[by Fred Lynch in Norwich, Connecticut]
It must have been an odd transition for the Lynches to relocate from farming the oceanfront bog lands of Cahersiveen, Kerry, Ireland, to the factory life in the small industrial city of Norwich, Connecticut, in the 1800s. Among the places that my ancestors worked, was here, at the big now-empty firearms factory downtown. Connecticut has a long history of gun manufacturing—Colt, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, and Sharps are some famous examples. In Norwich, John Lynch and his son Jeremiah worked for the fast-growing Hopkins & Allen Company for many years. According to town directories, John worked in the “pistol shop” as a molder. The gunslinger Jesse James owned a Hopkins & Allen revolver, but it was made before my Irish ancestors got involved. Back then, there were a number of firearms companies in Norwich, so you could say there were guns all over town—perhaps especially in 1905 when this factory’s entire inventory was stolen from its warehouse.
