By Larry B. Schuknecht
Andrew Burgess (Jan. 16,1837-Dec. 18,1908) was born in Hulett’s Landing on Lake George in Washington Co., N.Y. to John Christian (Chris) Burgess (Jan. 11, 1790-July 8,1865) and Achsah Christie Davis (Feb. 5, 1793- March 9,1861). John and Achsah were married on Jan. 9, 1822 in Dresden, Washington Co. not far from Hulett’s Landing.
Andrew’s grandfather Johann Christian Borges (March 6, 1754- 1806) was born in Fischbach, Bad Schwalbach, Hessen-Cassel, Germany and arrived in New York Harbor on Oct. 20,1776 as a Hessian soldier in the Landgraf Regiment of the Second Hessian Division under the command of Lt. General Von Knyphausen. After arriving here, he learned of the American cause and on Aug.21,1778 he deserted his unit and later joined the American forces and served in a Rhode Island Regiment which was stationed in the vicinity of Fort Ticonderoga for several months. In 1786 he married Hannah Newland (May 10, 1758- ) in North Providence, Rhode Island. Together they had ten children, four girls and six boys who were all born in Putnam or Lake George in Washington Co., N. Y. Hannah was most likely a descendant of Pilgrim stock, her parents were Anthony Newland (Aug.8, 1726- ) and Patience Woodward (1736- ). Her Grandparents were John Newland (Sept. 12, 1686- ) and his wife Hannah Casswell (1690- ), and Ezekiel Woodward (Feb. 26, 1687- May 8,1745) and his wife Sarah (1715- 1749). Johann Christian Burgess was killed in 1806 by a falling tree leaving his widow Hannah with a large family to care for. Oral history states that she then married one Geduthan Dickson.
John Christian Burgess (Andrew’s father) married Pliades Brewster (Oct. 14, 1788-1821) of Becket, Windham Co., Ct. on Oct. 15, 1815 in Pawlet, Rutland Co., Vt. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Brewster and Ruth Dimmock. The Genealogical records show that there were no children from the union of John and Pliades. Shortly after the death of Pliades in 1821 John married Achsah Davis on Jan. 9, 1822 and together they had eight children, five boys and three girls. The first child was Sophonia born on Nov. 3, 1822, and the last child was Andrew born on Jan. 16, 1837. In author James D. Horan’s book Mathew Brady (no. 153 in his source notes) is mentioned another of Andrew’s brothers named Willard, who is not shown in the available genealogical records. This may have actually been a confusion with William who is in the records.
Growing up on Lake George in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains the Burgess boys would have undoubtedly been exposed to firearms and hunting at an early age. Andrew’s brother Hyrum (1832- ) is listed as a Gun Smith in nearby Whitehall, N. Y. in Boyd’s 1859 N. Y. State Business Directory. Mr. Holman J. Swinney notes that one Alonzo Seldon was working as a Gun Smith in Whitehall in 1850, and that Hyrum most likely learned the trade from him, and he may have also taught Andrew at least some elements of the gun making trade.
James E. Serven in a magazine article about Andrew Burgess (American Rifleman-Aug. 1957) states that he was boyhood friends with Robert Green Ingersoll who later became a prominent writer and orator, and Mathew Brady. Brady was 13 years older than Andrew, and may not have been a friend, but it is quite likely that the Burgess and the Brady families were acquainted. Brady once stated when asked, that he was born in Warren Co., N. Y. Elmer Burgess in his article Andrew Burgess, Gun Inventor (In The Gun Digest 1965) states that the Brady and Burgess farms were next to each other in Dresden, N. Y. Records show that a Julia Brady was born in Whitehall, Washington Co., N. Y. in 1806, and she may have been a cousin or aunt of Mathew. Most Genealogical sources give Mathews birthplace as possibly Saratoga Springs. Andrew as a young man developed an interest in the then new art of Photography and by the late 1850’s we find him working in Mathew Brady’s studio in Washington, D. C. in the company of others such as Alexander Gardner and Timothy O’Sullivan. Elmer Burgess states that Andrew and his brother William began working as apprentices for Brady in 1855.
