Jacob Painter

[jim m]

I have obtained permission to study,photograph and measure a Jacob Painter rifle. it is in a museum at Wilson Creek Battlefield[ civil war national park] I was amazed they gave me permission, the only requirement is that it be in the winter when the museum is closed to the public. Jacob Painter came to Greene County Missouri in 1831 by way of Tennessee and Illinois. he was a blacksmith and gun maker and also ran a mill. his ancestry can be traced to Pennsylvania in the late 1600's. don't know who he apprenticed under. the rifle I'm going to exam is a full stock percussion that has a lot of Tennessee characteristics, trimmed in brass and has a very unusual trigger guard. so far I only have 1 picture taken under glass but am having trouble logging on to photo bucket. anyone ever heard of this maker or know of any other surviving rifles by him

[jim m]

[Levy]

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I think Dimick in St. Louis used a trigger guard with a spur on it that was similar.  I don't think it is a rare style of guard.

James Levy 

[G-Man]

Whisker shows a fine flint rifle by a J Painter, Botetourt County(?- I think) Virginia.   I doubt it is the same maker but who knows - some of these southern gunsmiths produced everything from plain utilitarian guns up to fine inlaid pieces - just depended on their customers' needs in that particular time and place.  Maybe a son who moved west.  Quite a few Virginia gunmaking families ended up in Missouri, some after working their way west through Tennessee first.

Guy

[Trigger]

Your Missouri museum rifle signed Jacob Painter is not by John Painter, Jr. of Botetourt Co., VA. John Painter, Jr. worked his entire life (died 1910) in Botetourt Co./Roanoke, VA. area. Whisker's "Gunsmiths of Virginia" page 185 incorrectly lists a rifle by Joshua Painter, which in fact is by John Painter, Jr. His distinctive architecture and hand forged lock/hammer prevailed throughout his carer on both "plain Jane's" as well as elaborate crafted rifles. John also restocked many of John Sites rifles after Sites removed to Missouri in 1830. When you see a signed "Sites" with Painter's familiar architecture, it is most likely an old Sites restock by John Painter, Jr. The triggerguard on subject rifle is a hardware variety used over a several state area in the mid to late 1800's. Doug

[Curt J]

Jacob Painter was born in Burke County, North Carolina, in 1810. He was one of six children of Samuel and Betsy Painter. His parents moved to Lincoln County, Tennesee, in 1813 and to Montgomery County, Illinois, in 1826. The family remained in Illinois until 1831, when they moved to Springfield, Missouri.  Jacob was 16 when the family arrived in Illinois, and 21 when they moved to Missouri, so it seems likely that he apprenticed to someone here in Illinois, but just who that might have been, remains unknown.

The History Of Greene County, Missouri (1883) describes Jacob Painter as a miller, blacksmith, locksmith, and gunsmith. It further states that he was the first gunsmith in the county, and that "He was a professional gunsmith, and has turned out thousands of firearms, and gained quite a celebrity for his pistol pattern known as 'Jake's best'. "He made, on the average, two pistols per day, selling them for ten dollars a pair to those outfitting for trips across the plains." It is of course,  unusual for gunsmiths during that period to make any number of pistols.  It might be within the realm of possibility that Jacob learned the trade from Philip Creamer, while Creamer was working in St. Clair County, Illinois, which lies southwest of Montgomery County, Illinois. Creamer was also well known for making pistols.

The trigger guard on the rifle in the picture, is not of the same pattern used by Dimmick, although it looks similar at first glance.