April 7th, 1740: Mount Kisco N.Y.

Crowe, who has a fascination with firearms, requested that we travel north to a gun foundery run by German gunsmiths. As expected their craftsmanship was impeccable; it is one thing to look at an 18th century rifle and another to see the molten iron poured into molds and lovingly crafted into a functioning work of art right before you. Mr. Brautman was visited by a Huron chief during our visit; he explained that these guns would be traded with the Hurons for defense against their enemies. A Jesuit priest acted as a translator between the Huron and German.

visual file 2389: Brautman Gun Assembly; 4.7.1740

April 3, 1740

Crowe and I are boarding with a family by name of Weisbach, newly arrived from Germany. They had been unable to practice their Quaker religion in Bohemia and so took a three month journey to America. This farm is in upstate New York and after only two seasons they have strong horses, well made barns and are able to practice their religion freely; we will be going to their services with them tomorrow for further insight into religious practices here. As we have gone about town with them we have noted that there are indeed peoples of all nationalities here, I bumped into and angered an Irishman, spoke with three Welsh blacksmiths, talked about the best harvesting techiques with a Swedish man and had dinner with a Quaker minister of Dutch descent who had also invited a Native American family as well, truly fascinating, more details on this will be found in my final report.

Visual File 2398: Interior of Quaker Meeting House 4.4.1740