Adam Greenawalt was born in Pendleton County in 1799. Adam was the son of George Greenawalt and Barbra Lough. Adam married Mary Ann Sites in 1829.
We were excited to see this flintlock rifle attributed to Adam Greenawalt. It could easily pass for one made by the Evick's of Franklin, Pendleton County. We have not yet found any records that reveal where Adam learned the gunsmithing trade, but this rifle is a pretty good indicator that he may have worked with Adam Evick. Greenawalt is listed as a gunsmith in the 1850 & 1870 census. He was probably making rifles as early as the 1820s. The Greenawalts had a son, Jacob, born in 1832, who served in the 46th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War. We have not found any information on Jacob working as a gunsmith.
While we have seen at least a dozen rifles made by the Evicks, this is the first rifle made by Adam Greenawalt we have seen. This flintlock rifle is stocked in beautiful tiger-striped maple and has a 44-inch long barrel rifled in 36 caliber. Has an engraved brass patch box with a push button lid release at the toe of the rifle. Engraved brass sideplate and toeplate. There is decorative engraving on top of the barrel surrounding the rear & front sight. There is also punch mark decor at the muzzle surrounding the bore. The rifle is signed on top of the barrel A G between the rear sight & breech.
We hope that more rifles signed by Adam will be discovered. If you own one, we would like it if you could share photos. This rare maker deserves more study, and we would appreciate factual information on him.
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Adam died in 1870 and is buried in Greenawalt Cemetery in Kline, West Virginia. As with all of our posts, this one is a work in progress; we will update it as we find more information. We hope you all enjoyed this rifle and the history of Adam Greenawalt, another wonderful craftsman from our past and great state of West Virginia.
