Cornelius Iman

 Cornelius Iman was a gunsmith in Scheer, Grant County, in the mid- to late 1800s.  He was born in Pendleton County in 1830.  In 1853, he married Hannah Kimble.  In 1862, he joined the Union Army, 7th Regiment (The Bloody Seventh).  He was discharged a little over a year later due to illness.  He died in 1885 and is buried near Scheer.  This place is likely where he lived and practiced the gunsmith trade. 

In the 1850 Hardy County census, Cornelius is living at home with his parents.  Grant County was created from Hardy County in 1866. Hardy County was created from Hampshire County in 1786.  In the 1860 Hardy County census, Cornelius is listed as a gunsmith.  In the 1870 and 1880 Grant County census, he is listed as a gunsmith. 

We have not discovered who he learned the trade from, but his rifles tend to follow the style and architecture of Hampshire County rifles.  However, he did not strictly adhere to that school in all of his work. One thing unique to most Iman's rifles we have seen is the patchboxes of his own designs.  He did not use the typical acorn finial Hampshire County rifle of that era. His engraving was limited and straightforward. One thing he did repeat on his rifles was a single circle engraved around screw heads on the brass furnishings.  He liked using a two screw tang, which was not as common in this area as in other places. 

The following two-half-stock percussion rifles are attributed to Iman.  The first rifle has been in the same family since it was made.  This family lived in Scheer.  This rifle was made late in Iman's career, possibly as late as the 1880s.  The patchbox is crude, not nearly as neat as those on Iman's earlier rifles.  It is possible that this was a later addition. The two screw tang was used by Iman on all of his rifles I have seen to date; this was not typically used by other makers in this vicinity. The side plate is of a similar design to that used in the finial of the patchbox in some of his rifles. The profiles of the stock are nearly a duplicate to the Cornelius Iman rifle on page 136, Gunsmiths of West Virginia. Many of Iman's rifles employed this style, which is similar to that of the Hampshire County Rifles made after 1840.  The one thing that we have not seen on other rifles made by Iman is the long cheek piece. Hopefully, someone will have a signed Iman rifle with this same feature. This rifle has a beautiful black finish that has not been cleaned or disturbed. It is nice to see this, and I wish we saw more rifles being left in the black.  I am sure it provided much game for the family for many years. 

                                                      Page 136 Gunsmiths of West Virginia 

Patchbox from a signed Cornelius Iman rifle. 

          The second rifle, and the one below, is another half-stock percussion rifle that is attributed to Cornelius Iman.  This rifle features a nicely designed brass patchbox with five piercings. The capbox on the cheekside with the star piercing in the finial panel is a nice touch.  If you enlarge the brass furnishings on this rifle, you will notice Iman's straightforward and relatively simple engraving.  

                                                               Remnants of patch grease

                                                                                   

                                           Top panel of a patchbox from a signed Iman rifle
 

                                                                   Riddle Percussion lock

                                             For more on Corenlius and his rifles, Click Here

Also see Cornelius Edward Iman (1830-1885) - Find a Grave Memorial

Thanks to the owners of these rifles, who allowed us to share them with you. 

Thanks to James Whisker for allowing us to use his photos.

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Zebulon Sheetz

                                                                                     

Zebulon Sheetz was the youngest son of Henry Sheetz of Shepherdstown.  Henry and his brother Phillip were gunsmiths during the American Revolution.  Zebulon's brothers, Frederick, Otho, Thomas, & Henry Jr., were gunsmiths in Hampshire County beginning in 1793. In the town of Fort Ashby, present-day Mineral County. 

Zebulon worked with his brothers until about 1820, when he set up his own shop on Cold Stream Road near Capon Bridge. In 1835, he migrated to Monticello, Indiana, becoming one of the founders. Zebulon died there in 1868. 

                                                                                 

                                                       South Branch Intelligencer 1835

                                                          Also see Zebulon Sheetz

                      Thanks to Alan Wood Collection for use of the picture of Zebulon Sheetz

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Native American, Old Trapper Blanket Rifle

 “ Native American” guns—barrels shortened  &  brass tacks and straps of rawhide wrapped and bound around the wrist and the barrel & forestock.  Some of these are legit pieces of Native American or frontier usage.  Some of these are present-day embellishments added to a plain-looking or abused antique muzzle-loading gun to enhance their appeal to the Native American artifact collector.  Almost all of them are antique-manufactured arms.

It is a known fact that some  Native Americans decorated their rifles with brass tacks, as many original old photos show.  They also shortened their rifles as short rifles were much handier on horseback. 

Here is a percussion rifle made in Hampshire County in the mid-1800s. It has been shortened to an overall length of 30 inches, with a rifled .40 cal.  barrel reduced to  18 inches.  Hampshire County Rifles in unaltered conditions have barrels from 38 to 44 inches. The stock has been cut at the butt, and naturally, the forestock has been cut. 

                                                                         

                                                                            

This rifle originally had a standard percussion lock but was converted to this back-action percussion lock. Why? Was that back-action lock the only one they had?  Possibly at the same time, the barrel was cut at the breech.  The front sight and front ramrod pipe are in their original location. The muzzle has the original decoration as seen on many old longrifles. One thing of note is that this rifle has been shot a lot in this current shortened configuration, as the loss of steel and pitting on the barrel breech indicate much use of early corrosive percussion caps.  The rear sight would have been added after the barrel was shortened. That is possibly a later addition, as some historians claim Native Americans had little or no use of sights.  

                                                                                 

                                                                                

                                                                    

We pulled a tack to identify its period of manufacture. It is a mid-1800s brass tack.

The crudely made grease hole still has remnants of patch grease. The stock is broken all the way through at the center of the lock mortise. It is stabilized by the side plate, metal trigger guard, and a recently added metal strap under the lock. The trigger guard was hammered out of a piece of metal. The trigger appears to be forged. The wood added in front of the lockplate, covering the void in the original lock mortise, resulting from installing the back-action lock, could be a modern repair.

Was this rifle used by Native Americans or even a blanket rifle carried by some old-time trapper?  We will study this rifle more and get input from other American Long Rifle students before we conclude. One thing is for sure: this rifle has had years of hard use and abuse. When this little rifle left Hampshire County in the mid-1800s, it was a long, slender thing of beauty, proudly carried by one of our ancestors, similar to Evan P Ward rifle below. 

                                                                      

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   Folks may tire of the old adage, " If this gun could talk," so we changed it to " These guns do talk." 

                                             Hope you enjoyed this, John & Mark

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Relic Hampshire County Rifle

 If only it could speak, we would love to hear the story this mid-nineteenth-century Hampshire County relic could tell.

This piece was found near the Oregon Trail near Baker City, Oregon, in the 1950s. We don't know if the complete rifle or the stock was found. It is possible that the owner of this rifle was a pioneer from Hampshire County. However, Hampshire County Rifles were prevalent in the early to mid-1800s, so the original owner could have purchased it somewhere other than our county. 

We will let our imagination interpret this piece's journey. We know it completed a circle, leaving here in the 1800s and returning here to the county where it was created. 

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Jacob Ludwick

 Jacob Ludwick was a gunsmith in the Western part of Hampshire County, present-day Mineral County. The only record of him being a gunsmith is the 1860 Census for Ridgeville.  

                                                            1860 Hampshire County Census

Jacob was 21 years old at the time and lived with his parents, John and Sophia Ludwick. John and his family are recorded in the 1850 census of Shenandoah County, Virginia. In both records, Jacob's father, John, is listed as a millwright by trade. 

                                                                               

1850 Shenandoah County, Virginia 

While Jacob's immediate family migrated to Hampshire County in the 1850s, his grandfather, Jacob Ludwick, was there in the early 1800s. 

                                                                            

                                                      1830 Hampshire County Census

 The following percussion long rifle is Jacob's only known surviving rifle. This rifle has the typical Hampshire County architecture of a percussion rifle from that era. This is only the second Hampshire County Rifle we have seen utilizing a patent breech.  A few features we have not seen on other Hampshire County rifles are the extended breech tang with two screws and the stock secured to the barrel via screws instead of pins or wedges. The patchbox and capbox engraving look similar to Frederick Sheetz's. The gouging engraving was almost a trademark of some Hampshire County Sheetz rifle makers. It is possible that Jacob served his apprenticeship with one of them. 

What happened to Jacob after 1860 remains unknown to us. He probably served in the military during the Civil War. While searching the records, we found a couple Jacob Ludwicks from the surrounding area who served during the Civil War; however, their genealogy records do not match this Jacob Ludwick. Jacob Ludwick deserves additional study, and we desire more details on him. Hopefully, someone will have more information on him and share it with us. As with all our posts, we will edit as more factual information is revealed. 

                                                                                  

                                                                               

                                                                                    

                                                          Signed & Dated by Jacob Ludwick 

                                                                               

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