SIMEON AND EVAN P WARD GUNSMITHS

SIMEON WARD PREACHER AND GUNSMITH

SON

EVAN P WARD

GUNSMITH AND CONFEDERATE SOLDIER

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SIMEON WARD was born in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1804. He lived near Lehew in Hampshire County. His first wife was Sarah Johnson, who died in 1857. Simeon married again in 1869 to Sarah Racey, who died in 1886. He died on January 8, 1877.

Simeon was a gunsmith and is listed as such in the 1850 census. He also preached the gospel and belonged to the Timber Ridge Christian Church near High View. He even traveled with Rev. Christy Sine ( 1798-1858), spreading the message of salvation and the word of God. In the 1860 census, Simeon is living with his son Evan P. Ward. Evan is listed as a Gunsmith, and Simeon is noted as a " Minister of the Gospel."

In the 1870 Census, Simeon is listed as a Gunsmith.

After searching and talking to several collectors and students of the Hampshire County Long Rifle, I found that no known examples of Simeon's work are currently known. Of course, the work could be unsigned, and we may never know who made it. If you know of Simeon's work, please contact us.  We have been more fortunate in the search for Evan P Ward's work. We have seen a few rifles made by Evan, most are signed E P W &, and one was signed  E P Ward, all in script.  

Evan was born on September 29, 1827. Evan married Margaret Spaid (1837-1910).  Early on in the Civil War, Evan joined the 114th Virginia Militia. Later on, he went into the 18TH Virginia Cavalry.

Evan was wounded during the Battle of Lynchburg on June 17, 1864.

Evan died from the results of that wound several months later on February 2 1865. Evan is buried near his parents,  in Timber Ridge Christian Church Cemetery.

Signed E P Ward

Signed E P W

You can also find his name on the Confederate Memorial in the Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney.

Many of the guns made in Hampshire County went to war during the Civil War. Recently, a rifle attributed to Evan P. Ward was located in Tennessee. The family who had the rifle said one of their ancestors carried it during some of the Civil War. 

 We have noticed that the hinges on both the patch box and the cap box on all Evans rifles are flat. We have not seen this on any other Hampshire County rifles.

If You have any additional information or questions on the Ward's and their rifles,  please contact us.

For more information on Evan and his Father, read.

Frederick County Virginia

Settlement and Some Families of

Back Creek Valley

1730-1830.

by Wilmer L Kerns PH.D.

You can find this book in the Hampshire County Library

THANKS TO THE OWNERS OF THESE RIFLES FOR ALLOWING US TO PHOTOGRAPH AND POST THEM.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY PICTURES.

Joshua Good Gunsmith, Singer Sewing Machine Agent & Inventer

 Joshua Johnson Good was born in Albemarle Virginia in 1834.  He was the son of Jacob Good (1799-1881) and Lucy Wiggington (1799-1880).  His grandfather was Felix Good SR of Hampshire County. 

                                                                                   

                                                                     Joshua Johnson Good

In the 1850 census the Goods are living in Hampshire County,  Joshua is 16 years old and his father Jacob's occupation is listed as a miller.  In the 1860 census, Joshua is in Atchison, Kansas listed as a Gunsmith.  He is listed as a gunsmith in the 1860 Atchison City Directory.  In June 1863 there was a Joshua G Good listed on the registration for the draft in Butler Ohio.  His occupation is gunsmith, so I presume the G is a misprint.  In 1867 Joshua married Mary E Renaker in Harrison Kentucky.  In the 1870 we find him & Mary, with two children in Cynthiana Kentucky.   In this census he is listed as a Singer Sewing Machine Agent and Gunsmith.  In the 1880 census,  Joshua is listed as a Sewing Machine Agent.

Joshua was also an inventor and held several patents, including one for,  safety fenders for locomotives, autographic register improvement, improvement for plows & a machine for folding strips of paper. 

Joshua's wife Mary died in 1886, he died in 1900, both of them are  interred at Battle Grove Cemetery in Cynthiana Kentucky. 

 So now the question, whom did he apprentice to and how many guns did he make here in Hampshire County, or in Kentucky?  

