This Day in History: Oliver Winchester is Born

By Logan Metesh

Boston, MA – -(Ammoland.com)- On November 30, 1810, Oliver Fisher Winchester was born in Boston, Massachusetts. The only son of Samuel and Hannah (Bates) Winchester, Oliver, primarily grew up without a father since Samuel passed away just four months after he was born. His mother never remarried.

While he would eventually go on to great success, making his family name known the world over, it was far from predetermined. Oliver spent some time working as a carpenter and then managed a men’s clothing company. By 1848, he was self-employed and running his own men’s dress shirt manufacturing company.

Never one to pass up an excellent opportunity, he scraped together some money and bought a controlling share of the struggling Volcanic Repeating Arms Company in 1857. Purchased from two other men whose names would be known the world over Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson. Eventually, the company was relocated, and the name was changed to reflect this, becoming the New Haven Arms Company.

The two best things to come out of Winchester’s newly purchased …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand