Pre-Patent???? Rolling Block Rifle
Pre-Patent???? Rolling Block Rifle
I have a rifle that has been in the family since the civil war era. It was made for my Great, Great grandfather by a gunsmith, last name of Hepburn, from northern New York sometime the late 1850's to early 1860's. It is an octagon barrel that chambers a 32 cal rimfire casing. This gunsmith shortly after creating this gun went to work for Remington and that was the last that my family had heard of him. This gun has no serial #'s and have been told by family that this was the prototype to the Remington 1865 rifle. Where would I be able to verify this information and how would I go about obtaining it.
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HRF
Hepburn-Remington
1860 census of Colton, St Lawrence County, New York, page 448:
Family #96, Lewis L. Hepburn 28 born NY, Gunsmith, wife Lovina 23, daughter Calla 2
Family #95, Willard Remington 27 born VT, Farming, wife Alzina 27, son Ira 9 mos.
(Wonder if Willard was Hepburn's ticket to a Remington Arms connection?)
Family #96, Lewis L. Hepburn 28 born NY, Gunsmith, wife Lovina 23, daughter Calla 2
Family #95, Willard Remington 27 born VT, Farming, wife Alzina 27, son Ira 9 mos.
(Wonder if Willard was Hepburn's ticket to a Remington Arms connection?)
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Roy Marcot
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2002 2:25 pm
- Location: Tucson, Arizona
Biography of L.L. Hepburn
The following appeared in an earlier RSA Journal, penned by noted firearms historian H.J. "Jerry" Swinney:
Lewis L. Hepburn - Remington Gunmaker Extra Ordinaire
by H.J. Swinney
Lewis L. Hepburn had at least three careers after he finished an apprenticeship:
▸ one as a country gunmaker of muzzle-loading rifles
▸ another as a senior employee of E. Remington & Sons Armory, for whom he designed the breechloading, single-shot action that bears his name
▸ and a career as the principle designer for the Marlin Firearms Company.
When Lewis L. Hepburn died in 1914, his cousin, A. Barton Hepburn (a well - known financier of the day, for whom the hospital in Canton, NY is named; and hereafter referred to as A.B.H.) published a memorial pamphlet that contained a eulogy, presumably written by A.B.H. and another by "...one of the managers of the business in which the later years of Hepburn’s life was spent" -- no doubt an officer of the Marlin Firearms Company. This pamphlet, which has neither title page nor author's name, is today excessively obscure, but photocopies exist in the files of the Adirondack Museum. It forms one of two sources of information about L.L. Hepburn's early years; the other is correspondence with Lionel P. Hepburn, L.L. Hepburn's grand-nephew, that I had with the author in 1966. Lionel Hepburn, then a man of older years, still both physically and mentally alert in every way, was the grandson of Zina V. Hepburn, and was still living in the old Hepburn homestead in Colton, New York.
Lewis Lobdell Hepburn was the son of Pliny Hepburn, who in turn was the son of Joseph and Hannah Lobdell Hepburn. Lewis, born March 2nd , 1832, was given his grandmother's maiden name as his middle name. Though most modern references incorrectly spell it "Lodell." A.B.H.'s pamphlet spells it “Lobdell” several times (and Hannah Lobdell was A.B.H.'s grandmother too), and Lionel Hepburn confirmed the point in response to this author's inquiry.
According to A.B.H., Hepburn was always fascinated with guns, despite his father's disapproval, which seems not to have been very severe. "At the age of fifteen," says A.B.H., "he was apprenticed to a blacksmith..., and here it was (on the sly of course) he made his first real rifle... He worked at carriage ironing some eight years and was up to the best in his trade."
Fifteen was a usual age for the beginning of an apprenticeship, and Hepburn would have had his fifteenth birthday in the spring of 1847.
Contrary to the usual arrangement, young Lewis does not seem to have lived in his master's household. Possibly the quarters were too cramped, but in any case there was some reason, for in the summer of 1850 he was a boarder (his board and room probably paid for by his master) in a Potsdam, New York home when the census marshal arrived. The Census of the U.S. 1850, Town of Potsdam, dwelling 2, family 2:
Benj. C. Pick 36 Manufacturer $1,000
Margaret 37
Catherine 12
Eliz. A. Pike 27
Francis E. Pike 8
[followed by four boarders, all moulders by trade]
Lewis Hepburn 18 Blacksmith
Elwin Bronson 19
Elias Adams 18 Clothier
Elnara Buckley 16 [servant?]
Judging by the 1865 map of Potsdam, this was the now so-called Lockwood house -- the first house on Elm Street west of the municipal parking lot west of the library. In 1865 it is shown as belonging to "Mrs. Pick" and Benjamin does not appear.
A.B.H. says that it was in 1855 that Lewis opened his gunshop in Colton. It would be interesting to know where he learned the gun trade. There is a temptation to assume that he learned it from the Potsdam gunsmith M.J. Whitmore, since Whitmore's shop building is identified on an 1858 map of Potsdam village as "Wagon and Gun Shop," suggesting that young Hepburn might have been employed there. Furthermore, both Whitmore and Hepburn made something of a specialty of four-barreled rifles in the later 1850's, though Whitmore's characteristic use of a long iron frame and box locks does not appear in Hepburn's work. However, Whitmore is not known to have been in Potsdam before 1857 (although, to be sure he is not known not to have been), and by that time Hepburn was already launched as a gunsmith. Another possible mentor is A.N. Tupper — but he, like Hepburn, entered the gun trade late. In 1850 he was a carpenter by trade, and not until 1853 does he appear as a gunsmith. It is possible, though, not probable, that Hepburn learned from Tupper. In any case, he learned from somebody.
Shield's Map of St Lawrence County, 1858, shows Hepburn’s residence and shop in Colton. The data for the map were probably gathered in 1857, considering how long it would take to draw, letter, and engrave a detailed map for the largest county in New York state. A modest house of late and simplified Greek Revival style — a plausible building for the 1850s — stands today where Hepburn's house is indicated on the map, and was probably Hepburn’s, but the shop is gone.
Hepburn seems to have acquired a certain reputation quite quickly. An article by someone writing under the pseudonym of "Derf" appeared in Porter's Spirit of the Times (the leading sporting periodical of the day) Feb. 5, 1859 (Vol. I, p. 355). Entitled "Hunting and Fishing on the Racquet. - No. 1," this describes experiences that must have taken place in August 1858; no one was hunting and fishing on the Racquet River in February in the depth of the Adirondack winter. "Derf" says in part:
Passing through the town of Colton, we called at the shop of Hepburn, somewhat noted for his four-barreled rifles, which are now in vogue, and, certainly, are a most efficient weapon; light, not liable to get out of order, and not high cost; to be sure, they carry a small ball, usually from 80 to 120 to the pound [about .39 to .34 caliber]; but I never yet saw two hunters who exactly agreed on the size of ball most suitable for deer-killing. Near Hepburn's shop I noticed a house, surrounded by a fence, the posts of which were garnished by a pair of deer horns each, giving it a very buckish appearance.
This party was guided by "Tupper, an ex-rifleman of Potsdam," who was, of course A.B. Tupper; he had already lost his foot in an accident a few years earlier.
