1860 J.H. Boring Claysburg PA Gunsmith Letter – Prof Brim Rainsburg Seminary For Sale

Offered here is an original February 6, 1860 autograph letter signed “J. H. Boring,” written from Claysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania, to B. F. Haldeman.

This is an especially interesting piece of pre-Civil War central Pennsylvania manuscript history because the writer is attributed to J. H. Boring, the 19th-century Claysburg-area gunsmith associated with surviving Pennsylvania rifles, while the letter also mentions “Prof. Brim,” strongly corresponding with educator and Methodist minister William Wallace Brim (1827–1874), principal of nearby Rainsburg Seminary.

The letter captures Boring at an intriguing point in his early working life. He is negotiating the salary and conditions of an unspecified “situation,” tells Haldeman that he will accept if the terms are agreeable, and sends along a recommendation from Professor Brim that he had received upon leaving school.

Claysburg Feby 6 1860

Mr B F Haldeman

Sir after taking into consideration the business which we were talking about on last Saturday I have come to the conclusion to write you. As respects the salary I cannot just say what would be sufficient. But do you write and let me know what you will give, or what conditions you will agree to, and if they are such as I can stand, or comply with, I will willingly accept the situation.

As you have had no reference to my personal character I here send you a recommendation from Prof Brim — which I received at the time I left School.

I will be down on next Saturday, or the week following.

Yours With Respect
J. H. Boring

J. H. Boring is associated with the Claysburg, Pennsylvania school of 19th-century gunsmithing, part of the celebrated Bedford/Blair County tradition of hand-built Pennsylvania rifles.

Surviving rifles attributed to Boring are known with the “J.H. BORING” name marking on their barrels. He worked during the percussion era, when the traditional Pennsylvania longrifle was evolving into shorter and often half-stocked percussion hunting rifles while retaining the individual craftsmanship of the earlier longrifle tradition.

Claysburg sat within one of Pennsylvania's important regional gunmaking areas. Bedford and neighboring Blair County craftsmen developed recognizable regional forms characterized by slender architecture, distinctive stock profiles and individualized metal furniture.

This letter is dated 1860, immediately before the Civil War and within the same Claysburg community associated with Boring's gunmaking activity. Particularly interesting is that the document concerns employment and dates from what appears to have been an early stage of Boring's working life.

The letter itself does not identify the occupation being offered, and no claim is made that the “situation” discussed with Haldeman involved gunsmithing. The identification of the signer with the Claysburg gunsmith is based upon the unusual combination of the J. H. Boring name and Claysburg provenance and is presented as an attribution.

The “Prof Brim” mentioned by Boring is strongly identified with William Wallace Brim, an educator and Methodist clergyman active only about twenty miles from Claysburg during precisely this period.

Brim was born in Henrietta, Monroe County, New York, in 1827. As a young man he worked on a farm and was apprenticed to a turner before pursuing an education and entering the Methodist ministry.

He attended Wyoming Seminary and later graduated A.B. from Dickinson College in 1857. Dickinson's historical records confirm Brim as a member of its Class of 1857.

Following graduation, Brim became principal of Rainsboro/Rainsburg Seminary in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He subsequently became a member of the East Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He later served as principal of Jonesville Seminary in New York, and in 1864 moved to Lockport, New York, where he entered business. He died there in 1874.

The connection is particularly compelling because Boring explicitly writes:

“I here send you a recommendation from Prof Brim — which I received at the time I left School.”

Rainsburg Seminary was geographically close to Claysburg, and Brim's tenure there coincides with the period immediately preceding this February 1860 letter. This makes William Wallace Brim and Rainsburg Seminary a strong candidate for the professor and school referenced by Boring, although the surviving letter identifies him only as “Prof Brim.”

The recipient is addressed simply as “Mr B F Haldeman.” Regional research points toward Benjamin F. Haldeman, a member of the extensive Pennsylvania Haldeman family network.

The manuscript establishes that Haldeman had previously met with Boring and was in a position to determine the salary and conditions of the proposed employment. Boring expected to travel to see him again the following Saturday or the week afterward.

Research has also identified men named Benjamin/B. F. Haldeman in contemporary Pennsylvania records, including connections with regional transportation, commerce and Civil War-era activity. However, the surviving letter does not provide enough information to establish which Benjamin F. Haldeman was the recipient with certainty. Accordingly, those broader associations are not presented here as proven biography.

This is much more than a routine business note. It provides a small but unusually personal window into education, employment and skilled working life in rural central Pennsylvania immediately before the Civil War.

Boring does not simply ask for a job. He negotiates. Rather than naming his own salary, he asks Haldeman to make an offer:

“let me know what you will give, or what conditions you will agree to”

He then supplies what amounted to a 19th-century professional reference—a written testimonial from his former professor concerning his “personal character.”

The combination of Claysburg provenance, the J. H. Boring signature, the gunsmith attribution, the probable William Wallace Brim/Rainsburg Seminary connection, and excellent employment-related content makes this an unusual piece of Blair/Bedford County history with crossover interest to collectors of Pennsylvania longrifles, American gunsmiths, Pennsylvania history, early education, occupational manuscripts, Methodist history and pre-Civil War Americana.

Original manuscript with expected age toning, foxing, staining, folds and edge wear. There is separation/splitting along portions of the old folds and other age-related wear visible in the photographs. Handwriting remains quite strong and readily legible.

Please examine all photographs carefully for the exact condition.

An excellent research piece associated with the Claysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania gunsmithing tradition, dated just one year before the outbreak of the American Civil War.