The rifle in the Grouseland museum is a rifle made by John Small, and a darn nice one. It is one of only three rifles known by his hand. There may be a pair of pistols or two, possibly some long knives, and a tomahawk by Small. He was a celebrated frontier character in the late 1700s and into the next century. He made weapons, served as sheriff and fought Indians. Jim Dressler owned the rifle that Small made for Francis Vigo, one of the founders of Indiana, at least financially. He had been an Indian trader and merchant on the frontier in the 1700s. His rifle had been used quite hard and there isn't a whole lot left of it, (converted, cut down, etc.). Jim had Jack Brooks build a bench copy of the gun as it would have been when new and then Jim donated the original to the state. Interesting, that gun was found in a yard sale in Michigan by a collector, who sold it to Dressler somewhat later. Small, born in Ireland, seems to have trained in the south, probably NC and moved north into Vincennes. A very fine Small rifle appeared at the Chadds' Ford Kentucky Rifle conference in the 1960s which incidentally led to the formation of the Kentucky Rifle Association. That gun has decided NC characteristics and is shown in Merrill Lindsay's color book which spun out of the conference. The gun has been absent since that time. Someone has it somewhere. While the universe of his work is quite small, it appears that he varied his rifles to a considerable degree when comparing what does exist.
Dick
