Today we are going to look at the third North Carolina Longrifle School in our list of nine. The Guilford County - Jamestown School was later starting than the most of the other Schools on our list, but made up for this by becoming the largest in the State of North Carolina and the South. I have been able to document and name in my book, 87 men that worked in this School as gunsmiths, gun-stockers, and apprentices between 1795 and 1902. The Longrifles they made were known locally as "Jamestown Rifles" after the small Quaker Community that most of the gun shops were centered around.
My focus today will be on the men who started this School and who were responsible for it's great success over the years. My research has shown that the three men who can be credited with starting the Guilford School were Thaddeus Gardner, Craft Jackson, and David Grose.
In my second School posting on the Lower Deep River School, I featured the two known local examples of David Grose's Longrifles. Both are of the Lower Deep River School architecture, which would indicate that he lived and worked in either the Centre Meeting House area in Southern Guilford County or the Quaker Community on Deep River in Randolph County prior to purchasing 120 acres of land in 1806 beside New Garden Friends Meeting House to build a house and gun shop. In 1805, he was awarded by the Guilford County Court an orphan named John Conner to "learn the art and mystery of a gunsmith". In 1806, the Guilford County Court awarded him a second orphan named David Muly. In 1821, David Grose sold out and moved to Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. Neither of his apprentices went on to become master gunsmiths in this School so David Grose cannot be said to have had a lasting impact on this school so we will not look at his work again here.
Thaddeus Gardner is known locally as the father of the Jamestown Rifle. His parents William and Suzanna Gardner were part of a large group of Quakers that moved to Guilford County from Nantucket Island in 1772. Thaddeus Gardner was born here in 1774. It is not known for whom, where or when he apprenticed to make Longrifles. He would have been 21 in 1795 and possibly was making Longrifles then, but this cannot be documented.
Thaddeus Gardner purchased land on Deep River and built a home, water powered barrel mill and gun shop on what was then known as the Old Salisbury Road. Today this site is on Gallimore Dairy Road at the location of Greensboro Pipe Company. The foundation of his house is in the woods nearby. Thaddeus was disowned by Deep River Monthly Meeting in 1814 for excessive profanity and failing to mend his ways despite repeated warnings.
Thaddeus Gardner built a large business over the years with the help of his sons William (born 1807), Grafton (born 1817 and later Superintendant of the Confederate Gun Factory in Jamestown, Mendenhall, Jones & Gardner), and Bartlett (born 1819) and apprentices such as William Lamb (born 1806) that was also his nephew. Thaddeus had a sister Mary Lamb that was disowned by Deep River Monthly Meeting for marrying out of meeting in 1805, she gave birth to William a year later. He worked for his uncle in the 1820's and must have been his partner for a period as three Longrifles exist signed T.G. & W.L. William Lamb would go on to become the best known and widely respected of all Guilford County gunsmiths.
In 1836, Thaddeus advertised in a Charlotte Newspaper that he had "Rifle guns for sale, 40 to 50 on hand." He listed his address as Friendship P.O.
In the 1850 Guilford Census of Manufacturing the shop was still open and being run by his son William for his father Thaddeus Gardner age 76. The shop employed two men full time, one man part time, used 2,000 pounds of iron, 1,000 bushels of coal, produced 200 rifle barrels and 100 completed Longrifles annually. The other 100 barrels were sold to local gun-stockers.
Though he worked for over 50 years as a gun maker, only a few of his Longrifles survive today. I have only seen five that are signed T.G. and three from his partnership with William Lamb signed T.G. & W.L. All of the Longrifles that I have seen that were signed T.G. have short one screw barrel tangs, unlike most Guilford Longrifles that have long, three screw tangs. I think Thaddeus did contribute most to what became the School's slender stock architecture and is responsible for the Jamestown Style double set triggers. I also believe he created the Guilford Style broken or interrupted fore-stock molding. I have never seen a signed half-stock or percussion Longrifle by him, but there must have been some made if the shop was still making 100 completed rifles a year in 1850. Perhaps one will surface in the future.
This first Longrifle we will look at is the oldest known example of his work. I date this Longrifle between 1800 and 1810. It has an early Guilford Style twisted star or daisy patchbox. It also features an early colonial style two screw side plate and a broken or interrupted fore-stock molding that stops and starts around the ram rod thimbles. On later Longrifles the molding stops and starts around a diamond inlay.
This is a early version of the Guilford style twisted star or daisy patchbox
Cheek rest side view
Broken or interrupted fore-stock molding.
Lock Mortise - original flintlock, never converted.
T.G. stamp on barrel.
Colonial Style two screw side plate.
There is another early Thaddeus Gardner Longrifle with a sliding wood patchbox and the same early two screw side plate in an collection in Charlotte, N.C.
Cheek rest with pick holder.
This is a very important rifle in telling the story of how the Guilford Longrifle School was founded and I was glad to be able to add it to my collection.
This next Thaddeus Gardner is probably the best known of all Guilford Longrifles. It is the only Guilford Longrifle that John Bivin's decided was worthy of being in the first edition of his book "The Longrifles of North Carolina." For the most part John did not think that Guilford Longrifles had the artistic merit of some of the other Schools in North Carolina. In his book, John attributes this rifle incorrectly to Thomas Gluyas who did not even start his apprenticeship until 1846 and then moved to Mecklenburg County in 1853 to make longrifles. We now know that he signed his rifles T. Gluyas, not T.G.
This Longrifle was made around 1820 I believe and is the best example of Thaddeus Gardeners work. It features a non-typical Guilford Patchbox, great comb architecture, and the broken or interrupted fore-stock molding that stops and starts around silver diamond inlays.
Un-typical patchbox for Guilford School.
Lock mortise and original flintlock.
Note comb architecture.
Short one screw barrel tang.
Toe plate with hidden patchbox release.
T.G. stamp on barrel.
Engraved entry pipe and fore-stock molding.
Broken or interrupted fore-stock molding.
cheek rest side view
side plate.
cheek rest with pick holder.
To me, this is one beautiful Longrifle and I can see why John Bivin's picked it for his book. What do you think? Do you know of any other signed Thaddeus Gardner Longrifles?
C. Michael Briggs
