Newly Discovered Bardstown Rifle with Two Partial Signatures ©
Forword: Bardstown rifles are Kentucky’s most highly decorated guns, and new examples excite collectors. A recent auction rifle had details strongly related to Jacob Rizer’s circa 1835 rifles. The gun suffered a shortened barrel but retained remnants of the maker’s name near the breech. Years of wear and rust made the name almost impossible to read, but a lucky discovery offered hope. The rifle’s trigger plate had “scratches” on it above the triggers. When examined closely, the scratches were script letters of a second signature that matched signature remnants on the barrel and provided much needed help in deciphering the gunmaker’s name. The new Bardstown rifle is shown in Figure No.1 below. The gun will eventually be stabilized/restored.
Figure No.1: The new rifle has damage in several areas, but its Bardstown roots are unmistakable in stock architecture with strong comb and triangular butt, swag & tassel chip carving along the butt plate’s vertical edge, forestock molding terminated by opposed volutes at the rear ramrod pipe, and three ramrod pipes. Stock wood is southern red maple with the expected best curl in the butt area. Barrel: 40-1/2 inches long [originally 47 inches] with .32 caliber bore and six-groove rifling. Author’s collection, photos by author.
Bardstown Roots: The new Bardstown rifle caught the author’s attention with its chip carved “swag & tassel” detail running along the butt plate’s vertical edge on the back side, a trademark found only on Bardstown rifles made during the Rizer & Weller era of 1815 to 1826 and continued by Rizer for about ten years after Weller’s departure. But the new rifle had a surprise; in addition to the expected swag & tassel carving on the butt’s back side in Figure No.2 below, the carving was repeated on the front side in Figure No.1. The author had never seen a Bardstown rifle with the swag & tassel carving on both sides of the butt. The gun also had an elaborate side-plate with six piercings shown in Figure No.3 and a matching toe plate with eight piercings shown in Figure No.4. The side and toe plates mimicked Rizer’s best work during his 1835-1837 years. No other gunsmith was known to use those patterns, so their presence on the new rifle indicated a connection between Rizer and the unknown gunsmith.
Figure No.2: The back of the new Bardstown rifle has Jacob Rizer’s chip carved swag & tassel detail along the butt plate’s vertical edge and his “swooped” or curved cheekpiece used on ca. 1835-1838 rifles. The heavily pierced side plate was used by Rizer on his best rifles of the same era. Rizer often used an 8-pointed “hunter’s star’ in his cheekpieces, but the new rifle had a small crescent moon inlay, now missing. The rear sight’s position indicates the barrel was shortened at the breech. Author’s collection.
Figure No.3: The new rifle’s elaborate side-plate with six piercings was taken from Rizer’s work. While Rizer’s engraving was more refined, this gunsmith’s engraving was well cut and attractive. This style side plate only occurs on Bardstown rifles related to Rizer’s work.
Figure No.4: The new rifle’s toe plate has eight piercings and matches the fancy side-plate in elaborateness and engraving. The flame finial was used by Rizer on his earlier flintlock guns. The butt’s toe is damage with a bit of wood loss and badly bent butt plate toe.
The new rifle’s stock profile, side-facings with stepped top edge, and large, curving cheekpiece all copied Rizer’s guns of the period, along with forestock molding terminated with opposed volutes at the rear ramrod pipe seen in Figure No.5. But several small differences were also present. There was no small Bardstown “stepdown” on the butt plate’s top extension; the guard’s outer surface had two flats instead of three, and there were no Bardstown “dimples” on the guard’s front and rear extensions as seen in Figure No.6. Other small differences included a decorative tab on the front trigger and a tang with two screws instead of Rizer’s single screw, but the tang had Rizer’s typical dotted borders as seen in Figure No.7. However, similarities far outweighed discrepancies; the rifle was a well-made Bardstown gun in all major details and dated to about 1835-1838 when Rizer was using similar details on his best guns.
Figure No.5: The new rifle’s forestock molding is terminated with opposed volutes similar to Rizer’s guns. However, Rizer had an emerging leaf between the volutes, while this rifle has a small arc of short rays. The deep cut separating the grip area from forestock is a new feature.
Figure No.6: The new rifle’s guard has the profile of Rizer’s ca. 1835-1838 guards, but it has two flats on the outer surface instead of three and lacks Bardstown “dimples” on the front and rear extensions, replaced by engraved details that include Rizer’s dotted borders.
Figure No.7: The tang on the new Bardstown rifle is lozenge shaped and more like Weller’s work that Rizer’s straight tang with small thumbnail finial. Two tang screws were used instead of Rizer’s and Weller’s a single tang bolt, but the smaller tail screw might have been added later to keep the tail from rising up. Dotted borders decorate the tang, a detail often used by Rizer. A small, rectangular wrist inlay, now missing, was intended for the owner’s initials. Rizer often used a larger, shield-shaped wrist inlay for the owner’s initial.