The St. Lawrence Plain Dealer of Canton, Feb. 24, 1859, carried a quotation regarding one B.S. Clark of Canton, who proposed going to Pike's Peak with a party of men, and who showed the editor.
...one of L.L. Hepburn's four barreled rifles, made at Colton, of this county. It weighs about ten pounds, is a beautiful specimen of workmanship, and looks as though it might be all that Mr. Hepburn's rifles have the reputation of being.
Hepburn was listed in Colton under "Gun and Pistol Manufacturers" in Boyds New York State Business Directory in 1859. On August 16th, of that year he married Lavinia Fiske of Dickinson, in Franklin County.
The Census of the U.S. 1860, Town of Colton, June 14, 1860, 92/96 has:
Lewis L. Hepburn 28 Gunsmith NY
Lavinia Hepburn 23 Housekeeper NY
Calla Hepburn 2 NY
The unusual name “calla” is correct. A gunsmith named Ansermus Buskirk also lived in Colton; though the Industrial Schedules of the Census 1860, quoted below, show Hepburn with only one hand — that is, Hepburn himself — it seems possible that Buskirk worked in Hepburn's shop. He is otherwise unknown, and there can hardly have been trade enough for two shops in the little village of Colton.
The Industrial Schedules of the Census of the U.S. 1860, T. of Colton, p.1, line 7 show:
L.L. Hepburn, Mfg. Guns
$700 [invested]
Barrels & Trimmings Ordinary kinds $500 [value of materials purchased in the last 12 months]
1 hand employed @ $52
40 4-bbl rifles [produced in the last 12 months]
$1,200
Hepburn 4-Barrel Muzzle-loading Gun
Robert Voliva collection
End-view of Muzzle.
Note front sight for each barrel.
The blank reports no power other than hand; this census marshal made entries only for forms of mechanical power. The statement of product, "40 4-bbl rifles" is quite clear. It would be very surprising if Hepburn made nothing else all year -- but perhaps that was the case.James W. Hopkins, The Advance Almanac and St. Lawrence County Directory 1862 (Ogdensburgh, 1862) lists under Colton: "L.L. Hepburn, gun manufacturer." Stone and Stewart, New Geographical Atlas of St. Lawrence County, NY (Philadelphia, 1865) shows L.L. Hepburn in Colton village on Water St., south side, the second house west of what was then School #1. Hepburn is also listed as gunsmith of Colton in an uncited 1868 county directory, probably Hamilton Child, Gazetteer and Business Directory of St. Lawrence County.
The Census of the U.S. 1870, T. of Colton, June 27, 184/179 lists:
Hepburn, Lewis L. 38 Gunsmith 3000/2000
Lavinia 32 Keeps house "
Carrie 12 "
Lewis 8 "
Verna 5 "
Walvern 2 (4) "
The Industrial Schedules of the Census of the U.S. 1870, reported by Glover, T. of Colton, [reconstructed] show:
L.L. Hepburn, Gunsmith
Capital $2000 , Material $350
Hand power, Lathe and rifling machine
1 hand employed
Product 18 rifles & shotguns, $1,130
This makes his average product worth something more than $62 - a very high figure for a multi-barrel rifle for the day.
A.B.H.'s eulogy says that it was in 1871 that L.L. Hepburn "...was called to superintend the sporting gun department in the great gun factory of E. Remington & Sons, at Ilion, NY." Certainly he had moved to Ilion by mid-1872; the deed records of the Office of the Herkimer County Clerk show that Lewis L. Hepburn of Ilion bought land from William H. Rogers and Freelove P. Rogers, on the south side of Clark Street between the property of Malachi Brennan and Frederick Van der Ake. (The latter name is uncertain.) This was land that the Rogers's had bought from Brennan in 1870, and the deed passing it to Hepburn was recorded May 6, 1872.
There is some confusion about just what Hepburn did for E. Remington & Sons. Alden Hatch, who had access to some early Remington records but was apparently not very perceptive in using them, says in Remington Arms in American History (New York, 1956), p. 162, that Hepburn was "foreman of [the] Mechanical Department." The Census of N.Y.S. 1875, quoted in full below, calls him "Gun Inspector."
In Forest and Stream, Dec. 5, 1876, p. 138, col. 3, he is referred to as "Mr. Hepburn, superintendent of the sporting gun department of the Remington Company of Ilion." The Census of the U.S., 1880, also quoted in full below, is the simplest of all: it says only that he is a "Gun Smith." Finally, Lant Brothers' Herkimer County 1881-2 Directory lists Hepburn as "contractor, house 27 W. Clark." This meant that he was an inside contractor at the Remington factory. In this time-honored system, then slowly becoming obsolete, the factory furnished space, power, materials, and usually machinery for an individual who contracted to use these things to turn out a given number of parts - stocks, barrels, or what not - for an agreed price, and who hired, superintended, and set the pay of his own workmen to do the job.
Of course, these various titles are cited at various times, and Hepburn's responsibilities and title may have changed more than once through the years. It seems clear, though, that he had substantial responsibilities, whatever his title. Yet why would Remington reach from the Mohawk Valley clear across the Adirondacks -- at the time a nearly trackless wilderness -- to the village of Colton in order to hire a gunsmith who had, so far as we know, no industrial or managerial experience at all? There were plenty of gunsmiths closer by -- George H. Ferriss of Utica comes to mind -- who were craftsmen of equal, or sometimes even greater, skill and reputation, and there was as yet no natural line of communication between Colton and Ilion. As the crow flies, it is only about 100 miles or a little more between the two places, but traveling by road and rail, the route Hepburn probably took via Potsdam, Canton, Watertown, and Rome would have been more like 200 miles -- a long trip in 1871 and a roundabout one in this case.
There is one possible connection between Remington and Hepburn. The gunsmith Roswell F. Cook of West Potsdam was probably personally known to Hepburn. He had worked at Hoard's Armory in Watertown (where rifle-muskets and Freeman revolvers were made) during the Civil War, and then went to Remington in Ilion, where The Census of N.Y.S., 1865 located him. He was apparently back in West Potsdam when he received a patent in 1873, but he shortly returned to Ilion and spent the remainder of his active life there, taking out a number of patents that were assigned to Remington. It is at least possible that Cook's connection with Remington brought Hepburn to their notice -- but there is no firm evidence on the point.
Anyway, Hepburn arrived on the scene in Ilion just in time to play a major role in a great event.
In 1873, the Irish rifle team won the famous Elcho Shield in competition with teams from other parts of the British Empire. They then challenged the United States to a match in 1874, to be fired under the same conditions at ranges of 800, 900, and 1,000 yards with rifles with iron sights and plain triggers weighing no more than 10 pounds.
Target shooting was not practiced under these conditions and at such ranges in the U.S., but the challenge was accepted. Remington and Sharps agreed to fund the $1,000 prize involved, and to produce breechloading target rifles to meet the rules; land was acquired on Long Island and the Creedmoor rifle range constructed; and try-outs for the American team commenced.
A pamphlet entitled The International Rifle Match At Creedmoor, September 26, 1874, states that Hepburn was one of nine members of the American team which competed against the Irish team. Half used the new Remington No.1 long-range rifle and the others fired a similar rifle made by Sharps Rifle Company. The pamphlet stated that Hepburn was forty-two years old, five feet nine inches tall, weighed about 160 pounds, and had sandy hair and whiskers. “When shooting” the pamphlet goes on to say “he lies on the right side, resting the gun over the left leg, with the stock resting under the arm-pit.”
