Pianotech70
32 Cal
Will post some pictures soon, got to get some taken that are decent. the story goes like this, even though it sounds fantastic.
The lock is an Ashmore lock, on the inside of the lock had been inscribed in lead from a real lead pencil, 1774. Unfortunately, that has been nearly wiped away by cleaning. My family came from Ireland in 1823, and landed in Lancaster, PA and from there to Ohio in Hammondsville, north of Steubenville. The rifle was purchased at that time. It had been a flintlock, and converted to percussion before they bought it. It is obviously a conversion, not only the lock but the inletting on the stock. We assume that it was a revolutionary rifle, though, how can one prove that, except the design, and that it is an Ashmore flintlock. It is also assumed to be War of 1812, but again... proof. My family used the gun in the Ohio frontier for normal hunting. According to my grandfather, Harvey Cogsill Noble (gone many years) the rifle was used in the Civil war in the Ohio militia. Yellow Creek is a creek that enters the Ohio River and has a wide mouth there. The militia had heard that the Confederates were in Pittsburgh and it was guessed that they would try to escape south down the Ohio, which I have read that they went another way. The militia took logs and made an earthwork in the mouth of the creek, making a lookout by stacking the ends in a triangular fashion out into the creek then filling the inside with large boulders and dirt. they could then crawl out onto the earth works out well into the creek and see both ways. My grandfather's grandfather ( as far as we can tell a teenager at that point) had the "old gun". He was on watch, gun loaded, and covered in two layers of oilcloth. He dropped the gun, it fell deep into the rocks of the earthwork, and they could not retrieve it. It was lost and left there. The story was passed to my grandfather, and then to my dad, Charles VanDyke Noble. Grandad was born in 1888, my dad was born in 1916. When my dad was 8 or 9 they decided to go see if they could find the earthwork. The logs were gone, but the stones were still there covered with brush and leaves. Dad crawled out on the earthwork, and routed around and found the gun. It came home, still wrapped in the oilcloth, the outer layer rotted, but the inner layer still intact. Grandma hated guns with a passion, when they moved to Alliance OH, the gun was kept in the basement. My dad showed me the gun, and both Grandpa and he told me the story. I know it is true, because both told me, and they also knew to go look for the lost gun. Grandma died in 1959, Grandpa lost the house, and the gun came to our house in McDonald in 1961. It hung on our mantle for a few years. It did not have the original ramrod (drat!) but Dad found a guy who had one though it looked like a rocking chair runner. Dad noticed some rust on the run starting to form, so we took it to the garage and disassembled it to clean it. Dad straightened the ramrod, and in dropping it into the bore, well, the gun was still loaded. The nipple had been filled with bear grease, a little thumbnail gob of it was still in the patchbox with some muslin patches which we still have. We could not find a nipple wrench to fit at Girard Hardware, Girard, OH, but he had a new thing called a visegrip. That worked. We cleaned out the powder with a car battery tester which looks like a basting bulb. The ball was really stuck, but the hardware sold us a pint of Liquid Wrench. We filled the barrel and let it sit a few days, till it started to seep out the breech hole. The ball fought us for a while, but we made a ball extracter from a rod and screw, and it cam out. A local gunsmith certified the gun safe to fire, and we did, many times. I am sure it is still safe, but.... why chance it. I have fired it maybe 50 times. It is a sweet shooter for sure. I am now 70, the gun, if the date is correct will be 250 years old in 2024, but it has been in my family for 199 years. Yeah, I know it is a fantastic story, and now I am the only one with firsthand knowledge of it, except for maybe my brother who may or may not remember the story, he is a few years younger than me. like it or leave it, I have the gun, and it goes to reenactments with me as a prop and conversation piece.
Pictures to come soon, I promise.
The lock is an Ashmore lock, on the inside of the lock had been inscribed in lead from a real lead pencil, 1774. Unfortunately, that has been nearly wiped away by cleaning. My family came from Ireland in 1823, and landed in Lancaster, PA and from there to Ohio in Hammondsville, north of Steubenville. The rifle was purchased at that time. It had been a flintlock, and converted to percussion before they bought it. It is obviously a conversion, not only the lock but the inletting on the stock. We assume that it was a revolutionary rifle, though, how can one prove that, except the design, and that it is an Ashmore flintlock. It is also assumed to be War of 1812, but again... proof. My family used the gun in the Ohio frontier for normal hunting. According to my grandfather, Harvey Cogsill Noble (gone many years) the rifle was used in the Civil war in the Ohio militia. Yellow Creek is a creek that enters the Ohio River and has a wide mouth there. The militia had heard that the Confederates were in Pittsburgh and it was guessed that they would try to escape south down the Ohio, which I have read that they went another way. The militia took logs and made an earthwork in the mouth of the creek, making a lookout by stacking the ends in a triangular fashion out into the creek then filling the inside with large boulders and dirt. they could then crawl out onto the earth works out well into the creek and see both ways. My grandfather's grandfather ( as far as we can tell a teenager at that point) had the "old gun". He was on watch, gun loaded, and covered in two layers of oilcloth. He dropped the gun, it fell deep into the rocks of the earthwork, and they could not retrieve it. It was lost and left there. The story was passed to my grandfather, and then to my dad, Charles VanDyke Noble. Grandad was born in 1888, my dad was born in 1916. When my dad was 8 or 9 they decided to go see if they could find the earthwork. The logs were gone, but the stones were still there covered with brush and leaves. Dad crawled out on the earthwork, and routed around and found the gun. It came home, still wrapped in the oilcloth, the outer layer rotted, but the inner layer still intact. Grandma hated guns with a passion, when they moved to Alliance OH, the gun was kept in the basement. My dad showed me the gun, and both Grandpa and he told me the story. I know it is true, because both told me, and they also knew to go look for the lost gun. Grandma died in 1959, Grandpa lost the house, and the gun came to our house in McDonald in 1961. It hung on our mantle for a few years. It did not have the original ramrod (drat!) but Dad found a guy who had one though it looked like a rocking chair runner. Dad noticed some rust on the run starting to form, so we took it to the garage and disassembled it to clean it. Dad straightened the ramrod, and in dropping it into the bore, well, the gun was still loaded. The nipple had been filled with bear grease, a little thumbnail gob of it was still in the patchbox with some muslin patches which we still have. We could not find a nipple wrench to fit at Girard Hardware, Girard, OH, but he had a new thing called a visegrip. That worked. We cleaned out the powder with a car battery tester which looks like a basting bulb. The ball was really stuck, but the hardware sold us a pint of Liquid Wrench. We filled the barrel and let it sit a few days, till it started to seep out the breech hole. The ball fought us for a while, but we made a ball extracter from a rod and screw, and it cam out. A local gunsmith certified the gun safe to fire, and we did, many times. I am sure it is still safe, but.... why chance it. I have fired it maybe 50 times. It is a sweet shooter for sure. I am now 70, the gun, if the date is correct will be 250 years old in 2024, but it has been in my family for 199 years. Yeah, I know it is a fantastic story, and now I am the only one with firsthand knowledge of it, except for maybe my brother who may or may not remember the story, he is a few years younger than me. like it or leave it, I have the gun, and it goes to reenactments with me as a prop and conversation piece.
Pictures to come soon, I promise.
