- Messages
- 42,740
- Reactions
- 110,984
☞Today in Old-West History -- On today's date 142 years ago, Saturday, December 11, 1880, famous American businessman & politician Oliver Fisher Winchester (1810-1880), founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, met his earthly demise at the age of 70 when he died from the effects of unspecified natural causes at New Haven, Connecticut.
☞Requiéscat In Pace, Oliver Winchester.
☞One of Winchester's employees, noted American gunsmith, engineer, & inventor Benjamin Tyler Henry (1821-1898), designed the famous Henry repeating rifle -- the world's first reliable lever-action repeating rifle, which was patented in 1860 & saw limited use by the Federals during the War Between the States (1861-1865). Improvements to the design of the Henry rifle led to the introduction of the first Winchester rifle -- the Model 1866, known as the "Yellow Boy" for its brass frame -- the first of a long line of Winchester repeating rifles that ultimately became known along with the Colt revolver as one of the guns that "Won the West."
☞Upon Oliver Winchester's demise, his ownership in the company passed to his son, William Wirt Winchester (1837-1881), who died from the effects of consumption (tuberculosis) during March of the next year. The Winchester fortune then passed to William Winchester's wife Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester (1837-1922), making her one of the wealthiest women in the world during that era. Sarah Winchester came to believe that the Winchester family was cursed by the spirits of those who were killed with Winchester rifles. On the advice of a spirit medium, she moved to San Jose, California & began building a curiously strange Queen-Anne-Style Victorian mansion which is now known as the Winchester Mystery House. Convinced that the spirits would kill her if she ever completed the construction of the house, Sarah used her inherited Winchester fortune to continue uninterrupted, 'round-the-clock work, adding more & more rooms to the mansion for 36 consecutive years, for a total, as near as can be determined, of approximately 160 rooms at the time of her death. Since her death, the sprawling Winchester Mystery House has become a popular tourist attraction, known for its many staircases & corridors leading to nowhere.
☞The left-hand photograph depicts a circa-1847 portrait of Oliver Winchester at around the age of 37. The right-hand photograph depicts famous American Hollywood actor & military officer USAF Brigadier General James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (1908-1997) in an advertising poster for the classic 1950 American Western movie "Winchester '73."
=AZWjZLYE1yBXL_5jb-R5NOWjqTGupUiLwMqh4Ffb4FaIfZRvW7VZUZQDePkGTqRgevvQLuWk4xYlFBr368w-5xx0uH1xkqTe56jYBtPHNW_LayLM8eiy_sQqSmcVcftctz1Vin5OrN9yst81JLXFqgMHnWCLCmVssw1Ab-oa2IC7KrJRRAsRKTbrgyPjsflYVFoGZXF4klDaz82ZlYpCF_My&__tn__=EH-R']
☞Requiéscat In Pace, Oliver Winchester.
☞One of Winchester's employees, noted American gunsmith, engineer, & inventor Benjamin Tyler Henry (1821-1898), designed the famous Henry repeating rifle -- the world's first reliable lever-action repeating rifle, which was patented in 1860 & saw limited use by the Federals during the War Between the States (1861-1865). Improvements to the design of the Henry rifle led to the introduction of the first Winchester rifle -- the Model 1866, known as the "Yellow Boy" for its brass frame -- the first of a long line of Winchester repeating rifles that ultimately became known along with the Colt revolver as one of the guns that "Won the West."
☞Upon Oliver Winchester's demise, his ownership in the company passed to his son, William Wirt Winchester (1837-1881), who died from the effects of consumption (tuberculosis) during March of the next year. The Winchester fortune then passed to William Winchester's wife Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester (1837-1922), making her one of the wealthiest women in the world during that era. Sarah Winchester came to believe that the Winchester family was cursed by the spirits of those who were killed with Winchester rifles. On the advice of a spirit medium, she moved to San Jose, California & began building a curiously strange Queen-Anne-Style Victorian mansion which is now known as the Winchester Mystery House. Convinced that the spirits would kill her if she ever completed the construction of the house, Sarah used her inherited Winchester fortune to continue uninterrupted, 'round-the-clock work, adding more & more rooms to the mansion for 36 consecutive years, for a total, as near as can be determined, of approximately 160 rooms at the time of her death. Since her death, the sprawling Winchester Mystery House has become a popular tourist attraction, known for its many staircases & corridors leading to nowhere.
☞The left-hand photograph depicts a circa-1847 portrait of Oliver Winchester at around the age of 37. The right-hand photograph depicts famous American Hollywood actor & military officer USAF Brigadier General James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (1908-1997) in an advertising poster for the classic 1950 American Western movie "Winchester '73."
=AZWjZLYE1yBXL_5jb-R5NOWjqTGupUiLwMqh4Ffb4FaIfZRvW7VZUZQDePkGTqRgevvQLuWk4xYlFBr368w-5xx0uH1xkqTe56jYBtPHNW_LayLM8eiy_sQqSmcVcftctz1Vin5OrN9yst81JLXFqgMHnWCLCmVssw1Ab-oa2IC7KrJRRAsRKTbrgyPjsflYVFoGZXF4klDaz82ZlYpCF_My&__tn__=EH-R']
