This story of the Catterfeldt family was gleaned from the genealogical web site- Geni which was managed by Ellie Kilker in 2017 and also from material found in Section 4- Directory of Makers & Tradesmen compiled by Jesse Thompson in the book Alte Scheibenwaffen, Volume 2 published by Tom Rowe. To simplify the following I have broken it down into generations.
Generation 1
The Catterfeldt family of gun makers has a long history in Mehlis and later in Zella-Mehlis going back to 1865. The family originally came from Sättelstadt, Germany where we find the birth of George Heinrich Friedrich Catterfeldt on Feb. 21, 1772. He worked as a Barber and passed away in Mehlis on Feb. 23, 1853. George H. F. Catterfeldt was married three times to Anna Margarethe Oehring, Barbara Margarethe Motz and Regina Dorothea Burkhard. He had seven children, the following son founded the Catterfeldt gunmaking business.
Generation 2
Johann Carl Catterfeldt– Born in Mehlis on July 6, 1822 and died there on Jan. 24, 1888, he was married to Katharine Marie Anschutz. He was a Gun Maker and the father of Ludwig, Hugo and Otto who followed in their father’s occupation. He also had a daughter- Luise (b. July 25, 1862) who married August Anschutz who founded and operated a Gingerbread Factory in Zella-Mehlis in 1875. Johann started his gun making business in 1865.
Below is a patent issued to Johann Carl Catterfeldt shortly before his death in 1888.
Generation 3
Hugo Catterfeldt– the oldest of the three sons who followed their father Johann Carl in the Mehlis gun trade, he was born on June 9, 1853. He was located at Hauptstrasse 218 in 1897/98 and he was documented as being a Rifle maker. This may have been the address of his father’s shop as his brother Ludwig also was listed as working there as a Rifle maker in 1897/98. Ludwig and Hugo were jointly issued D.R.G.M. no. 66149 for a spring powered extractor. Hugo had a son- Albert who died in 1902.
Ludwig Catterfeldt– The middle son of Johann Carl, he was born on Dec. 9, 1855 and was married to Emilie Burger. They had four sons- Karl, Heinrich, Fritz and Ernst. In 1897/98 Ludwig was located at 218 Hauptstrasse, Gothaerstrasse 41 around 1912, in 1925 to 1929 on Hauptstrasse and on Gildmeisterstrasse 1 in 1936. His son Karl joined his father in running the firm around the time of the 1st World War. The best years of the firm were in the 1920’s and 1930’s as makers of Hunting and target rifles, Zimmerstutzen and small caliber bolt action rifles but by 1943 the business had closed. Ludwig had four D.R.G.M.’s, no. 66149 for a single shot action with his brother Hugo, no. 127903 for a Zimmerstutzen action, no. 428635 of 1909 for a Vertical Block (single shot rifle action) and no. 460799 of March 13, 1911 for a Diopterschiebe.
Below is an advertisement from a Dec. 10, 1906 issue of Der Waffenhandler
Below is another advertisement from the March 10, 1913 issue of Der Waffenschmied
Below is an advertisement showing Ludwig’s trade name- “Luca”
Otto Catterfeldt– The youngest son of Johann Carl, he was born on Nov. 19, 1857. He is recorded as being a gun maker in 1875/76 and had a shop at Bahnhofstrasse 28 around 1936.
Generation 4
Heinrich Catterfeldt– The son of Ludwig he is listed as a Kaufman and later (perhaps concurrently) a Gunsmith- Mühlstraße 17, Zella-Mehlis, circa 1924 to around 1936.
Karl Catterfeldt– Born on June 11, 1886 and died on Dec. 31, 1948 in Mehlis he worked with his father- Ludwig and around the time of the 1st World War began taking an active part in it’s operation, eventually taking it over completely. He was married to Ernistine Wagner and they had three sons- Otto (b. March 6, 1910 ), Herman (b.-Nov. 26,1911 ) and Fritz (b.- Feb. 4, 1919). It is not known at this time if any of the three sons worked at Gun Making.
I have never seen an image of or heard of a gun marked as made by any of the Catterfeldt’s. It is possible that they were gun makers to the trade, in other words They were wholesaler’s who’s guns were unmarked and sold to retailers and other so called gun makers to have their names applied.
In the 1938 J. G. Anschutz catalog we find images of four handguns which shows an intertwined CAT trademark which I, for now, believe was used by one of the Catterfeldts. The four handguns fit the type of firearms that I believe were made by one or several of them.
If you have information about this family or any of the guns they made, please contact me.