The rifle pictured has a commode lid cap box on the cheek side, similar to a couple of  Benjamin F Shane's rifles.  Another candidate, is Evan P Ward.  The Good family lived close to the Wards.  J J Good had a son named Evans P Good, possibly named after Evan P Ward?  How many guns did he make while living in Hampshire county?  Finding a Hampshire county rifle made by Good would be difficult,  he wasn't here more than eight years after he completed his training.  There should be more guns existing while he lived in Kentucky, but we have not seen any.   

 We hope that more rifles  by J J Good will surface and please send us photos if you have one , we would love to see it.  Thanks to James Whisker for the use of his photo & all the help he has been to us.  BMS

Update 7/20/2024 Recently discovered.

Joshua Good percussion rifle and signed J G. The lock is a repurposed flintlock lock. The rifle was always percussion. 

                              

                                                                                    FB

Thanks to a descendant of Joshua for the use their portrait. 

  

                                        HAMPSHIRE COUNTY GUNSMITHS 1750-1900

1.JOHN G. BRANDT ,  ELK GARDEN

2.WILLIAM BRITTON,  FORT ASHBY

3.W T BROWN

4.JOHN CAMPBELL

5.ROLAND SAVAGE DAYTON,  HEADSVILLE

6.CONRAD GLAZE, SPRINGFIELD

7.GEORGE GLAZE, SPRINGFIELD

8.GEORGE W. GLAZE

9.J J GOOD

10.JOHN HIGGINS

11.JOESPH HIATT

12.JOHN C. HAWKEN

13.WILLIAM HAYDEN

14.WILLIAM HOLLENBACK JR, FORT ASHBY

15.WILLIAM HOLLENBACK, FORT ASHBY

16.HENRY KLINE,HOOKS MILL, CAPON BRIDGE

17.JACOB KLINE, HOOKS MILL, CAPON BRIDGE

18.JACOB KLINE JR, NEAR YELLOW SPRING

19.JACOB LUDWICK

20.JOHN MOORE

21.JAMES E. NELSON,NEAR CAPON BRIDGE

22.NATHANIEL OATES, CAPON BRIDGE

23.NATHANIEL OFFUTT,CAPON BRIDGE

24.MICHAEL RANNELS

25.JACOB REED

26.ANTHONY D. REGER

27.JAMES RINEHART,COLD STREAM ROAD

28.JOHN W RINEHART,COLD STREAM ROAD,CAPON BRIDGE

29.BENJAMIN F SHANE, COLD STREAM ROAD

30.FREDERICK SHEETZ, FORT ASHBY & HEADSVILLE

31.HENRY SHEETZ,  FORT ASHBY

32.HENRY SHEETZ JR,  FORT ASHBY

33.JACOB SHEETZ, THREE CHURCHES JERSEY MOUNTAIN

34.JACOB DICE SHEETZ, THREE CHURCHES JERSEY MOUNTAIN

35.OTHO SHEETZ

36.THOMAS SHEETZ

37.ZEBULON SHEETZ, COLD STREAM ROAD, CAPON BRIDGE

38.CHRISTOPHER SLONAKER, COLD STREAM ROAD, CAPON BRIDGE

39.PETER M THRUSH, BURLINGTON

40.HENRY TOPPER, COLD STREAM ROAD

41.EVAN P. WARD, CAPON BRIDGE

42.SIMEON WARD, CAPON BRIDGE

43.GEORGE YOUNG,  ROMNEY

Added 2/26/2013

44.RUDOLPH RINEHART, BEAR WALLOW HOLLOW

Recently added,

45.JAMES MERRICK, NAME ON BARREL OF  A DEFINITE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY RIFLE.

46. R P

47. H P HARRISON

NOTE: THIS LIST CONSIST OF KNOWN HAMPSHIRE COUNTY GUNSMITHS. THEY ARE NO DOUBT A FEW UNKNOWN OR UNDISCOVERED. NOT ALL GUNSMITHS WERE LISTED AS SUCH IN RECORDS.SOME WORKED AT GUNMAKING A SHORT TIME AND THERE ARE NO RECORDS ON THEM. NOT ALL GUNSMITH SIGNED THEIR WORK.

                                                                       BMS

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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