The story of the dramatic match, and the following return matches, has been told in detail by N.H. Roberts in The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle (second edition; Manchester, N.H., 1944, pp. 211-247), and need not be repeated here. However, Hepburn was responsible for the production of the Creedmoor rifles, so-called from the name of the range, on the Remington rolling block action, and in addition he won a place on the team and competed, coming in fifth on the six-man American team and tenth among the total of twelve competitors. The American team won the match, 934 points to 931, but the issue was not decided until the very last shot. The whole event came off in a blaze of publicity, with front-page newspaper stories in New York City, and there was much interest in the fact that the Irish shot muzzle-loading rifles while the Americans used breech-loaders. Forest and Stream, VIII #8, October 1, 1874, p. 122, col. 1, reports the parties that followed the match, and quotes Hepburn as saying "...the rifle I shot with was all made by my own hands." Since it was a factory breech-loading rifle, this cannot be taken quite literally. Hepburn can hardly have forged the frame or the breechblock himself, for instance. Nevertheless, he probably assembled and "tuned" the rifle himself and he may even have rifled and chambered the barrel personally.
The Census of N.Y.S. 1875 has a curiously garbled entry for Hepburn in the Second District of German Flatts [i.e., Ilion], June 3, dwelling 8, frame, [value] $2400, family 10:
Louis Hepburn 39 Cortland Cty. Gun Inspector
Laura 37 wife "
“Carlisle” [Calla] 17 daughter "
Louis 14 son "
Bernie 12 son "
Allie 7 daughter "
Eugene 10 son "
Mary Angle 12 boarder
Hattie Lawrence 21 boarder
These misspellings, and the entry of Cortland County as place of birth may have been caused by L.L. Hepburn's absence; he was constantly reported at shooting matches in this general period in the columns of Forest and Stream. It the census marshal, for instance, found only the children at home, he might even have been told "Colton" when he asked for county of birth and might have written "Cortland" as his best guess at the correct information. It would be interesting to know whether the boarder, born Hattie Lawrence, was a daughter of the famous Richard S. Lawrence of Robbins & Lawrence.
As noted above, Forest and Stream constantly reported Hepburn among competitors at matches. In Vol. 5 #8, Sept. 30, 1875, is the report of the U.S. vs. Canada match in which both L.L. Hepburn and Leonard Geiger (upon whose original patent of 1862 the rolling block Remington action was based) shot for the U.S. Rod and Gun, Oct 23, 1875, p. 52, reports the establishment of the Hepburn Trophy, "... a new badge offered by Mr. L.L. Hepburn under the same terms as the Remington Diamond Badge taken by him.” In 1877, Hepburn's name appeared commonly -- almost weekly -- in lists of match competitors in Forest and Stream.
The Census of the U.S., 1880 lists him in the Village of Ilion at 25 West Clark Street, 172/187, June 1, 1880:
Hepburn, L.L. 48 Gun Smith NY
Lavinia 43 wife Keeps house
Louie 18 son At school
Vernie 16 daughter "
Malvorn 11 son "
Eugene 5 son "
This is a two-family house shared with one John Saxon. As was noted above, Lant Brothers Herkimer County 1881-2 Directory lists him as "contractor, house 27 W. Clark Street."
Through the later 1870s Hepburn must have been busy, because on October 7, 1879, he received patent #220,285 for a breechloading firearm. Assigned to E. Remington & Sons, this was the famous Remington-Hepburn falling block single shot action. It went into production in 1880. On Dec. 18, 1883, he also received patent #298,377 for a magazine gun. This last patent may have been the basis for a gun whose photograph was provided by John J. Malloy. This is a neat lever action rifle, apparently for a short cartridge like the .44-40 W.C.F. and with quite a short receiver -- a professional-looking gun, well made and well finished, not a mere developmental model. It was, according to Malloy, made in the E. Remington & Sons Armory, and is stamped "L.L. Hepburn."
Through the middle 1880's, Remington was increasingly in financial trouble. No doubt there were many reasons, but one often mentioned among them is the lack of a popular repeating rifle to provide competition with Winchester. Remington did have the bolt action Keene and Lee rifles, but bolt actions were never generally popular until after World War I, and both those rifles were for powerful cartridges. If Hepburn's rifle was for the .44-40 W.C.F. and similar cartridges, and if it was as good a gun as his later designs, why didn't Remington proceed with development? Perhaps time overtook them. If the basic patent was granted in May 1884, there may very well have been a lead time of a year or so before a fully finished prototype like that in the photo could be worked up. By 1885, there may simply not have been enough money for the development and the costs of tooling up and promotion. For the last few years, E. Remington & Sons was able to pay employees only in company scrip rather than real money.
In any case, Remington went into receivership in 1886, and hard times followed in Ilion. Following the collapse, Hepburn moved to the Marlin Fire Arms Company in New Haven, Connecticut. He must have had a considerable reputation by that time, but whether Marlin came looking for him or he went to them for a job is unknown.
The patent granted to him December 7, 1886 (#354,059 for a magazine gun) may have resulted from work done in Ilion, but all his subsequent patents -- no fewer than 18 of them -- were based on work done at Marlin, and most were assigned to Marlin. What seem to be full lists are published in Gardner and in Sellers.
The section of A.B.H.'s pamphlet that was written by someone from Marlin credits Hepburn with the design of the Model 1888 Marlin, and then with the introduction of the side ejection solid-top Marlin Model 1889 and the series of side-ejection Marlin rifles that followed. The basic principles are still in use by Marlin.
Hepburn slipped on an icy sidewalk near the Marlin factory on the morning of January 10, 1910, on his way to work, and broke his hip in the fall. He was almost 78 years old, but was still active -- "always at work, rain or shine (except when he left on his annual hunting trip, which he enjoyed so much)" says the pamphlet author. His hip never knitted and he was bedridden until his death August 31, 1914.
In his days in Colton, L.L. Hepburn was a steady but not especially prolific producer of guns. In fact, the numbers of guns reported by the production statistics in the Industrial Census entries are somewhat smaller than those reported by many less well-known men. Yet a good many Hepburn rifles have survived. Though he was not really in the class of the very best workmen like Morgan James or Nathaniel Choate, he was a good gunsmith, careful about detail and mechanically rather ingenious. His guns usually show a considerable bend in the wrist, and are often decorated with engraving and German silver inlays. Much of the furniture -- patch boxes, locks, hammers, trigger guards, and so on -- often shows a characteristic engraved “wavy line” border. Many of his earlier rifles also show a large square-bottomed cheek piece, often with a rectangular German silver plate bearing the owner's name.
