biography
| name: |
Deringer, Henry, Jr
|
pronunciation:
[derinjer]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1786–1868)
|
| biography:
| Gunsmith, born in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The son of a German gunmaker, he served an apprenticeship in Richmond, VA, then opened his own shop in Philadelphia (1806). He made rifles for the US Office of Indian Trade (1830s), and then turned to making pistols. His pocket pistol, the Deringer Phila, found a ready market during the 1850s and 1860s, especially on the frontier. He died a wealthy man, with property and coal land holdings. The Derringer (the extra ‘r’ was inserted by mistake) became infamous for its use by John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Lincoln. |
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