Sometimes Less is More, the Mayberry Family Rifle of Trigg County
Foreword: One of the most satisfying discoveries for a researcher of early Kentucky guns is not another fine rifle by a known maker, but rather an unknown rifle with a Kentucky provenance that displays never-before seen details. Such a discovery was the Mayberry rifle from Trigg County, Kentucky. Despite suffering significant damage, the rifle has incise carved details not seen before on a western Kentucky gun.
Figure No.1: The Mayberry family rifle from Trigg County, Kentucky, is heavily worn and damaged but exhibits incise butt carving not seen on western Kentucky guns. Iron mountings are thin and well-made despite their rusted surfaces. Damage includes substantial wood loss to the forestock, frozen double-set triggers, and missing ramrod pipes and nose cap. Barrel: 45 inches long with .32 caliber bore. Author’s collection, photos by author.
Rifle’s History: About twenty years ago, the author was contacted by a man in Kentucky who had inherited the old family rifle; it was damaged and falling apart and he had no interest in keeping it, but he realized it had value and heard the author was interested in early Kentucky guns. His last name was Mayberry, and the rifle had been in the Mayberry family for many generations in Trigg County, Kentucky. He wanted to sell it to “someone who can take care of it.” The Mayberry rifle is shown in Figure No.1. No family records accompanied the gun, but a man named John Mabry/Mayberry was a Revolutionary War veteran from North Carolina who used his bounty land warrants for land in Trigg County. He was one of the county’s first permanent residents when he settled on Dyer’s Creek about 1796. In 1798 he was living a quarter mile from the mouth of the creek with a small field opened for crops. Mayberry was one of the first surveyors in Trigg County and ran a ferry across Dyer’s Creek. Apparently, the same John Mayberry was listed in nearby Christian County in the 1810 census. In September of 1820, he petitioned the Trigg County Court of Appeals for a license to practice law. At that time he was described as a “gentleman of property and honest demeanor.” [1]
Figure No.2: The Mayberry rifle has a single lock bolt. Both the original bolt and its diamond-shaped iron washer have been lost. The gun exhibits western Kentucky details in its long, straight barrel, triangular butt with no patchbox, lack of inlay work and engraving, and no lower butt molding lines.
Mayberry Rifle: The rifle in Figures No.1 and No.2 retains its original round-tailed flintlock with double-throated cock ca. 1825-1835. The lock’s rusted face in Figure No.3 hides any name, but its single lock bolt suggests a date closer to 1830 while a vent pick hole in the toe verifies the gun was always a flintlock. Kentucky details are seen in the long 45-inch barrel, slender forestock, and triangular butt. Wood is vivid curly maple cut low on thea tree, so its grain curves through the gun’s wrist area.
Figure No.3: The late, double-throat flintlock appearr original to the rifle, despite the front side facing being badly worn away from its edges. The thin iron guard and well-shaped triggers with curled tips are visible here. Several screws have been replaced including in the tang’s tail screw and the two screws attaching the guard.
The tang in Figure No.4 has two screws, i.e., lock bolt and a tail screw, and mountings are forged iron including the toe plate in Figure No.5. Iron work is exceptional for a Kentucky gun; the guard in Figure No.6 is thin and graceful with “thumbnail” finials on the front and rear extensions matching the toe plate’s finial. The guard is attached with screws rather than pins, supporting an 1830-1835 date. Bold double-line forestock molding terminats at the missing rear pipe with a shallow serpentine line seen in Figure No.7. Unique incise-carving appears on both sides of the butt stock. Decoration of any kind is rare on Kentucky’s western guns with stock carving almost non-existent.
Figure No.4: The tang is a bit rough, perhaps from being removed many times as its enlarged mortise suggests. The tang’s tail screw and lock bolt have been replaced with a modern screw and bolt.
Figure No.5: The toe plate appears to be brass, but closer examination shows an iron plate with brass-like surface color. The “thumb nail” finial matches the finials on the guard’s front and rear extensions.
Figure No.6: The iron guard is well-made and almost delicate in its thinness, giving it an elegant look with its small finials. Small [replaced] wood screws attach the guard, rather than pins in the stock wood.
Figure No.7: This view shows the extensive wood loss to the forestock with large slivers missing on both sides. Double-line forestock molding is terminated above the missing rear pipe with a shallow serpentine line.
The front side of the butt in Figure No.8 has an incised moon and reclining “S” figure, while the back side in Figure No.9 has more extensive carving. Multiple incised cuts decorate the stock on both sides of the cheekpiece, filling areas often used for relief-carving on finer Eastern guns. The cheekpiece has an incised circle enclosing a six-pointed star that mimics eastern cheek inlays. While rudimentary in execution, the carving is an exceptional detail on a western Kentucky gun. The Mayberry rifle is only the second carved western Kentucky gun known to the author after 45 years of collecting; a full-stocked Felix Settle rifle also has limited incise carving in a large “swirl” pattern behind the cheekpiece. Despite heavy wear and damage, the Mayberry rifle is unique among western Kentucky guns for its never-before-seen incise carved decoration. The uniqueness of the gun and lack of a barrel signature have hindered its identification, but the fine iron mountings are similar to iron mountings on better Russellville guns from Logan County in western Kentucky’s Barrens School, which includes Trigg County on its western end.
Figure No.8: The stock is dark from years of oiling and handling, making the carving hard to see. There is a cross-hatched crescent moon and a large reclining “S” figure, perhaps an initial of the carver or owner.
Figure No.9: The back of the butt is carved with incised arcs and lines before and after the cheekpiece, and an incised circle with six-pointed star in the cheekpiece that mimics eastern cheek inlays.
Who Made It? The large “S” figure on the butt’s front side is intriguing, since it is a specific letter rather than a random pattern like the carving on the back side. While conjecture, it could be an initial, perhaps for gunsmith’s or owner’s last name. At times the barrel looks like it may have traces of a script signature now obliterated, but other times it looks like random scratches on a rusty barrel. The gun’s fine iron mountings may tell us more about the gun than anything else. They relate best to Russellville guns from Logan County by better makers Joseph Blair and Samuel Matthis. Matthis was trained by David Weller in Bardstown before moving to Russellville in the late 1820s. One Weller rifle, made in Hardin County soon after his arrival in 1826, has a similar circle with hex figure on the butt. Weller also used a longer cheekpiece with a single molding line across the base, moved slightly forward of center on the butt, and his early Hardin County guns had a slightly concave lower butt line similar to the Mayberry rifle, which Matthis may have used on his early Russellville guns. There are differences in Mayberry and Matthis rifles, but until a more positive identification is made, Samuel Matthis remains a possibility.
Sources: [1] William H. Perrin, Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky: Historical and Biographical, 1884, p.150.