Jim, You have the right gunsmith. George Mefford was a tough frontiersman, friend of Simon Kenton and accompanied Kenton on several forays against Indians. Mefford was in Kentucky in 1783 when hired to lead a surveying party by a wealthy easterner. He permanently settled his family in KY in 1785. He was an important early citizen of Maysville [then Limestone] and was the first settler brave enough to build a home outside of the fort.
Jack Ferrel was a direct descendant of Mefford, and his life's dream was to acquire a Mefford rifle. We knew of two Thomas Mefford signed guns [George's son] back them, neither available, but hadn't seen a signed George Mefford rifle yet, despite Mefford working as a gunsmith for most of his years there. Jack did share what information he had on the Mefford line, but it was "sketchy" on George Mefford. We've learned a lot more since then.
Mefford was an important and very early gunsmith in Kentucky. The first couple of rifles to appear with his name were fakes, probably by local people wanting a fantasy piece. Since then, I've seen a modern restocked rifle using an original signed George Mefford barrel, and a second and probably original rifle with the box I posted above. I don't know if the box is original to the rifle, or a later addition to enhance its value. It had undocumented restoration done to it, and modern butt carving to enhance its value, damaging an otherwise original [probably] Mefford rifle. I'd like to determine if the eagle finial box on this rifle came from somewhere else and was a later "enhancement" addition as well, or whether Mefford might have seen a similar box and actually made the box himself. I have never seen a similar box to the one on the signed Mefford rifle...so I am hoping it might be an original box on the gun, just modern steel screws since the box was removed during restoration.
Shelby Gallien
