This pocket knife was manufactured in Sheffield England specifically for export to the States from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century and is known as a "Barlow" after one of the earliest and most famous makers.
The knife was made by Luke Furnace of Stannington, which in the eighteenth century was a small village on the outskirts of Sheffield. Luke Furnace's name occurs in the Sheffield directories from 1774 and 1787, but not in the 1797 directory, so he was presumably dead by then. He probably adopted the mark "1760" because that was the year he obtained the freedom of the Cutler's Company. The original Barlow, after whom the knives are named, was working in Sheffield at the same time as Luke Furnace.
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Prior to the Battle of Trenton on Christmas eve, 1776, John Schneider was employed by the Continental Army as a wagon driver Since he also recruited other drivers, in modern terms, he would be viewed as a contractor to see that supplies were delivered where needed.
The record states that John Schneider ran a wagon supply route between Easton and Trenton. The fact that John Schneider was at the Washington Crossing is verified by the ancestral account as well as the historical account.
As with any military operation, careful planning is required prior to any military operation. It is inconceivable that George Washington and his men approached the Battle of Trenton with no planning and no preparation. Such an assumption would conclude that Washington and his officers were grossly incompetent. That the operation was successful attests to overall careful planning. We believe that John Schneider worked under the command of a Continental Army officer in charge of gathering supplies at Easton prior to the Trenton campaign.
With this in mind, John Schneider was commissioned to gather supplies at Easton and see that they were delivered to a point north of Trenton on or before Christmas eve, 1776. John Schneider most likely was the recruiting agent for both teamsters and boatmen. The supplies were most likely loaded on boats at Easton and floated down river to a pre-arranged docking point. John Schneider and his teamsters were waiting at this rendezvous point to unload the supplies into the wagons in preparation for the trip to Trenton. When all was in readiness, the unloaded boats were used to ferry Washington and his officers across the river. In this view of history, it was most likely that most of Washington's troops had already gathered on the east side of the river and most likely had helped in transferring supplies from the boats to the wagons.
As a supply contractor for the Continental Army, John most likely accompanied the officer who reported to General Washington on the supply operation and was at the final strategy meeting between Washington and his officers. It was here, at this final strategy session, that John used Washington's knife to make a warming fire for Washington and his officers. The fact that Washington could not remember what he had done with his knife is understandable when one realizes how preoccupied he must have been at this final gathering before making the fateful decision to proceed against the Hessians at Trenton.
We can further surmise that the strategy meeting was held just prior to Washington's crossing and that John Schneider crossed the river with the supply officer who briefed Washington and his officers on the success of the supply operation. The logic for this argument is based on the reasoning that Washington would have been foolish to cross the Delaware River without assurance of the successful completion of logistical support plans. It also supports the story told by my Great Aunt that John Schneider crossed the Delaware River with George Washington. The conclusion, based on the evidence, is that John Schneider played an important role leading to the Battle of Trenton and had the unique opportunity of having been in contact with George Washington and thus had the opportunity to have acquired his knife for the purpose stated.
This story of John Schneider is based on evidence taken from military files and even though it is only a story, the reconstruction of events points to the story as an accurate and true account. That the record places John Schneider in this locale prior to the battle of Trenton is an amazing confirmation of the knife's history.
BERNARD LEVINE - Renowned knife expert had this to say about this Barlow knife.
Thank you very much for sending the enlarged photographs of your 1760 Furnace/Furness
barlow knife. They are more than adequate for identification purposes.
From these photographs I conclude that your knife certainly could date from the latter part of the 18th century, and in any case was almost certainly made before 1840, and very likely before the War of 1812. I know of no way to date this knife more accurately than "after 1760 but before about 1840."
The knife has the following features that firmly place it in the late 18th to early 19th century period:
Although this knife has been sharpened many times, it is nonetheless unusually good condition for a knife of its age. (Original document available upon request.)
MOLLY PEARCE - Keeper of Applied Arts had these comments about the knife.