With the outbreak of the Civil War Brady prepared equipment and assembled crews to send into the field to record the battles and their aftermath, this besides maintaining studios in Washington, D. C. and New York, N. Y. He obtained permission from President Lincoln to follow the troops into combat but was told that the endeavor would have to be paid for out of Brady’s pocket, that the Government could not fund it. That Brady did, spending his entire fortune of approximately $100,000. which led to his eventual bankruptcy. Elmer Burgess in his story states that Andrew Burgess became Brady’s partner in 1863. We know for certain that in 1864 Andrew Burgess was active in the Washington, D. C. studio photographing Politicians and Dignitaries, and he is credited with taking the famous Lincoln picture on which the portrait on our Five Dollar bill is based. He is also credited with taking the famous picture of Lincoln with his son Tad.
During the war years Brady and others sometimes referred to a mysterious Mr. A. Berger who some now feel was Andrew Burgess. Was Andrew becoming involved in espionage at that time? We will find more evidence that could support the theory that he spied for the Government as this story unfolds.
Elmer Burgess states that in 1864 Andrew traveled to Mexico to photograph the pending conflict between Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Benito Juarez, and a picture of Maximilian survives which is credited to Andrew. Author James D. Horan states that Andrew went to Mexico at the request of the State Dept. to gather “evidence” that French troops were there. They were there to support Maximilian which was in opposition to our Monroe doctrine which prohibited any European powers from interfering in affairs in this Hemisphere.
Andrew returned to Washington in 1867 after Maximilian’s fall and resumed working as Brady’s partner until 1870. On Dec.22, 1870 a eclipse of the sun was to occur and the U. S. Naval Observatory was eager to record the event. Professors Simon Newcomb, Asaph Hall, and J. R. Eastman of the Observatory were assigned to go to Syracuse in Sicily to perform the mission. Later an Admiral Sands wrote that they had considered other photographers but the State Dept. insisted on sending Burgess. Professors Hall, Eastman, and Andrew arrived in Sicily on Dec. 8, and immediately went about their work. While there Andrew contracted Roman fever and although ill did the task assigned him. Hall and Eastman departed the day after the Eclipse but Andrew stayed behind, and after recovering from the illness took a tour through Europe, visiting Armories and cousins in Germany. With the Franco- Prussian War raging it would be interesting to know what information Andrew returned with for the State Dept. Was this another Spy mission? Andrew did not return to Washington until April 10, 1871.
On Oct. 2, 1871 Andrew married Eudora Tiffany (1845-1926) in Owego, Tioga Co., N. Y.. She was the daughter of Austin F. Tiffany (Oct. 14, 1810-July 2, 1901) and his wife Abigail (Nov. 1, 1819-June 2, 1899) who lived in Owego. Elmer Burgess in his article states that Austin was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany (Feb.15, 1812- Feb.18,1902) who founded the Tiffany Jewelry firm of New York, N. Y. and that Austin was a partner in that firm. I personally can find no evidence of the connection, and in view of the same birth date, find it impossible. It is possible that Austin and Charles were brothers. In the 1880 U. S. Census Austin’s occupation is given as a Carriage Painter. Andrew and Eudora had a home in Owego, and Andrew set up a shop where he and at least two other helpers, Machinist’s T. B. Mosher and Alexander F. Roberts could work out the gun designs that Andrew was developing, build prototypes, and in 1872 they began building rifles on Andrews patent no. 129,523 issued on July 16, 1872. This was not Andrew’s first patent though, his first was no. 119,115 issued on Sept. 19, 1871 for modifications of the Peabody rifle.
Andrew must have been very busy at this time for he was still a partner in Brady’s studio in Washington, D. C.. In 1874 financial problems and poor health forced Brady to auction off his collection of photographic plates, the buyer being the U. S. Government for the sum of $2,840. About this time Andrew bought out Brady’s share of the studio to prevent his losing it. In 1875 the government decided to pay Brady $25,000. for his Civil War photos, and by 1876 he was able to buy back his studio from Andrew.
A steady stream of patents flowed from the creative mind of Andrew, and the 1872 model lever action rifle was followed by a model 1875, and a model 1878, all of them made in the Owego workshop. In 1876 Andrew took part in and displayed in the great Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition where it is presumed that he meet Eli Whitney Jr. who also displayed there. Out of this meeting came a business arrangement whereby the Whitney Armory would build a rifle based on Andrew’s design, Andrew being paid on a royalty basis. In 1878 Andrew became involved in a court case with W. W. Wetmore who worked for Winchester. During this case it came out and Andrew learned that Eli Whitney Jr. and Frank Tiesing were making arms on Andrew’s patents without his knowledge or consent. Andrew won this court case but it was later appealed and lost.
