Please help ID gun

[Cal]

Could anyone provide some info about a gun that my grandmother said her dad (John W. Taylor) would shoot the eyes out of squirrels with and was so accurate with it that he was barred from turkey shoots with it? Members of my family are anxiously hoping you can tell us some history on it.
Many years ago, John's neighbor said John called this gun old McClellan, after the Gun's maker, who was one of three in the area, SE Ohio, making guns. Upon inspecting the gun, lo and behold, the scripted letters W. McClellan are on the top of the barrel. The barrel is 37 1/8”from muzzle to start of tang. The stock, with silver (?) end cap, and lots of brass trim is 29 ¾” for a total length of 52 ¾ from muzzle to tip of brass curved butt plate. My dad miced, in two directions, 8 pea size lead balls made from the guns mold and the grand average is .295 (.30 cal). In the attached photo the bore seems cut like a sexagon with the corners cut deeper. In another attached photo the lock seems to be stamped/inscribed with the letters R.B. (within a scrolled design) with some rusted out, engraved flourished design, to the right of it. Someone recalled a missing star burst brass plate, on the right hand shooter’s cheek side of the stock with John W. Taylor inscribed on it. I can’t tell what type of wood the stock is made of. It looks like there was a method of burned striping done to it, particularly the butt end, were it was then sanded off at the top then finished.  
The gun has had many repairs to it as evidenced in the photos (if I can post them). I could describe in more detail the gun but will let the photos speak for themselves.
The powder horn (missing the measuring piece that was with it), bullet mold, and tin for the lead balls are with the gun and I do not know if they provide any clues. The horn has been graffitied in many ways. Someone had a compass and put circular designs on it (Penn. Dutch?). There is a simple scratched in deer, knife, hatchet, bird, rattle snake with wings, two fish and more.
Does all this info and photos give you any clues about this gun? We are intrigued that my great grandfather had a gun, which seems to us to be an expensive piece for the times, when he by all accounts so poor.

Thanks
Jim

[JTR]

Cal,
It sounds like an interesting rifle!
Please read the tutorial for posting pictures.
Here's the link; http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=10.msg45557;boardseen#new

John

[Cal]

Thanks John

I tryed to follow the instructions and think I posted some photos. Someone please let me know if they attached.

Thanks

Cal

[TPH]

Call, the photos worked well, it is an interesting looking rifle. Do you have any shots of the entire rifle from the muzzle to the butt?

[Curt J]

This rifle was certainly made by William McClellan, an Indiana maker. I have seen several of his rifles and may have even owned one once.  Some are marked "Haven Run".  Sellers listed him as a Pennsylvania maker, but that is not correct.  I'll see if I can come up with a bit more information.

[Agent 006]

Cal:
William McClelland or also spelled McClellan worked in Nappanee, Elkhart Co., Indiana.  Nappanee was at one time called Haven Run and some of his rifles are so marked.  My Mc Clellan is clearly signed "Nappanee, Ind."  I do not know when the town's name was changed.  I am also unaware if McClellan ever worked in Ohio or where he was born and learned the craft of gunmaking.  Lindert,  the author of Gunmakers of Indiana,  notes in a typed Supplement to his third edition that he knew of a heavy (16 pound) rifle from this maker bearing the inscription "Wm. McClellan, Haven Run 1882"  Thus, what city name appears may help date the piece and then again may reflect the maker's mood when he engraved same.  Yours is a nice piece with a wonderful family history.  Perhaps Curt or others can add to your knowledge of the weapon.
Jim

[Hurricane ( of Virginia)]

Sellers' book makes note of two McClellands  ( could be McClellan)
1. Albion, Indiana
2. Union, PA but he is thought to have dies in 1815 so is very unlikely to be the maker of this gun.
Hurricane

[Curt J]

Yes, the William McClellan in Albion, Noble County, Indiana, is the same man.  He is listed as a gunsmith there in an 1862 Indiana gazetteer, but as a farmer in the 1860 census. He was 36 years old, born in Ohio. I think Jeff Jaeger (who is working on a new book on Indiana makers) has quite a bit on him.

[Indiana Gunmakers]

Hi Cal,

I can add a little to the info already presented. Wm McClelland was married his wife, Jane, in 1852 in Guernsey Co, OH. The couple "removed" to Albion, Noble Co., Indiana.
Wm made a living as a farmer and gunsmith at times but strictly as a gunsmith in his later years when he moved to Cromwell, IN. His wife was four years younger than he, but
died at the young age of 49 of "typhoid pneumonia".  The couple had five children when she died. (Jane McClelland obituary)

I have seen several of his rifles. He made rifles of all sizes...from the large target rifle to a small .28 caliber squirrel rifle. All six or so of his guns that I have handle were half
stocks of curly maple with moderate decorations and unique patchboxes.