I was very interested indeed to see the photographs of your pocket knife. This is a nice early example of a "Barlow" knife of the type beloved by generations of American boys, and distinguishable by the long bolster. They were made in Sheffield specifically for export to the States from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century and are known as "Barlows" after one of the earliest and most famous makers. There are very few examples in England and the museum only has two or three in the collection.
Your knife was made by Luke Furnace of Stannington, which in the eighteenth century was a small village on the outskirts of Sheffield, but is now a suburb of the city. Luke furnace's name occurs in the Sheffield directories from 1774 and 1787, but not in the 1797 one, so he was presumable dead by then. He probably adopted the mark "1760" because that was the year he obtained the freedom of the Cutler's Company. The original Barlow after whom the knives are named was working in Sheffield at the same time as Luke Furnace.
I hope you don't mind but I have sent two of your superb photographs to Mr. D. J. Smith, 133 Crookes, Sheffield S10 1UD. He is doing some research on the Stannington cutlers, and so I hope in return he will send you a copy of his article when it is published. (Original document available upon request.)
MILDRED W. RAKUS - Washington Crossing Park Commission
At last, a chance to answer your letter regarding George Washington and the penknife.
Yes, the letter is noted in the Writings of Washington from the Original Sources 1745-1799, John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor Volume 16 - July 29, 1779 - October 20, 1779. Please note, the letter was addressed to Major General Greene. There is no doubt about it belonging to Washington but as far as being with him in the Crossing - that was in 1776 three prior. Possibly he could have had it with him but there is nothing recorded as to what personal belonging he took with him, nor who was with him in the boat. One thing we do know, Flexner mentions Washington being in the third boat at that historical Crossing.
Thanks for the lovely pictures of the knife. They will be entered in our Vertical File with due credit given you as the donor.
Enclosed is a copy of the article from the Writings. As for Schoppe, to date I have not uncovered that name but believe me I'll put that on my list and so many times while working with a researcher a name will surface that we had been hunting.
Once again, many, many thanks for the pictures of the knife. If we can be of any more help, please ask. (Original document available upon request.)
COLUMBUS DISPATCH - Article from January 16, 1997 Section A, Pg 2, Columbus, Ohio
A letter written by George Washington asking for replacement of a lost penknife has been discovered in the attic of an old Florence S.C., home. The one-page letter, dated October 7, 1779, was found by David Williamson January 6 while cleaning the attic of his father's 19thcentury house. It was authenticated by Dr. William Burns, director of the Florence County Museum. "I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it," Williamson said Saturday. There was no envelope with the letter when Williamson found it folded inside a book entitled, "A History of Nathaniel Greene." The letter reads: "Dear Sir; I have lost and cannot tell how an old favourite penknife and am much distressed for want of one -- If you have any in your store please to send me one -- If you would be so good as to get me one immediately -- Perhaps you could furnish me with a knife with two blades. I should prefer this where choice can be had. Yr Most Obed, G. Washington." (Original document available upon request.)
THE ADVOCATE - January 1, 1990, Newark, Ohio. Article by KATHY WESLEY
GRANVILLE -- Victor Carlson can hold history in his hands. Two and a half inches of sharpened steel can take him back 200 years.
It's Christmas Day, 1776. George Washington's Continental Army has retreated across New Jersey after a demoralizing defeat at the hands of British generals at the Battle of Long Island. He waits at the banks of the Delaware River for the boats that will take him and 2,400 of his troops across the stream to mount an attack on the Hessian mercenaries garrisoned at Trenton.
In the boat are a few of the revolutionaries who hadn't deserted the colonial army at its hour of need. The crossing is perilous in the growing darkness and driving snow, but otherwise uneventful.
On the other side, a young soldier named John Schneider is ordered to gather kindling wood to make a warming fire. Having no knife to cut the wood, he asks the general if he can borrow one for the purpose. From his pocket Washington draws a knife with an inlaid bone handle and gives it to the soldier. The deed is done, but in the confusion of planning for battle the knife never returns.
