“I have laid aside business and gone a-fishing.”
Izaak Walton, “The Compleat Angler” (1653)
Samuel Phillippe of Easton loved fishing. That no one could deny. Born in Reading in August 1801, he left it for the Delaware River town around 1813, which makes him about 12. Some sources already have him as a gunsmith, others suggest he was a little older. But no one could deny he was a natural tinkerer, a particular species of 19th century American. He even managed to tinker his way into making violins…