Has anyone heard of a rifle company called Belknap from the early to mid 1800s?

Belknap (Loiusville, Ky) is the hardware store you're looking for. It was made by either Savage or Springfield (owned by Savage) and store branded with the name Belknap Hardware. (I've never personally seen a rifle from that store chain NOT made by Savage or Springfield, but I've just been told there might have been one made by Hopkins and Allen. No idea if that's correct, though.)

You can post a pic here and we can tell you which model you have or you can try http://gunbroker.com/ and search on "Savage bolt action" and find it that way. Either way, once you find the real maker, ie Savage or Springfield, do a completed search on gunbroker to see the latest prices they're going for and subtract $30 and you'll have your approx value. Savage store brands go for about $30-50 less than Savage-branded guns.

And it's early to mid 1900's....in the early to mid 1800. there was no such thing as a bolt action cartridge firing rifle. ;)

Belknap Hardware

I can't find anything on Belknap. However, if you google Belknap you find a couple returns for shotguns. I hope this helps.

This is an auction on gunbroker.com for a Belknap shotgun.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item...

I THINK THEY WERE MADE BY SAVAGE YOU MIGHT LOOK IT UP THROUGH THEM