Background
Henry Deringer was born on October 26, 1786 in Easton, Pennsylvania, United States. His father was Henry Deringer, also a gunsmith. Here he entered the gunmaking business with his father, who was active until 1814.
manufacturer firearms inventor
Henry Deringer was born on October 26, 1786 in Easton, Pennsylvania, United States. His father was Henry Deringer, also a gunsmith. Here he entered the gunmaking business with his father, who was active until 1814.
Deringer was apprenticed to a gunsmith in Richmond.
After serving his apprenticeship, he moved to Philadelphia in 1806. Here he entered the gunmaking business with his father, who was active until 1814. Flintlock and percussion-cap arms of all types were made there. These included Kentucky-type rifles and United States military pistols, particularly in the 1808 flintlock model and the 1843 percussion-cap box-lock model. The most famous product of the Deringer armory was a small percussion-cap pistol of superior design and finish, marked "Deringer Phila. ," made in large quantities between the 1840's and the Civil War. Even today, any small single-barreled or multibarreled pistol of comparatively large caliber is apt to be called a "derringer, " with an extra r inserted by mistake. These little pistols figure, usually by name, in the pre-Civil War romances as the standard weapons of the gambler.
Henry married to Elizabeth Hollobush at the First Reformed Church in Philadelphia on 5 April in 1810. They had four children: Theophilus T. Deringer, Bronaugh McClain Deringer, Calhoun Mason Deringer, Eliza Deringer.
