This rifle came out of Fayetteville Arkansas. The lady (in her 80's) that owned it said that it had been in her family as far back as she could remember. Here is what I have been able to find out about John Wishon: He was born in 1802 in Surry North Carolina. He is listed as a gunsmith in Henderson County North Carolina in the 1850 census. In 1860, he was in Livingston Kentucky listed as a blacksmith. This is the last census that we could find him listed. According to other researchers on Ancestry.com, he died in Pea Ridge Arkansas about 1862. Pea Ridge is about 10-miles from where I live and about 20-miles from where the rifle was bought in Fayetteville. Some of those researchers seem to think that he (John Wishon) was killed at the battle of Pea Ridge, but I can't find any evidence to that effect. I read a story that one of his son's wrote years later that tells of them moving from Henderson County North Carolina and settling for a while in Tennessee and then in Kentucky before finally moving to Pea Ridge Arkansas. I don't know if the rifle was made in North Carolina, somewhere along the way where they may have been living for a while, or here in Arkansas. Since Hungry Horse's Grandfather had found a rifle in Newton County Arkansas, just south of here, it sounds like he may have built some rifles after they arrived in Arkansas. If he did, he continued to build what could be considered a Henderson County rifle.
As far as this rifle maybe having been made by J Whitson, I have my doubts. There is a researcher in western North Carolina that is currently gathering information on western NC gunsmiths for an upcoming book. He currently has this rifle for photos. He feels without a doubt that it is John Wishon, not J Whitson.
