Introduction: This project includes individuals who may have been incorrectly identified as a gunsmith, to promote additional investigation. Henry Piper may fall in this category.
1820: I did not find Henry Piper in a transcript of the 1820 census of Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
1828-1829: In the section on Bedford County gunsmiths, the 1983 booklet "Gunsmiths and Gunmakers of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania 1770-1900" by the Whiskers lists Henry Piper in the borough of Bedford from 1828 to 1829. The authors of the 1983 booklet did not include Henry Piper in their 1991 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties" or in their 2017 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford County, Pennsylvania". He is also not included in the 2001 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford, Fulton, Huntingdon, & Somerset Counties" by Whisker & Yantz. It is unfortunate that the reason Henry Piper was not included in post-1983 Whisker publications was not documented. To me, the omission suggests they had a change of opinion on the matter. Henry Piper was also omitted from the 2008 edition of Sellers' compendium "American Gunsmiths".
1830: A Henry Piper household appears in the Bedford township portion of the 1830 census records of Bedford County, Pennsylvania with one male and two females in the up to five years age group,one male and two females in the five to ten age group, and one male and one female in the 20 to 30 age group.
1840: I did not find Henry Piper in a transcript of the 1840 census of Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
