I missed the post the first time around. Thank you for bringing it back to the top.

Amazing story, research and just plain cool stuff. Sent me down a 2 hour rabbit hole thinking about old Colts... I have a special place in my heart for Colt since a Mark IV Series 80 was my first pistol.

What a great write up. Very cool to learn Colt innovated an integral spring clip before Spyderco
For many years I drove past the original Colt factory with blue onion dome and pony roof next to I-91 during my commute. I understand it was converted to an urban artist studio/colony. The manufacturing moved to West Hartford which I believe contained the first M4 production line.

I did find a burial record for E.W. Roberts:
Edmund Wilson Roberts. Born 1824 (no exact date) In PA.
Died July 12 1892. Buried in Masonic Cem. in Grass Valley CA.
Married Nancy Downey in 1853. Son Edmund A. born the same year. Roberts FindaGrave memorial number is 100812767. It shows him as Judge Edmund Wison Roberts. At time of his death, he was a registrar with the U.S. Land Office.

I'll drop this here, as it's just a bit of civil war era info that I have, and I think it would be good to spread to others. Just north of Pittsburgh is a very old cemetery called the Allegheny Cemetery. This is also near the confluence of some old rail routes.

There are many civil war dead from all over buried at this cemetery even though they died far away. The story goes that they bodies were on trains and began to stink/rot too much. They had to be buried faster and so they were pulled off the trains in Pgh and buried here.

Also interesting is that the cemetery has a generator for (emergency) power. It is literally a model T engine.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I did find a burial record for E.W. Roberts:
Edmund Wilson Roberts. Born 1824 (no exact date) In PA.
Died July 12 1892. Buried in Masonic Cem. in Grass Valley CA.
Married Nancy Downey in 1853. Son Edmund A. born the same year.

Outstanding!

I've no doubt that this is our man: Edmund Wilson Roberts. His marriage notice appears in the The Nevada Journal Nevada City California January 21, 1853. This is the very same newspaper which contains the November, 1851 advertisement which started all of this.

The 1854 ad for his law office which appears on page one of this thread shows he was still in Rough & Ready in 1853. This must be the man.


The Nevada Journal 1-21-1853





Outstanding job, YooperSigs!

I had contacted the director of the Rough & Ready Chamber of Commerce last year and they do not have this information. They said "I wish I had the answers for you. Most of the town’s early history went up during the fires of 1853 and 1859. Our only reference is to 'E.W. Roberts', with no mention of full name." I've forwarded this on to them.

It's satisfying to know his full name, and also that I estimated his date of birth accurately when I said I estimated it to be no later than about 1824 or 1825.

While we're on the subject of The Nevada Journal, here is a full page image from the November 15, 1851 edition, showing the reward advertisement in place.

One of my hobbies is researching pioneer cemeteries here in the Yoop. Then I visit them. Old cemeteries give insight to the history of an area and the people who built it. Combine historic newspaper archives with cemetery records and you can find some amazing stories!
I recently visited the grave of Virgil Earp.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: YooperSigs,

I heard back from the director of the R&R Chamber of Commerce, who said, in part "Interesting, too, that Judge Roberts apparently married one of Mary Downey’s six daughters, Nancy. Mary was also an early founder of R&R, having established the well-known Downey House in 1853."

So, there is no doubt whatsoever that this is our man.

I know very, very little about the history of early revolvers. But it happens that I used to live in New Haven, CT. Whitneyville is a suburb of Hamden, which is north of New Haven; it's pretty far from Hartford.

Here's an image from a website that has some info on Eli Whitney Sr. and Jr.



It was Junior who invented the Cotton Gin (thereby inadvertently prolonging slavery because it made growing cotton more profitable); and who is credited with promoting the idea of interchangeable parts.

The Connecticut Valley was, of course, a hub of industry, especially firearms manufacturing, in the nineteenth century. It's very sad that so much of the history is no longer available locally. Back when I was in med school, I saw a sign that said "Winchester Repeating Arms Museum". When I finally got around to walking up to the door, there was a small hand-lettered sign that said "moved to Cody, Wyoming".

But since I also grew up and lived and worked for many years in the Sacramento area, my wife and i did some traveling in the Gold Rush country. I confess as far as I know we never visited Rough and Ready.

Thank you for posting this extremely interesting and education post, Para. Unfortunately for me my interest in firearms didn't peak until my older son got me interested; we found SigForum; started training with Bruce Gray; and now here we are.