HEPBURN MUZZLE-LOADING RIFLES
The author’s files include a record of personal examination or of printed reports of eighteen Hepburn muzzle-loading rifles of various types as follows:
Four-barreled, swivel-breech rifles ........ 2
Three-barreled, fixed-breech
combination guns ............................ 2
Over & under, double combination
guns ................................................. 4
Over & under double rifles ..................... 7
Heavy target rifles ................................... 2
Plain single rifle ...................................... 1
The author has probably run across six or eight others which record was not kept. It is notable that seven out of eighteen recorded guns are Hepburn double rifles. In upstate New York, only Nelson Lewis of Troy was so prolific a maker of such arms. One of these Hepburn double-rifles has been in the collection of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake for about twenty-five years, and must represent about the pinnacle of the muzzle-loading hunting rifle. It is .38 caliber and was, apparently, intended for a short bullet and a big charge of powder, say about 50 or 60 grains. It would have been accurate and amply powerful for Adirondack deer hunting, and it weighs under eight pounds. Though plain, it is very nicely finished, and aside from the fact that it was a muzzle-loader, it must have been a much handier hunting rifle than, say, a long Winchester Model 1873 in .44-40 W.C.F. or .38-40 W.C.F.
It should be realized that Hepburn was not unusual in making multiple-barrel muzzle-loaders. After about the middle-1850s, the double-combination gun became the commonest product of western New York shops, replacing the single-rifle. This is especially true of heavy target rifles, increasingly a product of eastern New York shops, are left out and only hunting arms are compared. Many New York State riflemakers made arms with more than two barrels, too. Morgan James of Utica, Calvin Miller of Honeoye, H.V. Perry of Jamestown, and Horace Fox of Frewsburg are only a few of the well-known ones. While Hepburn was one of only two or three riflemakers within the Adirondacks, he had plenty of competitors around the fringe of the area, and most of them made double-combination guns or double-rifles as might be ordered.
But by the middle-1870s, the RIFLEMAKERS’s trade was dying and such of these men as had survived found it increasingly necessary to turn to other trades for a living. A very few — Hepburn, Roswell Cook, Dan Lefever, and W.H. Baker make up almost the whole list — successfully made the transition from the workbench to the machine-made factory arm. These were the adaptable ones, and Hepburn deserves credit for being one of the few.
▸ In the collection of the Adirondack Museum is a three-barreled combination gun, 16 x 16 gauge with .38 caliber rifle barrel above the shot barrels. There are only two locks, and the left hammer has an ingenious swivelling nosepiece which fires the rifle barrel or left shot barrel depending on how it is adjusted. The German silver furniture is boldly engraved, the walnut stock is figured, and all in all it is a fine gun, carefully finished. It was Flayderman 66/597 and 71/570A, and the Museum acquired it from N. Flayderman & Co. The top barrel is stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
Also in the Adirondack Museum collection is a lightweight, double over & under rifle with round barrels about 26" long, caliber about .38, rifled with a quick twist for a short bullet rather than a round ball, stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. The front sight is a horizontal ivory or bone bar about half an inch from side to side, beveled on the upper rear surface and with an incised black line to form a sighting work. The gun weighs only a little over 7 pounds. It seems to be of Hepburn's later workmanship, and must represent about the pinnacle of functionalism of the muzzle-loading Adirondack deer rifle -- light, handy, capable of two quick shots.
Also in the Adirondack Museum, a double-barrel, o/u combination gun, stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It is very similar to the double-barrel rifle reported above, caliber unnoted, plainer in finish, but having closely similar furniture except for a slightly different patchbox. The details of snails, ramrod tubes, the rear of the barrels, and so on are all identical.
At the Syracuse Gun Show in April 1981, I examined a double-barrel o/u rifle about .40 caliber, round barrels stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It had German silver furniture engraved with Hepburn's usual wavy border. The left side of the buttstock was an oval silver or German silver plate stamped in tiny letters:
H.C. BRUSH
BRUSH'S MILLS, N.Y.
FLOAT PAT. AUG. 23, '76
The dates are a little uncertain, because they were observed in poor light and the tiny numbers were nearly impossible to read. Brush's Mills is apparently the place now called Brushton, straight east of Ulaira on the western edge of Franklin County. It was named for Henry N. Brush, described by Grench in 1860 as "... an extensive proprietor of lands in this vicinity and resident of the village." The patent date can have nothing to do with the gun, of course, by 1876, Hepburn was well established in Ilion. A patent for a "float" may concern a water wheel; the bucket or "paddle" was called a float on some types. A float is also a farrier's instrument for smoothing the teeth of horses and coarsely cut files of similar types are used in some other trades. The German silver oval bearing the legend may have been a trademark normally affixed to the product.
At the Oswego gun show in April 1967, I observed a 3-barrel L.L. Hepburn combination gun, two-shot barrels side by side with the rifle barrel slightly elevated and flatted on top, a sliding striker in the right hand hammer, nickel plated.
In the John Ricalton collection (Riverside Drive, Canton) in May 1967, I observed an o/u combination gun stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It was a .38 caliber rifle barrel over an 18 gauge, thin-walled shot barrel. It had two locks, a moderately figured walnut stock with cheekpiece, right and left, GS trim in the right cheekpiece, GS nose to comb, and two floral scroll inlays and one in the toe.
Yet another Hepburn gun was an o/u rifle, with walnut stock and German silver 28" barrels, GS furniture, very much like the Adirondack Museum's gun except for the shape of the larger trigger guard, with barrels stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
▸ Another was a four-barrel, swivel breech "rifle." All the barrels were .40 caliber. Stock was walnut, and mountings were German silver. It had two locks, and an elaborate patchbox marked: A. HUBBARD, HALDEN, MASS. The barrels were marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It is very much like the one in the photo sent by John Malloy, except that the shape of the head of the hammer seems clearly to differ.
Another Hepburn which was described to me was a heavy target rifle, fitted for a false muzzle, with a .38 caliber, half-octagon barrel 30" in length. No fore-end. Figured walnut stock. German Silver, two cheekpieces, floral inlay, square bottom guard. Seems to be of Hepburn's earlier workmanship and marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.▸ Another was a Hepburn double-barrel o/u rifle, .38 caliber 27" barrels, marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
▸ Another was offered in a Jackson Arms Company Catalog 19, item 21 was an double-barrel, o/u rifle with .38 caliber barrels marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. Figured walnut and iron, 28½" round barrels.
Another was offered as Flayderman 38/309 and was a double-barrel o/u combination gun, .41 over /52". Marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. With two octagon barrels. Apparently a gun made to sell inexpensively. The same gun was Flayderman 44/27.
Another was Flayderman 59/243 and was a very similar double barrel o/u combination gun with 28" octagon barrels. .41 caliber and 16 gauge. With big fancy spreadeagle German silver patchbox and German silver furniture.
Another was Flayderman 50/36 and was a single rifle without fore-stock, 26" octagon barrel .38 caliber, with engraved lock, walnut stock and German silver with "fancy inlaid patchbox," locking ramrod pipes and lug screw under barrel.
