A Once Famous and Notable Cahokia Resident

Most of you are probably not aware but there was a most noted and celebrated gunsmith, Philip Creamer, who once lived on the Quarry Road outside Cahokia, Illinois (my home town) and was once known as “the most celebrated gunsmith in the west.” Following is a recorded account I have edited and a picture of the home that many of you will recognize and was taken apparently after the fire:


In the late 1790s, Philip Creamer was a trained gunsmith living in Taneytown, MD, where he built rifles in the famous Emmitsburg school style. Soon after settling the estate of his deceased father, around 1805, he relocated to the frontier region of St. Clair Co., IL, near St. Louis, MO. There he not only built and repaired guns for local settlers, but numerous account entries for his work are found in the ledgers of the influential trading firm Bryan & Morrison, which was located in nearby Cahokia, IL. This was the same outfitter who collaborated with and supplied Manuel Lisa’s 1807 expedition, and there is a strong possibility that some of the guns they provided Lisa were locally manufactured by Creamer. In fact, it is strongly believed that Creamer may have played a significant role in the initial design and development of what would become known as the famous St. Louis plains rifle especially because of his role in supplying firearms to some of the earliest Western expeditions.

By early 1809, William Morrison, co-owner of Bryan & Morrison, along with other prominent local citizens, including the fur traders Jean and August Chouteau, Ruben Lewis (the brother of Louisiana territorial governor Meriwether Lewis), and William Clark (U.S. Indian agent and Brigadier General of the Louisiana territorial militia), had joined Lisa in forming the Missouri Fur Company. At this time, Bryan & Morrison’s Cahokia store ledgers not only indicate that Creamer still made and repaired rifles for them, but that through them he was likely supplying rifles to the men of the Missouri Fur Company as well.

It was also during this time that Creamer made a brace of fancy pistols for William Morrison’s own personal use. As a trader with powerful Eastern connections, Morrison could have ordered pistols from virtually any maker he chose. The fact that he opted to arm himself with a set crafted locally by Creamer is a very strong endorsement of the gunmaker’s growing popularity and skill.

With such endorsements, Creamer’s reputation quickly spread throughout the frontier. It was soon a colloquialism that a man of dependable reputation and character was “as sure as a Creamer lock.” This in turn earned his work a special place in the hearts of gentlemen who were compelled to defend their own reputations on the field of honor. Men about to engage in such affairs were known to seek Creamer out beforehand so he could personally put their pistols “in the most perfect condition” for dueling.

Sometime, presumably between 1817 and 1824, a local collection was taken up and Creamer was persuaded to make a pistol for the then Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun. It’s a matter of record that Calhoun not only accepted the gift, but that he was so taken with its workmanship and quality that he wrote to personally inquire about Creamer and how he had learned to make pistols like that. Creamer absolutely refused to reply to Calhoun’s inquiry on the grounds that he was “no showman or stud-horse to be advertised.”

Calhoun would go on to serve two terms as the Vice President of the United States. First, in 1824, under John Quincy Adams, and again in 1828 under Andrew Jackson, so perhaps it is no coincidence that Old Hickory would have been familiar with Creamer’s work or that he would eventually come to own  a fine set of dueling pistols made by this celebrated gunsmith. Although Jackson’s set was eventually separated, one of the pistols made by Creamer is now in the possession of The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home and museum just outside Nashville, Tennessee.

This house was built by Creamer shortly after he arrived in Illinois from Taneytown, MD, in about 1806, and is where he and his family lived until about 1816. Their home was located just north of the small American bottoms town of Dupo, in St. Clair County, located about a mile southeast of Cahokia, IL. According to authors and Creamer researchers Curt Johnson and Victor Paul, the Creamer house in Dupo is built to nearly the same dimensions as similar houses in Taneytown. Remarkably, (as late as the 1990's) the building that originally housed Creamer’s gun shop also remained standing, although at some point it had been converted to a chicken coop.

Even after miraculously surviving the epic Mississippi River floods that inundated the region over the years, the Creamer house and gun shop seemed destined to rot and ruin, that is until they were obtained from the land owner and donated to the Lindenwood University and Historic Boonesfield Village, located in Defiance, MO. In 1997, the Village oversaw the careful and systematic dismantling of the buildings, and facilitated their relocation to Defiance where they will be reassembled and restored. Taking its place among the other historical restorations at the Village, the Creamer gun shop will once again be a working gun shop with a full time traditional gunsmith on site.

The surviving Jackson dueling pistol owned by The Hermitage outside Nashville, TN, is an outstanding example of Creamer’s mastery of the art of gunsmithing, and stands out as special even in that bygone age when all fine firearms and dueling pistols especially were held to the highest standards. It is also a sure bet that a man like Jackson would demand and be satisfied with nothing less than the absolute finest.

Andrew Jackson was President between the years of 1829-37 and the original Jackson dueling pistols made by Creamer were outfitted with the finest percussion locks. That’s because Creamer was one of the earliest frontier gunsmiths to specialize in making them and it’s probably no coincidence that another pair of local St. Louis gunsmiths, the Hawken brothers, were also known for their early use of and perfection of the percussion ignition system on both fancy pistols and their famous plains rifles.

In 1825, Philip Creamer returned to the east for a short time and worked at the Harpers Ferry Armory in West Virginia. Born in the town of Harpers Ferry, Jacob Hawken is also believed to have worked for the Armory from 1808 until 1816. Then Hawken went west and partnered with the St. Louis gunsmith James Lakenan, until 1825, when Lakenan died.

Relocating from Xenia, Ohio, Jacob’s brother, Sam, operated a separate and independent gun shop in St. Louis, until Lakenan died, and the two brothers entered into business partnership together. Though things would soon change, remember that at this time it was Philip Creamer who was considered to be “the most celebrated gunsmith in all the west,” not the Hawken brothers. In fact, it is believed that gun repair work was given to James Lakenan, Jacob Hawken, and then to J & S Hawken, by the American Fur Company, only because at the time there was no gunsmith at the Indian Department. Doubtless the Hawken brothers knew Creamer and his work, and likely benefited directly from his short absence.

In 1827, Creamer left the Armory and relocated to St. Louis where he was employed as the gunsmith for the newly opened St. Louis Superintendency for Indian Affairs until 1833. He remained in St. Louis until 1835 and operated his local civilian gun shop on Olive near Fourth. It is during this time that Creamer likely built Jackson’s dueling pistols. It is believed that Creamer died about 1846, but by then St. Louis boasted an influx of many fine gunsmiths, most of them following in the tradition established by Philip Creamer and popularized by the Hawken brothers.
 

My understanding is (according to the above article) that the outbuildings used by Creamer as his gun shops were reportedly purchased and moved to Defiance, Mo. However, I believe the house remained, was occupied and caught fire sometime about the late nineties but was not totally destroyed. I'm not sure about the remaining logs, etc. but I assume they were partially salvaged and the remainder burned. This is just one of the many sad stories concerning historic buildings in our area that we're not protected by the State of Illinois or any historic groups, most likely from a lack of funding or interest by state authorities.