The Häfner Family- Kassel, Hess

Compiled by Larry B. Schuknecht

The Häfner (Haefner) family of gunmakers has a long history in Kassel that is difficult to sort out and there may very well be errors in the following information. The Pape & Kellner archive states that the Valentin Häfner gun making firm was founded in 1804. It appears that the earliest Häfners were gun makers for the Hessen Military. The 1820 Handbuch des Kurchessischen Militair=Hof= und Civil=Staats records under the Regiment: Prinz von Selms– Büchsenmacher (gun maker): Wilhelm Häfner senior and Büchsenschafter (gun stocker): Valentin Häfner junior.

Traditionally German boys were named after grand fathers or fathers and this certainly becomes apparent when we study the Häfner family making it difficult to sort out generations. The main subject of this web page is the Valentin Häfner who passed away in 1924 and was the Gun Maker to the Royal Hessian Court. In the Summer 2010 issue of the German periodical Forum Wesertor is an article which goes into great detail about Valentin Häfner and his involvement with the Kassel (Cassel) Schützen Verein. From it we learn that The two gentlemen in the previous reference were Valentin- his Grandfather and Wilhelm- his Great Grandfather. His father was named Wilhelm and more about him later.

Valentin Häfner, the Gun Maker to the Royal Hessian Court was born in the 1840’s and was recorded with that Royal title as early as 1884. All records give his address as Frankfurter Str. 38, Kassel. He advertised often in the Deutscher Förster in the early 1920’s.

Valentin’s father Wilhelm was a Regimental Gun Maker who was born in 1826 and passed away in Feb. 1910.

Valentin, the Gun Maker to the Royal Court was born around 1847 and was skilled enough to produce a highly decorated shotgun which was given as a prize at the 1890 Berlin 10th Schützenfest. Valentin joined the Casseler Schützenverein in 1872. a few examples of his work shows that he often bought guns from other major makers like Mauser and probably Merkel to which he added his name and perhaps they were decorated with Engraving and Carving to his customer’s wishes. The April 25, 1924 issue of the periodical- Der Waffenschmied carried a Memorial to him which follows.

Following are a few images of a 98 Mauser sold by Valentin,

Valentin also sold loaded ammunition under his name, following is an example.