Gunsmith’s Identity: The new rifle was signed on the barrel in badly worn script seen below in Figure No.9. However, odd “scratches” on the trigger plate were enlarged and turned out to be another signature. By angling the trigger plate in good light, a small script name became visible as seen in Figure No.10. When the two less-than-perfect signatures were compared, the capital letters were similar in shape and location within the names, indicating the gunsmith who made the rifle also made and signed the triggers. The author identified the first initial as “G,” middle initial as “B,” and first letters of last name as “Tyl_ _” with one or two small letters missing. Since the gun was a Bardstown School gun, it undoubtedly was made within the Bardstown School’s five-county area [Nelson, Marion, LaRue, Bullitt, and Hardin], and the gunsmith’s first and middle initials were “G” and “B” with a short last name beginning with “Tyl” followed by one or two more letters. A search of all known Kentucky gunsmiths’ names in the three volumes of Kentucky Gunmakers 1775-1900 resulted in only one match, George Tyler. He was a gunsmith in Bullitt County that was part of the Bardstown School just west of Nelson County/Bardstown, and his working years of 1820-1850 matched the rifle’s date. Tyler’s middle initial is unknown, but the rifle is strongly attributed to George Tyler of Bullitt County based on the other connections… and no other viable candidates living within Kentucky.
Figure No.9: Fortunately, the shortened barrel was cut just ahead of the barrel signature, but it put the script name in an area that was eroded by percussion cap residue. The author was able to identify capital letters G., B., and T followed by a “y” and “l.”
Figure No.10: Scratches on the trigger plate turned out to be another signature by the gunsmith, visible when tilted in good light. Here the “G.” is hidden, but the “B.” is visible along with the last name’s “Tyl..” followed by a letter or two hidden under the guard’s grip rail.
George Tyler: George Tyler was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, in 1791 to parents Moses Tyler (1753-1839) and Phebe Evans Tyler (1758-1831). Moses was a Virginian who married Phebe in Pennsylvania in 1777 and later moved to Jefferson County, Kentucky. When their son George was about fifteen in 1806, he was apprenticed to the gunsmith’s trade [probably in Louisville] until his twenty-first birthday in 1812. The next year, George and older brother Zachariah joined Capt. Samuel Keller’s Company of Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia in the War of 1812. They mustered in at Newport, Kentucky, on September 1, 1813, and fought at the Battle of Thames in Canada. After the war, George married Anna Mae Blankenbaker (1798-1885) in Jefferson County on September 15, 1816. George may have begun his career as a journeyman in a Louisville gun shop, but one record [birth of first son] indicates he moved across the Ohio River to Clark County, Indiana, for a few years around 1817-1818 before moving on to Bullitt County, Kentucky. He was in Bullitt County by/before 1825 according to the county’s tax list and there for the 1830 census. The 1835 tax list showed he owned 73 acres of land on Floyd’s Fork next to his brother David Tyler’s property. Strong Bardstown details in Tyler’s new rifle suggest he worked in Bardstown for a few years in the early to mid-1830s, perhaps as a journeyman in Jacob Rizer’s shop, to assimilate the Bardstown patterns used by Rizer. Tyler was back in Bullitt County by/before the 1840 census, and in the 1850 census when occupations were first recorded, he was listed as “Gun Smith.”
The 1830 census placed George at Mount Washington in Bullitt County, Kentucky, where remained through 1850. The 1850 census verified much of his family history; he was at Mount Washington in Bullitt County, 59 years old, born in Kentucky, with occupation of “Gun Smith.” Wife Anna was 53 with children Candace 23, Phoebe 16, and Presley 18. In 1860 the census listed George as a farmer in Bullitt County, but his small real estate value suggested a small farm. George died on April 5, 1866, and was buried in Kings Church (Baptist) Cemetery at Mount Washington in Bullitt County. His wife Anna died in 1885 and was buried beside him. Their second son, Willis Tyler (1818-1892), learned the gunsmith’s trade from his father and worked as a gunsmith in Spencer County, Kentucky, but the author has never seen a rifle by him.
Sources: Federal Census of 1830, 1840, 50, 1860, Kentucky Division; Col. Bennett H. Young, The Battle of the Thames, Filson Club Publication No.18, Louisville, KY, John P. Morton and Company, Printers, 1903; Minie S. Wilder, Kentucky Soldiers of the War of 1812 [1969 reprint of 1891 Report], Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, MD, 1969, p.163; FamilySearch web site, “George Tyler.”