This page is for miscellaneous bits and pieces related to the Vedder family that I could not really put into any particular place. They include two articles relating to Alexander Madison Vedder, who was a brother of Elihu the painter, and various patents filled out by John I Vedder and Dr. John J Vedder relating to a water elevator and a type of mouse trap.
An American in Japan
This article from the Archives of American Art Journal gives us an inside look on Alexander Vedder's visits to Japan at the crucial moments in the late 1860s, when Japan was starting to allow western visitors and started adapting to European ways. It is a series of letters in the Elihu Vedder Collection of the Smithsonian Art Archives written by Alexander Vedder.
Remarks on the Actual State of Medical Science in Japan
This article was written by Alexander Vedder for the January 1869 edition of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences featuring Alexander Vedder's observations of medical practices in Japan and the progress of modern medicine in 1860s Japan.
VEDDER PATENTS
John I Vedder 1848 Windlass Water Elevator Patent
John J Vedder 1848 Windlass Water Elevator Patent
These two inventions deal with windlass water elevators designed to improve the process of raising water from wells. John I Vedder filed his patent in February 1848 while his son John J Vedder made an improvement on it in October 1848.
John I Vedder 1852 Rat Trap Patent
This unusual rat trap is designed in a way so that after a rat is caught, the weight of the rodent causes the trap to re-set itself. I think this is rather cool.
VEDDER COURT CASES
Van Horne, Griffin & Co. vs. James W Henderson and Elihu Vedder
This case was regarding the construction of buildings on the property of Judge Henderson and Elihu Vedder. The appeal was dropped by the Florida State Supreme Court.
1854 RIFLE CHALLENGE
Nelson Lewis offers his challenge and Morgan James takes him up on his offer
Morgan James makes his reply to Lewis' acceptance
Nelson Lewis announces defeat and tries to account for it
Morgan James makes his retort of Lewis
Morgan James is not a Vedder cousin but is rather related through Eleanor Catherine James, John J Vedder's first wife. James was a well-known gunsmith from Utica who made high-quality sniper rifles for the Union soldiers during the Civil War. In the 1850s, there was a plethora of gun makers in the central New York area who struggled to compete against the cheaper mass-produced weapons starting to grab ahold of the market at this time. To promote their weapons, gun makers such as Nelson Lewis and Morgan James often held shooting competitions to showcase the accuracy of their weapons. The Lewis-James match was probably the most well known of these competitions. James won this match hands-down.
