William Goodwin rifle and musket "coincidence"????

[WESTbury]

I was looking at the photos, posted on this forum months ago, of the recently recovered Oerter rifle, stolen from the Valley Forge Historical Society museum in 1971 and saw the name "W GOODWIN" that is stamped/engraved/carved on  the right buttstock, above the patchbox. Bob Lienemann presented photos of this rifle, pre-recovery, in his book Moravian Gunmaking II.

The name W. Goodwin was familiar to me for some reason, but I was not sure why until this morning. While looking through my late friend Billy Ahearn's 2005 book Muskets of the Revolution on an unrelated matter, I saw the photos of a British Short Land style musket marked on the left buttstock "William Goodwin" and on the wristplate as well. William Goodwin was supposed to be from Marblehead, Mass. During the Rev War this particular W. Goodwin was said to have served in Cherry Valley, New York and was there during a 1779 raid by Tories and Chief Joseph Brant. The complete story appears on pages 123 and 124 of Bill's book.

Just a good story and coincidence??? Who knows.

[smart dog]

Hi Kent,
There is always some chance of a connection but Goodwin was a very common surname and certainly "William" was common.  I suspect it is just coincidence.

dave

[WESTbury]

Hi Kent,
There is always some chance of a connection but Goodwin was a very common surname and certainly "William" was common.  I suspect it is just coincidence.
dave

Dave,
More likely than not.
But, I've got another one for you.

In 1981, I was asked to help identify a collection of muskets and rifles owned by a fellow who was deceased. In that collection was a British Long Land musket that had the name "Daniel Woolsey" carved in the right buttstock and the initials "DW" on the left buttstock. That musket had been set aside from all of the others and next to it was a "US" surcharged French 1766 Charleville. I was given the opportunity to buy the Charleville after all of the collection identification was completed. That musket appears in my book on Springfield Armory infantry muskets.

Not until 2012 when I was doing the photography for the book, when I took that Charleville outside to be photographed, did I notice that in very faint and very fine pin pricks were the initials "DW" in the same style and size letters. The Daniel Woolsey Long Land musket and story behind it appear on page 47 of Bill Ahearn's book.

Coincidence, again who knows.