At least, that is the story Victor Carlson's great aunt told him 52 years ago, when she opened up his 14-year-old palm and placed the knife in it.
"She was an older lady who lived by herself...and I'd go down to her house every weekend to bring wood in and do various chores for her," he said.
One particular day she asked him into the house, and sat him down on the sofa before telling him John Schneider's story.
She said the knife -- and Schneider's story -- had been passed down through her family for generations, and the knife used to be exhibited at state and county fairs in their home state of Pennsylvania along with an affidavit signed by Schneider himself attesting to its authenticity.
The affidavit had long since been lost, but great-aunt Annie Tschoppe Hamilton had become keeper of the tradition and wanted "somebody trustworthy" to hand it down.
Carlson says she couldn't have chosen less wisely. "I was dumber than a box of rocks about that knife.," Carlson says. "I carried it in my pocket everywhere I went...and cut trees with it, and whittled balsa wood airplanes with it... it's a wonder I didn't lose it.
Eventually, though, he put it away for safekeeping. He didn't take it along when he went into the Air Force in World War II and learned to fly fighter planes.
When he returned and married and started working in the gas and oil industry, he gradually gained a greater reverence for the knife and began to wonder about its origins. Was great-aunt Annie's story true? Or just a family fiction?
Writing to historians became a sort of hobby. But nothing turned up a solid lead. Nothing, that is, until he got the letter from Sheffield, England in 1976, confirming that the knife was one of many made there in the late 1700's specifically for export to the colonies, and that the blade's 1760 date and trademark tied it to master knife maker Luke Furnace.
That placed the knife in Washington's time. But who could place it in his hands?
No one's been able to do that yet, but Carlson was encouraged. In 1977, a letter from Washington to another revolutionary war general, dated 1779, was found in a South Carolina attic: "Dear Sir: I have lost and cannot tell how, an old and favorite penknife and am much distressed for want of one; if you have any in your stores please send one, and if you have not, be so good as to get one immediately."
That, and Annie Hamilton's story, was all the proof Mildred Rakus needed. The librarian at Washington Crossing Historical Park wrote in a January 1989 letter to Carlson "there is no doubt that (the knife) belonged to Washington."
Carlson already has plans to pass the knife on to his son Gary. The story's already been told, and committed to paper, as well.
And in a way, for them, it's just as much a part of history as anything in books, and perhaps is a touch more real. Before there were books, after all, there was the history delicately held in the spoken word and staunchly protected by the families who repeated it.
Barlow pocket knife. I was informed as to the following:
1. At the time of the Delaware Crossing, John Schneider was employed by the Continental Army as a Teamster, running supplies between Easton and Trenton.
2. John Schneider recruited other Teamsters and likely worked as a contractor for the
Continental Army which places him at the Delaware Crossing on Christmas eve, 1776.
Not having known any of these facts beforehand, other than the story told by my great Aunt in
1936, is it strange that all the evidence points to the story being true? I did not know that anyone
would be able to trace the Knife's antiquity back to Washington's time. I did not know that John
Schneider was a teamster and that he could be placed at the Delaware Crossing. I did not know
my lineage back to John Schneider. All of these improbable circumstances point to the truth
concerning the knife. Circumstantial evidence is enough to convict someone of a crime.
Circumstantial evidence points overwhelmingly to the knife as having belonged to George
Washington.
At the present time, the second line of descent linking my ancestors to John Schneider is not clear but the investigation is continuing. I have no doubt that the answers will be found and hopefully something turns up in the records that verify the knife's history. As an artifact, the knife is very valuable being the world's oldest Barlow and one of its kind. As an historical artifact the knife is priceless.
If you would like more information, please email me at: gcarlson@nextek.net or fax at
614-587-4663. Please include your email address so that I may reply. Comments and additional
information on genealogy would be greatly appreciated.
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