimes the best source of genealogical information is in other historical documents. My GGG-father's brother wrote several books, one of which was his memoirs, which of course has stories about my own ancestors. Quite a treasure. Wesson Gage Miller - he was a methodist missionary in the midwest USA, and having that sort of information from an unexpected source is great. Best of luck with your project - please email me with your contact information and I'm interested in buying a copy once it's ready. Dave Hinz

Clayton, I've information on Colonel James "Gunsmith" NICKELL b.1799, NC, d.1874, KY. I can't vouch for this, only what I've collected from his descendants, my notes are: ==== "In July of 1996 I received from Barbara Jean Smith Brown a document about "Gunsmith" and other family members written by Mary Criswell Nickell Baccus on March 23, 1973. The only thing I know about "Gunsmith" comes from a small quote: "James `Gunsmith' Nickell made guns for the army. When Orville Nickell (Alexander Reid Nickell's son) was in Japan during WWII he went into a gun shop and found a gun with Col. Jim Nickell's name on it. He did everything he could to get the gun but the Japanese man would not part with it. Walter Prine Nickell, who just passed away the first of this year (1973), wrote me last summer that he had one of those guns and several other souvenirs of the Nickell family. ..." ===== I could put you in touch with Barbara if you are interested in learning more; I have her e-mail address as current as Friday of last week. I see that Colonel Jim isn't on your list as of this morning. Sincerely, Don "Clayton E. Cramer" wrote: > > http://www.danlo.com/cramer contains a database that I have been creating > of early American gunsmiths. This isn't going to give birth or death dates, > but you may find that it provides some useful pointers to sources that can > give you a bit more information about an ancestor. There are about 1880 > entries in the database right now, involving gunsmiths who were active > at least partly before 1840. I will be updating it from time to time as > I get more entries added. There is no provision for searching for a > particular name, so just take the default settings when you ask for a list, > and use the Find command in your browser to search for surname, firstname. > > I am not primarily interested in genealogy (though I can tell you the > names of at least one my ancestors in that database--Thomas Nash of > New Haven Colony). I am writing a book about gunsmithing and gun > manufacturing in early America. If you run into information in a > reliable source (primary source or a properly footnoted secondary > source) about gunsmith or gun manufacturers in early America, I would > appreciate hearing about it, especially if it is someone who is not > in the database mentioned above. > > By the way, before you make any assumptions: there are both female gunsmiths > in that list, and African-American gunsmiths as well, some of them slaves, > some of them apparently free. > > clayton@claytoncramer.com