Hunting for Clues Part Two

For genealogists, it’s easy to underestimate the power we yield. If you need proof, think about this: The recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article on The Photo Detective was the number one article read online at the WSJ for a week!

This means thousands if not millions of people are interested in their family photographs. That’s great news!

A couple of folks who read that piece commented on the type of gun depicted in the cover photo. Last year I wrote a column, Hunting for Clues, about this picture of a hunter. Now new evidence has surfaced.

There’s a lot of discussion about what type of gun appears in the picture and the date for the image. Faced with the new facts, I could’ve been off by a few years. The man wears his old clothes for a soujourn into the wilds of New Jersey. Instead of just saying his photo is from the late 1860s, I’m stretching the time frame to include the early 1870s. It doesn’t change my analysis, but the additional details add depth to this image. Here’s what turned up:

I spoke with LeRoy Merz of Merz Antique Firearms about the gun in the photo. While my original expert was right about it not being a Civil War piece, it’s not a Winchester 66, either. Merz set me straight. It appears to be a double-barrel shotgun, and the shells around the man’s waist are 10-gauge.

Merz thinks this man holds a European model probably imported from England in the early 1870s. It was first introduced there in the late 1860s. In England, these shotguns were used for market hunting of water fowl. (Notice the game bag at the man’s side.) It appears Majorie Osterhout’s relative liked to go bird-hunting, probably for duck or geese, with his trusty four-legged friend. Though the dog (hard to see here) isn’t a traditional breed for retrieving game, it could’ve been trained for the task.

Merz’s opinion is just one of several. All are in agreement the gun isn’t a Winchester 66, but there’s still lots of talk about the actual model and the gauge of the shells.

Next week, I’ll take a look at another earlier column and tell you more of the fascinating story behind a reader’s family photo.