A Family Heirloom

Henry's Powder Horn

Hand-lettered with a name and a date: “Henry J. Krotzer, 26 Sept 1833.” That's Henry's exact birthdate — making this the closest thing in the family's collection to a signed object. It has been kept alongside the Krotzer saw for as long as anyone remembers, two heirlooms handed down the same line of hands.

Henry J. Krotzer's powder horn
Hand-lettered

A name, and a date that checks out

The label reads “Henry J. Krotzer, 26 Sept 1833” — and that date matches, precisely, the birthdate on record for Henry J. Krotzer, the Union soldier of Company F, 67th Pennsylvania Infantry who carries this family's direct line through the Civil War. Someone, at some point, wanted to make sure this particular object would always be known as his — though whether Henry lettered it himself or a later descendant added the tag in his memory isn't something the record settles.

Close-up of the hand-lettered tag reading Henry J. Krotzer, 26 Sept 1833
Kept Together

Found Alongside the Saw

The horn has traveled with the family saw for as long as anyone remembers — two objects, one man's name on each, passed down together rather than separately. See the saw's own six generations of carved initials on its page.