Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson formed a firearms manufacturing partnership in Springfield, Massachusetts, that held many patents in the mid-1800s. They produced a variety of rifles, pistols, and revolvers. The Smith & Wesson.22 caliber revolver became a worldwide success.

Smith, born in Cheshire, Massachusetts, moved to Springfield at the age of four, and upon completing his public school education, joined his father working in the United States armory as an apprentice. Through his early career, he worked his own gun-manufacturing business, as well as producing pistols and tools for the manufacture of rifles for other companies. He patented an improvement on the breech-loading rifle in 1851, a year before he met Wesson through their work at Allen, Brown, and Luther rifle barrel manufacturers.

Wesson was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was the son of a farmer and manufacturer of wooden plows. He attended public school until he was...