Jacob Hoak from Strasburg Pa.

[John Strong]

I posted this on the other form a while back and figured I would share on this one. These rifles were made by Jacob Hoak of Strasbourg PA. I had this display set up at a few shows earlier in the year. I believe he was born in 1864 or 1865 and he died in 1831. In researching Hoak, I have seen his will and multiple tax records on him. I found one tax record listing him as a gunsmith in the 1780's and all of the others are after 1800. Some sources claim that he made 68 gun locks for the Committee of Saftey during the Revolution. I don't believe it is the same Jacob Hoak. He would have been somewhere between 11 and 14 when those locks were made and there are several Jacob Hoaks including possibly an uncle with the same name. If anyone has any information on Jacob Hoak, I'd love to see it. I am trying to figure out who he apprenticed with. It appears that he may have had some ties to Issac Haines. Any info you may have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Isn't their some info available in Shumway books?

 

[John Strong]

Isn't their some info available in Shumway books?

Mike,
Surprisingly, there is not much information on Hoak. I've looked in Kaufman's, Shumway's, and Kendigs's books and found that most of the information is the same. I have some information from the Lancaster County Historical Society and have seen some of the tax records for Strasburg. I still need to look through the tax records for Lampeter Township sometime. Most books say that he worked in Lancaster and then moved to Strasburg and only list the date of his death. I ended up finding some information like a birth date and some census on Ancestry.com once I found out who is father was. Believe it or not, Ancestry.com even has him listed US craftsperson files from 1600-1995. I kind of suck at doing research, but I have found nothing showing him in Lancaster. I was hoping to find some kind of tie between him and Issac Haines. When one compares the Mahogany Haines to the Walnut Hoak, I feel that there had to be some association. Who knows, maybe Hoak made the mahogany rifle as it is unsigned and attributed to Haines. Guess will never know!