Andrew continued to work with Whitney and in 1878 they submitted rifles to the U. S. Army for testing, hoping for a government contract. They were not successful in achieving this. At the same time Winchester made an agreement with Andrew whereby they could use his patent no. 128,208 for a magazine in the butt stock of their Hotchkiss model rifle. Whitney continued making the Whitney-Kennedy lever action rifle which was basically the Whitney-Burgess rifle using the Kennedy carrier. This rifle was a serious competitor for Winchester’s model 1876. At this time Andrew was very busy inventing, but indications are that he was financially wanting. The 1880 U. S. Census shows that he and Eudora lived with her parents Austin and Abigal Tiffany in the same household.
In 1880 John Mahlon Marlin who had founded the Marlin Firearms Co. in 1870 was considering the possibility of producing a repeating rifle in addition to their successful Ballard single shot rifle. He consulted with Andrew Burgess and together they designed a rifle using a patent that he and Marlin were jointly issued, no. 250,825 which was issued on Dec. 31, 1881. This patent covered a cartridge carrier which improved several of Andrew’s previous designs and was the basis for the successful model 1881 Marlin rifle.
The Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Co. had for years watched with an envious eye the success that the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. had with their model 1873 lever action rifle. In 1882 they approached Andrew and asked him to design a lever action rifle which could compete with the Winchester. Combining six of his patents he came up with a rifle which became known as the 1883 Colt- Burgess. At the same time Winchester had watched Colt’s success in the handgun field and had asked William Mason and Hugo Borchardt to design a revolver for them.
Colt’s introduction of the model 1883 rifle worried Winchester so they approached the Colt executives with a proposal that Winchester would drop its revolver development and stay out of the handgun business if Colt would stop the manufacture of the Colt- Burgess rifle. Thus came about the end of a serious competitor for Winchester’s model 1873.
Andrew was always working on ways to change an existing mechanism to function differently. One example of this is patent no.289,972 issued on Dec. 11, 1883 which covered at least 3 features which could be incorporated into final designs. One of these features is a common bolt action which was operated by a bar attached to a slide on the fore-end. For some time he had been working on ways to convert his basic lever action designs to function on what he termed the “Haveness” action (now known as the pump action). His patent no. 290,393 issued on Dec. 18, 1883 covered both a lever action design and an action with a sliding grip and trigger unit. In April of 1883 Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Ma. applied for a patent covering improvements to a pump action which he and Christopher M. Spencer had patented a year earlier on April 4, 1882 as no. 255,894. Andrew filed suit against Roper claiming that the patent applied for in April of 1883 was an infringement on his designs which he had perfected and which he claimed had been in production and for sale in his Owego, N. Y. shop prior to that. Andrew lost this case on the point that the April 1883 application was preceded by the patent no. 255,894 of April 4, 1882 which he could not contest.
Elmer Burgess in his 1965 Gun Digest article claims that Paul Mauser of Germany, and Josef Schulhof and Ferdinand Ritter Von Mannlicher both of Austria used features of Andrew’s patents in their successful designs, and that Mannlicher paid Andrew a royalty for the use of the 45 degree drop lock covered by the patents no. 213,866 of April 1, 1879, no. 216,080 of June 3, 1879, and no. 290,393 of Dec. 18, 1883. The model 85,1886, and 88 Austrian straight pull Army rifles do use a 45 degree drop lock which may have been taken from several of Andrew’s designs, but I cannot find evidence to support this claim.
During the mid and late 1880’s Andrew was developing ideas and applying for patents at a dizzying rate. It is at this time that he received the four double barrel patents that interest us. These patents were not for the usual double barrel as we know it. I quote from the first patent no. 357,459 of Feb.8, 1887 “My double-barreled magazine gun in which the left-hand side is a rifle, and its mechanism is operated by a rod which is attached to the breech, to couple it to the sliding guard. The right-side shotgun system is operated by a similar rod but extending forward to a lever or slide and I prefer to use the magazine under the barrel for shot cartridges. In this double magazine gun, it is necessary to operate the two systems by different actions to prevent the parts from interfering with each other, and I prefer to operate one side with the right hand from the rear of the breech mechanism and the other with the left by a grip forward of the frame.” The drawing shows a gun with two actions combined or attached side by side to each other. In the 1986 issue of the Gun Digest is an article about a burgess double barrel lever action gun which was probably a prototype model which appears to be quite similar to the above patent except for being lever instead of pump operated. Andrew was issued two other double barrel patents on that same day no. 357,518 was for various means of loading and cocking the gun, and an action where there were slides on both the grip and the fore-end and they were worked towards each other or in opposite directions. Andrew’s next patent was no. 357,519 which covered another double barrel design with an action which functioned on his sliding grip or “Haveness” action. It was a combination rifle-shotgun with a box magazine for the rifle, and a tubular magazine under the barrels for the shotgun. His fourth double barrel patent was no. 366,563 issued on July 12, 1887 for another sliding grip action with one common bolt for both barrels, and two hammers which are linked.