I'd like to learn more about your Taylor family. One of my McClellands has the name "T Taylor" engraved in a large oval inlay placed in the buttsock on the cheek side. It could
could be a "sister" to your rifle.

[Cal]

A grateful thinks to those who responded to my post. This is a fantastic site with knowledgeable sharing people.

I will get some photos of the rifle in its entirety. When I had the photo session with it, I was so enamored with some of the rifle's details, that it did not dawn on me to get a photo of the whole rifle.

One bit of info does lead to another question.  Indiana Gunmakers: I do have a lot of geology on the Taylor family. Wouldn't it be interesting if McClellan made rifles for two brothers? My great grandfather John W. Taylor (1852-1927) had a brother Timothy (1831-1910) named after their grandfather. Could this be the T. Taylor on your gun's inlay? Is the Jane McClellan obit you referred to “on line” that I can get a copy of it? I could start to narrow the date this rifle was made if I could find out how soon after W. McClellan married, that he left for Indiana (in Albian, Noble Co. first then Haven Run/Nappanee, Elkhart Co. second), since legend has it that this rifle of my grandfather’s was made by one of three in the area (Guernsey County Ohio). Since my rifle doesn't have a location engraved on it, could it stand to reason that it doesn't, because it was the only place the man had ever made guns at that time in his life, so why engrave the location of that manufacture?

I wonder how many guns this man made and how long it took him to make a stock and put one together? For that matter, what parts did he make or did he just assemble a gun like a pizza from others parts?

[Agent 006]

Cal:
I'll let others more experienced than I add details and correct any mistakes I make, but my feelings are that he probably bought most of his "iron" parts from a hardware store and stocked the gun from a blank piece of wood.  He was a maker during the late years of muzzleloading (breech loadeers were taking over).  However, if we assume he completed an apprenticeship in gunmaking in 1845 as was the custom during much of this cotttage indsutry's history, he may well have built a "riflegun lock stock and barrel" if for no other reason than to complete his apprenticeship.

One other question I have:  it seems that only Lindert and I have any evidence of McClellan being in Elkhart Co.  If Lindert cites the year 1882 for his perhaps chunk gun, do we know when he may have left Noble Co., to move slightly more west to Nappanee?
Jim

[Indiana Gunmakers]

Hi Cal,

Sorry it took me so long to respond to your last post. I missed your last inquiry somehow. Anyway, I've had a little time to do some more digging.
I made two calls today...one to my friends at the Elkhart County Museum and one to a local historian that heads the Nappanee Economic Development Bureau.
Niether gentleman recalls ever hearing or reading that Nappanee, IN was ever called Haven Run. There was a town just to the north of it that nearly withered on the vine when the rail
road went through a mile to the south of it. The town was largely abandoned because a new town sprung up around the tracks...that new town was Nappanee.
The late Albert Lindert, author of the book Gunmakers of Indiana , did not always cite his sources. It would be interesting to talk to him now.

Per his wife's obit, William moved to back to Cromwell after she died and worked strictly as a gunsmith. He would have been about 53 at the time of her death.
I have written a short bio for Wm McClelland, but you pretty much have what's in it already. If I can dig up a copy of the obit, I will be happy to share it as I am very interested in seeing info
on the Timothy Taylor. Please e-mail me at j.jjaeger@comcast.net. I'd be happy to share photos of my rifles also.

[8905c]

Cal -

Very nice rifle with interesting history as well.
I am just curious, where in Guernsey County Ohio did John Taylor live? Also, W. McClellan, do you know where he was born/married/lived in Guernsey County?
I was born and raised (21 years) in Guernsey County Ohio. I am always interested in any history relating to Guernsey County.
Thanks,
            8905c

[Cal]

Thanks again to those who have posted.

8905c-John Taylor was born, raised, lived and died in a cabin, in a hollow that bears his name, in Monroe Twp., Guernsey County. This farm was the northernmost farm confiscated to form Salt Fork State Park.

[Randy Hedden]

Cal,


How about taking some more pictures of the horn and posting them here or in the "Accoutrements" forum.

Randy Hedden

[8905c]

Cal -

Thanks for the info on John Taylor. I know about where his farm was located. I grew up just a few miles further south in Center Twp.
Interesting gun and information.
8905c