Coach Making

Adam spent the years after the war (and probably a few before them as well) as a coach, or carriage maker. According to William Felton's "A Treatise on Carriages" most coach makers of that time were actually harness makers, but unfortunately there is really no way to know what exactly Adam made (Felton).

Before the war, the East Coast carriage makers were among the best in America but after the war, that title moved to the carriage makers of the Midwest, which while there is no information on when Adam went to Indiana, it is possible he went out there for work if that is where many of the best coach makers were.

Adam most likely would have started his work as a coach maker as an apprentice under a relative for three to five years, as that was German custom. Most carriage makers would specialize in either woodworking, painting, or doing trimming, though some craftsmen would do all three, it is unknown which, if any, Adam specialized in. 

As time passed, particularly after Adam got out of the military, carriages got more and more complicated and thus carriage makers became more and more reliant on local blacksmiths, which became even more true around the time that Adam would retire from the profession due to his rheumatism (Kinney)