In late 1892 or early 1893 Andrew formed the Burgess Gun Co. and built a factory in Buffalo, N. Y. to manufacture his shotguns with the “Haveness” or pump grip. The incentive to set up business in Buffalo may have been the availability of Electric power being generated at Niagara Falls. In 1894 a Charles Loomis joined the company as a partner. This may have been Charles E. Loomis (1850- ) who was born in Mount Morris, N. Y. to Ephraim W. (1823- ) and Harriet P.(1825-) Loomis. Ephraim was listed in the 1860 U. S. Census as a Farmer and Gun Smith and would certainly have taught Charles some of the trade although this was still in the muzzle loading era. The Census figures show that Ephraim’s shop only used hand power but had a substantial output. I must state here that I could not find any information that would definitely link this Charles Loomis as Andrew Burgess’s partner. Elmer Burgess in his Gun Digest article states that a double barrel hammerless shotgun called the Loomis was produced in small numbers in the Burgess plant, but I have never heard of the existence of a single specimen.
The Burgess Gun Co. retained 3 well known shooters as salesmen to demonstrate the merits of the Burgess gun. They were E. A. Brininstool, Charles Dammon, and Brad Bartlett. Andrew had always tried to get large orders for his products from the U. S. Army but was always unsuccessful.
In 1895 he succeeded in getting an order for 100 of the folding Riot Guns from the New York State Prison System.
In the late 1890’s Andrew’s health began failing due to recurring bouts of the Roman fever which he had contracted on the 1870 Eclipse mission. He and Eudora bought property in St. Augustine, Florida where they spent their winters, and in 1899 he sold the Burgess Gun Co. to the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. After that time Andrew and Eudora alternated between winters in St. Augustine, and summers in Owego, N. Y. Andrew kept inventing and his last patent that I could find record of was no. 822,851 issued on June 5, 1906 for an automatic gun. Elmer Burgess makes the claim that Andrew and Eudora were often visiting Havana Cuba, and that Andrew could speak fluent Spanish. He also speculates that Andrew may have been involved in more espionage for the State Dept. before the start of the Spanish- American War. Andrew’s obituary stated that he was a “fluent Spanish scholar”.
James Serven in his American Rifleman article ( Andrew Burgess-Firearms Inventor) states that when in Florida, Andrew had a boat fitted up as his work shop and he would often cast off and head out to some isolated spot to work in quiet for the day.
Andrew had been ill for several years and was very much so in the fall of 1908 when he and Eudora went to their Florida residence, hoping that the milder climate would help him. At 7:00 in the evening of Dec. 19,1908 he passed away quietly in his home at 14 Bay St. of heart failure which resulted from other complications. The funeral service was held in the home, and his body was shipped back to Owego, N. Y. for internment.
After Andrew’s death Eudora continued to live in Owego, and when she died in 1926 she bequeathed a large collection of Brady and Burgess pictures to the Tioga County Historical Society where they were recently on display.
Elmer Burgess state that Andrew was issued 894 patents, Andrew’s obituary states that he was issued some 300 patents. The Burgess Gun Co. in Buffalo produced around 6,000 guns and it is unknown how many were produced in Owego, but many of these were probably one-of-a-kind prototypes made to test out the practicality of a design before applying for a patent. James Serven states that after many lean years Andrew was able in his later years to amass a small fortune. I am sure that during the 1870’s and 1880’s he was kept poor paying for all of the patents he applied for.
Andrew’s full measure of contributions to the field of firearms, and to the records of historical photographs of famous people and places may never be completely known by anyone other than himself and Eudora. His contributions to the Country in terms of intelligence relayed to the State Department I can only speculate at, but that would require interesting research in the Archives in Washington D. C.