Thomas Price and his "His old Deckard Rifle"

[Dennis Glazener]

In searching the internet for Deckard/Dickert families in Washington County VA during the 18th century I ran across this:

There is strong confirmatory testimony in the fact that the old Deckard rifle that our Thomas Price carried in the wars in which he participated, is still in existence. having been preserved until the present. It is now in my possession, and is deposited in the Murphy Museum, New Harmony, Indiana, for safe keeping, and where it can be seen at any time by anyone interested.

The Price family, generally, knows the traditional history of this old weapon. Mr. James H. Price of Griffin, Indiana, a great-grandson of Thomas Price has fired the old gun. Mr. Isaac Price, a grandson of John A. Price, and a son of John A. R. Price, remembers his grandfather and knows the history of the gun.

A CERTIFICATE
To whom it may Concern:
This is to certify that the old gun and powder horn, now in possession of Rev. John E. Cox, and to be deposited in the Murphy Museum at New Harmony, Ind., were formerly owned by my father, John A. R. Price, and before him by his father, my grandfather, John A.  Price, the son of Thomas Price, my great-grandfather. All my lifetime, since old enough to know about such things, I have understood and believed that they originally belonged to my great grandfather, Thomas Price and were carried by him in the Indian wars.
        (Signed) ISAAC PRICE.
 Poseyville, Ind., June 11, 1923

and this

 

Staunton, Virginia,
December 22, 1925.

This is to certify that Thomas Price, whose name appears in Company of Captain Givens, April 8, 1780, June, 20, 1780, June 27, 1780, is recorded in manuscript records of Colonial and Revolutionary Forces of Augusta County, Virginia, page 196, saw actual service in Capt. Givens’ Company, Revolutionary War.

       Teste Irene Argenbright,
 (SEAL)
           Deputy City Clerk.
      AN AFFIDAVIT

Mrs. M. B. Crawford,. Organizing Regent (D.  A. R.) for Staunton and Augusta County, State of Virginia, County of Augusta, To Wit:
I, Harry Burnett, a Notary Public, for the county aforesaid in the State of Virginia, do hereby certify that Mrs. M. B. Crawford, organizing Regent for Staunton and Augusta county, Virginia, personally appeared before me and made oath that the foregoing certificate is correct. Given under my hand, this 22nd day of December, 1925.
  (SEAL)
      (Signed) Harry Burnett, Notary Public.

Above taken from http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/i/l/Billy-R-Wilson/FILE/0009page.html

Anyone on here that is familiar with the "Murphy Museum, New Harmony, Indiana"

Dennis

[Robert Wolfe]

I don't know about the museum but New Harmony is on the Wabash River in far southwest Indian if that helps anyone's memory.

[Robert Wolfe]

Found the following on the web regarding the museum.

"It appears to be part of There is strong confirmatory testimony in the fact that the old Deckard rifle that our Thomas Price carried in the wars in which he participated, is still in existence. having been preserved until the present. It is now in my possession, and is deposited in the (Murphy Museum), New Harmony, Indiana, for safe keeping, and where it can be seen at any time by anyone interested. Historic New Harmony, Inc. (The Workingmen's Institute in New Harmony, Indiana 812-682-4806) Also called Murphy Museum. I Called Connie and got the name correction.
Connie Weinzapfel, Director
P.O. Box 579, New Harmony, IN 47631
For information: 1-800-231-2168
E-mail: harmony@usi.edu
URL: http://www.newharmony.org"

Also - see this site: http://www.tentativetimes.net/harmony/harmony3.html

[Dennis Glazener]

Yes I found it to and I have emailed the curator to see if the rifle is still there or if they know where it is located.
Dennis

[JTR]

Great! I wonder if the old Deckard rifle is still in their care,,,,, or been passed on to someone else for it care?

Wouldn't it be amazing if this thread actually turned up a missing Dickert rifle!!!!!

Just as a note, we used to have a Captain on this ship, Jim Deckard by name, and he was born and raised in Lousianna. He knew my interests in old guns, and mentioned that his family had an old time gunsmith named Deckard that lived and worked in Pennsylvania back in the Rev War times.
Other than that he didn't know any more about the gunsmith. I told him about Jacob Dickert and his guns, and how Deckard was a fairly common slang term for them. He agreed that was probably the same guy.

What do you think of the odds of working on a ship off the coast of Mexico, and meeting a probable descendant of Dickerts'!

John

[The other DWS]

I work down in that area quite regularly,  at least quarterly, just down there a week ago in fact.  I'll make a point of checking when I'm down there next month.  If its still there possible (its iffy since stuff "on loan" to many small town museums with poor collection management policies--almost all of them in that era---tended to get reclaimed by families when the antique market got hot) I'll work to get photos if its still there.