At the Syracuse gun in April 1985, was observed a plain Hepburn quarter-stock target rifle, weighing 13 pounds, and fitted for a false muzzle, walnut and brass and German silver. Marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
In Warren Ramsdell's collection on May 8, 1986 was a well made double over and under rifle stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
HEPBURN’S U.S. PATENTS
No.3 Hepburn Action #220,285 October 7, 1879
Breechloading Shotgun#290,426 December 18, 1883
Magazine Gun #298,377 May 13, 1884
Magazine Gun #354,059 December 7, 1886
Magazine Gun #371,455 October 11, 1887
Magazine Gun #400,679 April 2, 1889
Breechloading Gun #434,062 August 12, 1890
Magazine Firearm #463,832 November 24, 1891
Breechloading Gun #502,489 August 1, 1893
Gun Attachment #518,950 May 1, 1894
Gun Attachment #525,739 September 11, 1894
Gun Barrel #534,691 February 26, 1895
Magazine Firearm #549,722 November 12, 1895
Magazine Firearm #560,032 May 12, 1896
Magazine Firearm #561,226 June 2, 1896
Magazine Gun #584,177 June 8, 1897
Safety Device #591,220 October 5, 1897
Firearm Sight #732,075 June 30, 1903
Magazine Firearm #776,243 November 29, 1904
Safety Device #776,322 November 29, 1904
Firearm #918,447 April 13, 1908
Firearm #927,464 July 6, 1908
Magazine Firearm #943,828 December 21, 1908
Lewis L. Hepburn - Remington Gunmaker Extra Ordinaire
by H.J. Swinney
Lewis L. Hepburn had at least three careers after he finished an apprenticeship:
▸ one as a country gunmaker of muzzle-loading rifles
▸ another as a senior employee of E. Remington & Sons Armory, for whom he designed the breechloading, single-shot action that bears his name
▸ and a career as the principle designer for the Marlin Firearms Company.
When Lewis L. Hepburn died in 1914, his cousin, A. Barton Hepburn (a well - known financier of the day, for whom the hospital in Canton, NY is named; and hereafter referred to as A.B.H.) published a memorial pamphlet that contained a eulogy, presumably written by A.B.H. and another by "...one of the managers of the business in which the later years of Hepburn’s life was spent" -- no doubt an officer of the Marlin Firearms Company. This pamphlet, which has neither title page nor author's name, is today excessively obscure, but photocopies exist in the files of the Adirondack Museum. It forms one of two sources of information about L.L. Hepburn's early years; the other is correspondence with Lionel P. Hepburn, L.L. Hepburn's grand-nephew, that I had with the author in 1966. Lionel Hepburn, then a man of older years, still both physically and mentally alert in every way, was the grandson of Zina V. Hepburn, and was still living in the old Hepburn homestead in Colton, New York.
Lewis Lobdell Hepburn was the son of Pliny Hepburn, who in turn was the son of Joseph and Hannah Lobdell Hepburn. Lewis, born March 2nd , 1832, was given his grandmother's maiden name as his middle name. Though most modern references incorrectly spell it "Lodell." A.B.H.'s pamphlet spells it “Lobdell” several times (and Hannah Lobdell was A.B.H.'s grandmother too), and Lionel Hepburn confirmed the point in response to this author's inquiry.
According to A.B.H., Hepburn was always fascinated with guns, despite his father's disapproval, which seems not to have been very severe. "At the age of fifteen," says A.B.H., "he was apprenticed to a blacksmith..., and here it was (on the sly of course) he made his first real rifle... He worked at carriage ironing some eight years and was up to the best in his trade."
Fifteen was a usual age for the beginning of an apprenticeship, and Hepburn would have had his fifteenth birthday in the spring of 1847.
Contrary to the usual arrangement, young Lewis does not seem to have lived in his master's household. Possibly the quarters were too cramped, but in any case there was some reason, for in the summer of 1850 he was a boarder (his board and room probably paid for by his master) in a Potsdam, New York home when the census marshal arrived. The Census of the U.S. 1850, Town of Potsdam, dwelling 2, family 2:
Benj. C. Pick 36 Manufacturer $1,000
Margaret 37
Catherine 12
Eliz. A. Pike 27
Francis E. Pike 8
[followed by four boarders, all moulders by trade]
Lewis Hepburn 18 Blacksmith
Elwin Bronson 19
Elias Adams 18 Clothier
Elnara Buckley 16 [servant?]
Judging by the 1865 map of Potsdam, this was the now so-called Lockwood house -- the first house on Elm Street west of the municipal parking lot west of the library. In 1865 it is shown as belonging to "Mrs. Pick" and Benjamin does not appear.
A.B.H. says that it was in 1855 that Lewis opened his gunshop in Colton. It would be interesting to know where he learned the gun trade. There is a temptation to assume that he learned it from the Potsdam gunsmith M.J. Whitmore, since Whitmore's shop building is identified on an 1858 map of Potsdam village as "Wagon and Gun Shop," suggesting that young Hepburn might have been employed there. Furthermore, both Whitmore and Hepburn made something of a specialty of four-barreled rifles in the later 1850's, though Whitmore's characteristic use of a long iron frame and box locks does not appear in Hepburn's work. However, Whitmore is not known to have been in Potsdam before 1857 (although, to be sure he is not known not to have been), and by that time Hepburn was already launched as a gunsmith. Another possible mentor is A.N. Tupper — but he, like Hepburn, entered the gun trade late. In 1850 he was a carpenter by trade, and not until 1853 does he appear as a gunsmith. It is possible, though, not probable, that Hepburn learned from Tupper. In any case, he learned from somebody.
Shield's Map of St Lawrence County, 1858, shows Hepburn’s residence and shop in Colton. The data for the map were probably gathered in 1857, considering how long it would take to draw, letter, and engrave a detailed map for the largest county in New York state. A modest house of late and simplified Greek Revival style — a plausible building for the 1850s — stands today where Hepburn's house is indicated on the map, and was probably Hepburn’s, but the shop is gone.
Hepburn seems to have acquired a certain reputation quite quickly. An article by someone writing under the pseudonym of "Derf" appeared in Porter's Spirit of the Times (the leading sporting periodical of the day) Feb. 5, 1859 (Vol. I, p. 355). Entitled "Hunting and Fishing on the Racquet. - No. 1," this describes experiences that must have taken place in August 1858; no one was hunting and fishing on the Racquet River in February in the depth of the Adirondack winter. "Derf" says in part:
Passing through the town of Colton, we called at the shop of Hepburn, somewhat noted for his four-barreled rifles, which are now in vogue, and, certainly, are a most efficient weapon; light, not liable to get out of order, and not high cost; to be sure, they carry a small ball, usually from 80 to 120 to the pound [about .39 to .34 caliber]; but I never yet saw two hunters who exactly agreed on the size of ball most suitable for deer-killing. Near Hepburn's shop I noticed a house, surrounded by a fence, the posts of which were garnished by a pair of deer horns each, giving it a very buckish appearance.
This party was guided by "Tupper, an ex-rifleman of Potsdam," who was, of course A.B. Tupper; he had already lost his foot in an accident a few years earlier.
The St. Lawrence Plain Dealer of Canton, Feb. 24, 1859, carried a quotation regarding one B.S. Clark of Canton, who proposed going to Pike's Peak with a party of men, and who showed the editor.
...one of L.L. Hepburn's four barreled rifles, made at Colton, of this county. It weighs about ten pounds, is a beautiful specimen of workmanship, and looks as though it might be all that Mr. Hepburn's rifles have the reputation of being.
Hepburn was listed in Colton under "Gun and Pistol Manufacturers" in Boyds New York State Business Directory in 1859. On August 16th, of that year he married Lavinia Fiske of Dickinson, in Franklin County.
