Now we will move on the to third founder of this School Craft Jackson. Not much is known about his early life, where or when he was born or apprenticed to be a gunsmith. I do know that he purchased 337 acres of land on the West bank of Deep River, where the present day Jamestown Golf course is now located. In 1811, the Guilford County Court awarded him a 14 year old orphan named Isaac Jones. The two worked together until 1818, when Isaac Jones became a master gunsmith in his own right.
If you had asked me five years ago were there any rifles that I knew of that were signed or could be attributed to Craft Jackson I would have had to tell you no. Luckly, there are several signed Isaac Jones Longrifles that exist so we have something to base his work on. During the past five years, two early unsigned Guilford Longrifles have surfaced that I attribute to Craft Jackson. They both have similar stock architecture, patchbox shape, engraving style and other features with two early signed Isaac Jones rifles, that I feel very comfortable in this attribution.
The first Longrifle that we will examine dates to between 1795 and 1800. It is the finest Guilford or Jamestown rifle that I have seen to date. It has a 1 3/4 inch wide butt, with the most drop I have ever seen on a local stock. It still shows faint traces of relief carving on both sides of the comb and is the only carved rifle known from this school. The rifle also has small beaver-tails on the rear of both sides of the lock mortise. The rifle has gadroon engraving on top of the butt plate, rope molding on the entry pipe and ram rod thimbles and chevrons engraved on the nose cap. This is the only North Carolina Longrifle I know of with these features. Craft Jackson must have been one $#*! of a gunsmith.
Note early Guilford Twisted star or daisy patchbox and compare with the next three rifles.
Note traces of relief carving on comb.
Early two screw side plate.
Note small beaver-tail on rear of lock mortise.
Gadroon Engraving on butt plate.
Short one screw tang.
Toe plate and pick holder
Entry Pipe with rope molding.
Ram rod thimbles with fore stock molding
Nose cap with chevrons.
Note traces of relief carving below comb and the small beavertail on the rear of the lock mortise.
Have any of you ever seen any other longrifle with these decorative features? If so, from where and who made it?
This next Longrifle belonged to a friend of mine here in North Carolina that recently passed away. It surfaced a couple of years ago in Texas. It is obviously from the same hand as the first rifle. It has the same 1 3/4 inch wide butt, (this is not normal for Guilford County Longrifles). I believe this second Longrifle is a little later and was made around 1810, about the time when Isaac Jones began his apprenticeship. This second rifle has an identical shaped early Guilford twisted star patchbox with the same engraving. What is different is that it is side hinged. This is only the second North Carolina Longrifle I know of with a side hinged patchbox. This rifle does not have any carving or decorative carved features on the butt plate, entry pipe, ram rod thimbles or nose cap. It is also different in that it does not have the small beaver-tails on rear of both sides of the lock mortise and that it does have the typical Jamestown style three screw barrel tang. I believe that this feature might be one of Craft Jackson's contributions to the features of this School as it is not found on later rifles by Thaddeus Gardner.
Note wide butt and comb.
Note long three screw barrel tang
Note identical shaped patchbox with the same engraving hand.
Lock mortise without beaver-tails.
Rram rod thimble, nose cap, similar fore-stock molding.
Two screw side plate.
Cheek rest with pick holder.
There are two early examples of Isaac Jones signed Longrifles, both are identical. One belongs to my good friend Joe Byerly and the other is in the storage room of the Greensboro Historical Museum and is not on display. Both of these rifles have a wide butt, very similar to the Craft Jackson rifles. These four are the only Guilford rifles I have ever seen with a wide butt. Both of the early Isaac Jones rifles have twisted star patchboxes. As you will see they are indentical to each other and similar to both of the Craft Jackson rifles including the engraving. Both early Isaac Jones rifles have small beaver-tails on the rear of both sides of the lock mortise. This is not a common feature, I have never seen them on a Thaddeus Gardner or David Grose Longrifle.
Here are some photos of the early Isaac Jones rifle that belongs to Joe Byerly.
Compare the patchbox and engraving with the Craft Jackson rifles.
Toe plate.
Long three screw barrel tang.
Lock mortise with small beaver-tail on rear.
Two screw side plate with small beaver-tail on rear of lock mortise.
Cheek rest with pick holder.
Here is a photo of the identical patchbox on the early Isaac Jones at the Greensboro Historical Museum.
Do any of you know of any other rifles by Craft Jackson or Isaac Jones? What do you think of these Longrifles? Do you find this article helpful? I am having trouble getting Part #1 and Part #3 posted and will work with Dennis and Fred to get them up for you.
