By Linda Stewart, 19 June 2019
The profession of a blacksmith has a very old and interesting history. It has been in existence since the early beginning of humanity. In the book of Genesis 4:22, Tubal-Cain, the 7th generation from Adam and Eve’s son Cain, was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron (ESV) or an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron (KJV). The first iron used for forging was meteoric iron, a metal found in meteorites made from iron and nickel.
History author Sarah Pruitt, wrote in her article Researchers Say King Tut’s Dagger Was Made From a Meteorite, “Most archaeologists agree that the handful of iron objects that have been found from Egypt’s Old Kingdom (third millennium B.C.) were probably produced from meteoric metal, a substance the Egyptians of Tut’s era reverently called “iron from the sky.” Researchers from Polytechnic University of Milan, the University of Pisa in Italy and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo led the new study, which compared the iron of the blade found in Tut’s tomb with 11 meteorites that fell within a radius of 1,250 miles. Made of mostly iron, plus 10.8 percent nickel and 0.58 percent cobalt, the blade matched up closely with the meteorite known as Kharga, which was discovered near Marsa Matruh in 2000.” To read the full article and see a picture of the beautiful dagger see https://www.history.com/news/researchers-say-king-tuts-dagger-was-made-from-a-meteorite
Charles James Cook Paschall, as well as his son, John Columbus Paschall; his brothers, William Thomas Paschall and Dennis Potter Paschall; his brother-in-law, Henry D. Jones; his sister, Mary Francis’s son-in-law, Franklin Augustus Hamer Sr., were all blacksmiths. Wrought iron and some steel iron would be the metals used by these men. A blacksmith shop was necessary for every rural community. In the spring of 1855, James set up a shop in Veal’s Station, Parker Co., TX. In 1862, he enlisted in Hardeman’s Cavalry, First Regiment, Arizona Brigade, Thirty-first Cavalry. The Confederate armies were employing blacksmiths to shoe horses and repair equipment. In 1863, a letter was written from the Captain of the First Regiment, to the Colonel of the Brigade, requesting that James receive a discharge citing the reason that he was the only blacksmith in the large farming community of Veal’s Station. His discharge was granted.
The Paschall men continued the blacksmith trade throughout their lives.