The Census of the U.S. 1860, Town of Colton, June 14, 1860, 92/96 has:
Lewis L. Hepburn 28 Gunsmith NY
Lavinia Hepburn 23 Housekeeper NY
Calla Hepburn 2 NY
The unusual name “calla” is correct. A gunsmith named Ansermus Buskirk also lived in Colton; though the Industrial Schedules of the Census 1860, quoted below, show Hepburn with only one hand — that is, Hepburn himself — it seems possible that Buskirk worked in Hepburn's shop. He is otherwise unknown, and there can hardly have been trade enough for two shops in the little village of Colton.
The Industrial Schedules of the Census of the U.S. 1860, T. of Colton, p.1, line 7 show:
L.L. Hepburn, Mfg. Guns
$700 [invested]
Barrels & Trimmings Ordinary kinds $500 [value of materials purchased in the last 12 months]
1 hand employed @ $52
40 4-bbl rifles [produced in the last 12 months]
$1,200
Hepburn 4-Barrel Muzzle-loading Gun
Robert Voliva collection
End-view of Muzzle.
Note front sight for each barrel.
The blank reports no power other than hand; this census marshal made entries only for forms of mechanical power. The statement of product, "40 4-bbl rifles" is quite clear. It would be very surprising if Hepburn made nothing else all year -- but perhaps that was the case.James W. Hopkins, The Advance Almanac and St. Lawrence County Directory 1862 (Ogdensburgh, 1862) lists under Colton: "L.L. Hepburn, gun manufacturer." Stone and Stewart, New Geographical Atlas of St. Lawrence County, NY (Philadelphia, 1865) shows L.L. Hepburn in Colton village on Water St., south side, the second house west of what was then School #1. Hepburn is also listed as gunsmith of Colton in an uncited 1868 county directory, probably Hamilton Child, Gazetteer and Business Directory of St. Lawrence County.
The Census of the U.S. 1870, T. of Colton, June 27, 184/179 lists:
Hepburn, Lewis L. 38 Gunsmith 3000/2000
Lavinia 32 Keeps house "
Carrie 12 "
Lewis 8 "
Verna 5 "
Walvern 2 (4) "
The Industrial Schedules of the Census of the U.S. 1870, reported by Glover, T. of Colton, [reconstructed] show:
L.L. Hepburn, Gunsmith
Capital $2000 , Material $350
Hand power, Lathe and rifling machine
1 hand employed
Product 18 rifles & shotguns, $1,130
This makes his average product worth something more than $62 - a very high figure for a multi-barrel rifle for the day.
A.B.H.'s eulogy says that it was in 1871 that L.L. Hepburn "...was called to superintend the sporting gun department in the great gun factory of E. Remington & Sons, at Ilion, NY." Certainly he had moved to Ilion by mid-1872; the deed records of the Office of the Herkimer County Clerk show that Lewis L. Hepburn of Ilion bought land from William H. Rogers and Freelove P. Rogers, on the south side of Clark Street between the property of Malachi Brennan and Frederick Van der Ake. (The latter name is uncertain.) This was land that the Rogers's had bought from Brennan in 1870, and the deed passing it to Hepburn was recorded May 6, 1872.
There is some confusion about just what Hepburn did for E. Remington & Sons. Alden Hatch, who had access to some early Remington records but was apparently not very perceptive in using them, says in Remington Arms in American History (New York, 1956), p. 162, that Hepburn was "foreman of [the] Mechanical Department." The Census of N.Y.S. 1875, quoted in full below, calls him "Gun Inspector."
In Forest and Stream, Dec. 5, 1876, p. 138, col. 3, he is referred to as "Mr. Hepburn, superintendent of the sporting gun department of the Remington Company of Ilion." The Census of the U.S., 1880, also quoted in full below, is the simplest of all: it says only that he is a "Gun Smith." Finally, Lant Brothers' Herkimer County 1881-2 Directory lists Hepburn as "contractor, house 27 W. Clark." This meant that he was an inside contractor at the Remington factory. In this time-honored system, then slowly becoming obsolete, the factory furnished space, power, materials, and usually machinery for an individual who contracted to use these things to turn out a given number of parts - stocks, barrels, or what not - for an agreed price, and who hired, superintended, and set the pay of his own workmen to do the job.
Of course, these various titles are cited at various times, and Hepburn's responsibilities and title may have changed more than once through the years. It seems clear, though, that he had substantial responsibilities, whatever his title. Yet why would Remington reach from the Mohawk Valley clear across the Adirondacks -- at the time a nearly trackless wilderness -- to the village of Colton in order to hire a gunsmith who had, so far as we know, no industrial or managerial experience at all? There were plenty of gunsmiths closer by -- George H. Ferriss of Utica comes to mind -- who were craftsmen of equal, or sometimes even greater, skill and reputation, and there was as yet no natural line of communication between Colton and Ilion. As the crow flies, it is only about 100 miles or a little more between the two places, but traveling by road and rail, the route Hepburn probably took via Potsdam, Canton, Watertown, and Rome would have been more like 200 miles -- a long trip in 1871 and a roundabout one in this case.
There is one possible connection between Remington and Hepburn. The gunsmith Roswell F. Cook of West Potsdam was probably personally known to Hepburn. He had worked at Hoard's Armory in Watertown (where rifle-muskets and Freeman revolvers were made) during the Civil War, and then went to Remington in Ilion, where The Census of N.Y.S., 1865 located him. He was apparently back in West Potsdam when he received a patent in 1873, but he shortly returned to Ilion and spent the remainder of his active life there, taking out a number of patents that were assigned to Remington. It is at least possible that Cook's connection with Remington brought Hepburn to their notice -- but there is no firm evidence on the point.
Anyway, Hepburn arrived on the scene in Ilion just in time to play a major role in a great event.
In 1873, the Irish rifle team won the famous Elcho Shield in competition with teams from other parts of the British Empire. They then challenged the United States to a match in 1874, to be fired under the same conditions at ranges of 800, 900, and 1,000 yards with rifles with iron sights and plain triggers weighing no more than 10 pounds.
Target shooting was not practiced under these conditions and at such ranges in the U.S., but the challenge was accepted. Remington and Sharps agreed to fund the $1,000 prize involved, and to produce breechloading target rifles to meet the rules; land was acquired on Long Island and the Creedmoor rifle range constructed; and try-outs for the American team commenced.
A pamphlet entitled The International Rifle Match At Creedmoor, September 26, 1874, states that Hepburn was one of nine members of the American team which competed against the Irish team. Half used the new Remington No.1 long-range rifle and the others fired a similar rifle made by Sharps Rifle Company. The pamphlet stated that Hepburn was forty-two years old, five feet nine inches tall, weighed about 160 pounds, and had sandy hair and whiskers. “When shooting” the pamphlet goes on to say “he lies on the right side, resting the gun over the left leg, with the stock resting under the arm-pit.”
The story of the dramatic match, and the following return matches, has been told in detail by N.H. Roberts in The Muzzle-Loading Cap Lock Rifle (second edition; Manchester, N.H., 1944, pp. 211-247), and need not be repeated here. However, Hepburn was responsible for the production of the Creedmoor rifles, so-called from the name of the range, on the Remington rolling block action, and in addition he won a place on the team and competed, coming in fifth on the six-man American team and tenth among the total of twelve competitors. The American team won the match, 934 points to 931, but the issue was not decided until the very last shot. The whole event came off in a blaze of publicity, with front-page newspaper stories in New York City, and there was much interest in the fact that the Irish shot muzzle-loading rifles while the Americans used breech-loaders. Forest and Stream, VIII #8, October 1, 1874, p. 122, col. 1, reports the parties that followed the match, and quotes Hepburn as saying "...the rifle I shot with was all made by my own hands." Since it was a factory breech-loading rifle, this cannot be taken quite literally. Hepburn can hardly have forged the frame or the breechblock himself, for instance. Nevertheless, he probably assembled and "tuned" the rifle himself and he may even have rifled and chambered the barrel personally.
The Census of N.Y.S. 1875 has a curiously garbled entry for Hepburn in the Second District of German Flatts [i.e., Ilion], June 3, dwelling 8, frame, [value] $2400, family 10:
Louis Hepburn 39 Cortland Cty. Gun Inspector
Laura 37 wife "
“Carlisle” [Calla] 17 daughter "
Louis 14 son "
Bernie 12 son "
Allie 7 daughter "
Eugene 10 son "
Mary Angle 12 boarder
Hattie Lawrence 21 boarder
These misspellings, and the entry of Cortland County as place of birth may have been caused by L.L. Hepburn's absence; he was constantly reported at shooting matches in this general period in the columns of Forest and Stream. It the census marshal, for instance, found only the children at home, he might even have been told "Colton" when he asked for county of birth and might have written "Cortland" as his best guess at the correct information. It would be interesting to know whether the boarder, born Hattie Lawrence, was a daughter of the famous Richard S. Lawrence of Robbins & Lawrence.
As noted above, Forest and Stream constantly reported Hepburn among competitors at matches. In Vol. 5 #8, Sept. 30, 1875, is the report of the U.S. vs. Canada match in which both L.L. Hepburn and Leonard Geiger (upon whose original patent of 1862 the rolling block Remington action was based) shot for the U.S. Rod and Gun, Oct 23, 1875, p. 52, reports the establishment of the Hepburn Trophy, "... a new badge offered by Mr. L.L. Hepburn under the same terms as the Remington Diamond Badge taken by him.” In 1877, Hepburn's name appeared commonly -- almost weekly -- in lists of match competitors in Forest and Stream.
The Census of the U.S., 1880 lists him in the Village of Ilion at 25 West Clark Street, 172/187, June 1, 1880:
Hepburn, L.L. 48 Gun Smith NY
Lavinia 43 wife Keeps house
Louie 18 son At school
Vernie 16 daughter "
Malvorn 11 son "
Eugene 5 son "
This is a two-family house shared with one John Saxon. As was noted above, Lant Brothers Herkimer County 1881-2 Directory lists him as "contractor, house 27 W. Clark Street."
Through the later 1870s Hepburn must have been busy, because on October 7, 1879, he received patent #220,285 for a breechloading firearm. Assigned to E. Remington & Sons, this was the famous Remington-Hepburn falling block single shot action. It went into production in 1880. On Dec. 18, 1883, he also received patent #298,377 for a magazine gun. This last patent may have been the basis for a gun whose photograph was provided by John J. Malloy. This is a neat lever action rifle, apparently for a short cartridge like the .44-40 W.C.F. and with quite a short receiver -- a professional-looking gun, well made and well finished, not a mere developmental model. It was, according to Malloy, made in the E. Remington & Sons Armory, and is stamped "L.L. Hepburn."
Through the middle 1880's, Remington was increasingly in financial trouble. No doubt there were many reasons, but one often mentioned among them is the lack of a popular repeating rifle to provide competition with Winchester. Remington did have the bolt action Keene and Lee rifles, but bolt actions were never generally popular until after World War I, and both those rifles were for powerful cartridges. If Hepburn's rifle was for the .44-40 W.C.F. and similar cartridges, and if it was as good a gun as his later designs, why didn't Remington proceed with development? Perhaps time overtook them. If the basic patent was granted in May 1884, there may very well have been a lead time of a year or so before a fully finished prototype like that in the photo could be worked up. By 1885, there may simply not have been enough money for the development and the costs of tooling up and promotion. For the last few years, E. Remington & Sons was able to pay employees only in company scrip rather than real money.
In any case, Remington went into receivership in 1886, and hard times followed in Ilion. Following the collapse, Hepburn moved to the Marlin Fire Arms Company in New Haven, Connecticut. He must have had a considerable reputation by that time, but whether Marlin came looking for him or he went to them for a job is unknown.
The patent granted to him December 7, 1886 (#354,059 for a magazine gun) may have resulted from work done in Ilion, but all his subsequent patents -- no fewer than 18 of them -- were based on work done at Marlin, and most were assigned to Marlin. What seem to be full lists are published in Gardner and in Sellers.
The section of A.B.H.'s pamphlet that was written by someone from Marlin credits Hepburn with the design of the Model 1888 Marlin, and then with the introduction of the side ejection solid-top Marlin Model 1889 and the series of side-ejection Marlin rifles that followed. The basic principles are still in use by Marlin.
Hepburn slipped on an icy sidewalk near the Marlin factory on the morning of January 10, 1910, on his way to work, and broke his hip in the fall. He was almost 78 years old, but was still active -- "always at work, rain or shine (except when he left on his annual hunting trip, which he enjoyed so much)" says the pamphlet author. His hip never knitted and he was bedridden until his death August 31, 1914.
In his days in Colton, L.L. Hepburn was a steady but not especially prolific producer of guns. In fact, the numbers of guns reported by the production statistics in the Industrial Census entries are somewhat smaller than those reported by many less well-known men. Yet a good many Hepburn rifles have survived. Though he was not really in the class of the very best workmen like Morgan James or Nathaniel Choate, he was a good gunsmith, careful about detail and mechanically rather ingenious. His guns usually show a considerable bend in the wrist, and are often decorated with engraving and German silver inlays. Much of the furniture -- patch boxes, locks, hammers, trigger guards, and so on -- often shows a characteristic engraved “wavy line” border. Many of his earlier rifles also show a large square-bottomed cheek piece, often with a rectangular German silver plate bearing the owner's name.
HEPBURN MUZZLE-LOADING RIFLES
The author’s files include a record of personal examination or of printed reports of eighteen Hepburn muzzle-loading rifles of various types as follows:
Four-barreled, swivel-breech rifles ........ 2
Three-barreled, fixed-breech
combination guns ............................ 2
Over & under, double combination
guns ................................................. 4
Over & under double rifles ..................... 7
Heavy target rifles ................................... 2
Plain single rifle ...................................... 1
The author has probably run across six or eight others which record was not kept. It is notable that seven out of eighteen recorded guns are Hepburn double rifles. In upstate New York, only Nelson Lewis of Troy was so prolific a maker of such arms. One of these Hepburn double-rifles has been in the collection of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake for about twenty-five years, and must represent about the pinnacle of the muzzle-loading hunting rifle. It is .38 caliber and was, apparently, intended for a short bullet and a big charge of powder, say about 50 or 60 grains. It would have been accurate and amply powerful for Adirondack deer hunting, and it weighs under eight pounds. Though plain, it is very nicely finished, and aside from the fact that it was a muzzle-loader, it must have been a much handier hunting rifle than, say, a long Winchester Model 1873 in .44-40 W.C.F. or .38-40 W.C.F.
It should be realized that Hepburn was not unusual in making multiple-barrel muzzle-loaders. After about the middle-1850s, the double-combination gun became the commonest product of western New York shops, replacing the single-rifle. This is especially true of heavy target rifles, increasingly a product of eastern New York shops, are left out and only hunting arms are compared. Many New York State riflemakers made arms with more than two barrels, too. Morgan James of Utica, Calvin Miller of Honeoye, H.V. Perry of Jamestown, and Horace Fox of Frewsburg are only a few of the well-known ones. While Hepburn was one of only two or three riflemakers within the Adirondacks, he had plenty of competitors around the fringe of the area, and most of them made double-combination guns or double-rifles as might be ordered.
But by the middle-1870s, the RIFLEMAKERS’s trade was dying and such of these men as had survived found it increasingly necessary to turn to other trades for a living. A very few — Hepburn, Roswell Cook, Dan Lefever, and W.H. Baker make up almost the whole list — successfully made the transition from the workbench to the machine-made factory arm. These were the adaptable ones, and Hepburn deserves credit for being one of the few.
▸ In the collection of the Adirondack Museum is a three-barreled combination gun, 16 x 16 gauge with .38 caliber rifle barrel above the shot barrels. There are only two locks, and the left hammer has an ingenious swivelling nosepiece which fires the rifle barrel or left shot barrel depending on how it is adjusted. The German silver furniture is boldly engraved, the walnut stock is figured, and all in all it is a fine gun, carefully finished. It was Flayderman 66/597 and 71/570A, and the Museum acquired it from N. Flayderman & Co. The top barrel is stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
Also in the Adirondack Museum collection is a lightweight, double over & under rifle with round barrels about 26" long, caliber about .38, rifled with a quick twist for a short bullet rather than a round ball, stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. The front sight is a horizontal ivory or bone bar about half an inch from side to side, beveled on the upper rear surface and with an incised black line to form a sighting work. The gun weighs only a little over 7 pounds. It seems to be of Hepburn's later workmanship, and must represent about the pinnacle of functionalism of the muzzle-loading Adirondack deer rifle -- light, handy, capable of two quick shots.
Also in the Adirondack Museum, a double-barrel, o/u combination gun, stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It is very similar to the double-barrel rifle reported above, caliber unnoted, plainer in finish, but having closely similar furniture except for a slightly different patchbox. The details of snails, ramrod tubes, the rear of the barrels, and so on are all identical.
At the Syracuse Gun Show in April 1981, I examined a double-barrel o/u rifle about .40 caliber, round barrels stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It had German silver furniture engraved with Hepburn's usual wavy border. The left side of the buttstock was an oval silver or German silver plate stamped in tiny letters:
H.C. BRUSH
BRUSH'S MILLS, N.Y.
FLOAT PAT. AUG. 23, '76
The dates are a little uncertain, because they were observed in poor light and the tiny numbers were nearly impossible to read. Brush's Mills is apparently the place now called Brushton, straight east of Ulaira on the western edge of Franklin County. It was named for Henry N. Brush, described by Grench in 1860 as "... an extensive proprietor of lands in this vicinity and resident of the village." The patent date can have nothing to do with the gun, of course, by 1876, Hepburn was well established in Ilion. A patent for a "float" may concern a water wheel; the bucket or "paddle" was called a float on some types. A float is also a farrier's instrument for smoothing the teeth of horses and coarsely cut files of similar types are used in some other trades. The German silver oval bearing the legend may have been a trademark normally affixed to the product.
At the Oswego gun show in April 1967, I observed a 3-barrel L.L. Hepburn combination gun, two-shot barrels side by side with the rifle barrel slightly elevated and flatted on top, a sliding striker in the right hand hammer, nickel plated.
In the John Ricalton collection (Riverside Drive, Canton) in May 1967, I observed an o/u combination gun stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It was a .38 caliber rifle barrel over an 18 gauge, thin-walled shot barrel. It had two locks, a moderately figured walnut stock with cheekpiece, right and left, GS trim in the right cheekpiece, GS nose to comb, and two floral scroll inlays and one in the toe.
Yet another Hepburn gun was an o/u rifle, with walnut stock and German silver 28" barrels, GS furniture, very much like the Adirondack Museum's gun except for the shape of the larger trigger guard, with barrels stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
▸ Another was a four-barrel, swivel breech "rifle." All the barrels were .40 caliber. Stock was walnut, and mountings were German silver. It had two locks, and an elaborate patchbox marked: A. HUBBARD, HALDEN, MASS. The barrels were marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. It is very much like the one in the photo sent by John Malloy, except that the shape of the head of the hammer seems clearly to differ.
Another Hepburn which was described to me was a heavy target rifle, fitted for a false muzzle, with a .38 caliber, half-octagon barrel 30" in length. No fore-end. Figured walnut stock. German Silver, two cheekpieces, floral inlay, square bottom guard. Seems to be of Hepburn's earlier workmanship and marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.▸ Another was a Hepburn double-barrel o/u rifle, .38 caliber 27" barrels, marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
▸ Another was offered in a Jackson Arms Company Catalog 19, item 21 was an double-barrel, o/u rifle with .38 caliber barrels marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. Figured walnut and iron, 28½" round barrels.
Another was offered as Flayderman 38/309 and was a double-barrel o/u combination gun, .41 over /52". Marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y. With two octagon barrels. Apparently a gun made to sell inexpensively. The same gun was Flayderman 44/27.
Another was Flayderman 59/243 and was a very similar double barrel o/u combination gun with 28" octagon barrels. .41 caliber and 16 gauge. With big fancy spreadeagle German silver patchbox and German silver furniture.
Another was Flayderman 50/36 and was a single rifle without fore-stock, 26" octagon barrel .38 caliber, with engraved lock, walnut stock and German silver with "fancy inlaid patchbox," locking ramrod pipes and lug screw under barrel.
At the Syracuse gun in April 1985, was observed a plain Hepburn quarter-stock target rifle, weighing 13 pounds, and fitted for a false muzzle, walnut and brass and German silver. Marked:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
In Warren Ramsdell's collection on May 8, 1986 was a well made double over and under rifle stamped:
L.L. HEPBURN, COLTON, N.Y.
HEPBURN’S U.S. PATENTS
No.3 Hepburn Action #220,285 October 7, 1879
Breechloading Shotgun#290,426 December 18, 1883
Magazine Gun #298,377 May 13, 1884
Magazine Gun #354,059 December 7, 1886
Magazine Gun #371,455 October 11, 1887
Magazine Gun #400,679 April 2, 1889
Breechloading Gun #434,062 August 12, 1890
Magazine Firearm #463,832 November 24, 1891
Breechloading Gun #502,489 August 1, 1893
Gun Attachment #518,950 May 1, 1894
Gun Attachment #525,739 September 11, 1894
Gun Barrel #534,691 February 26, 1895
Magazine Firearm #549,722 November 12, 1895
Magazine Firearm #560,032 May 12, 1896
Magazine Firearm #561,226 June 2, 1896
Magazine Gun #584,177 June 8, 1897
Safety Device #591,220 October 5, 1897
Firearm Sight #732,075 June 30, 1903
Magazine Firearm #776,243 November 29, 1904
Safety Device #776,322 November 29, 1904
Firearm #918,447 April 13, 1908
Firearm #927,464 July 6, 1908
Magazine Firearm #943,828 December 21, 1908