Author Topic: J. Jordan....Rifle Maker. Anyone Familiar With This Name? (Read 5900 times)

woodsrunner · « **on:** January 30, 2012, 09:23:55 PM »

I'm looking at photos of a caplock with this name on the barrel (J. Jordan). Can't tell too much from the photos, but it looks well made with double-set triggers and, I think, a swamped barrel. Looks to be maybe mid-1800's and possibly a Virginia piece but definately not a typical Southern Rifle. Rifle is for sale and is only about 20 miles from me. Before I go look I would like to know as much as possible. Anyone familiar with this Maker? Present owner said he bought it in California some years back. Help???

msmith · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2012, 10:35:37 PM »

Here is what Sellers has.
1. J Jordan Colorado 1864-68 worked for M L Rood.
2.Jermin Jordan 1793- . Chillicothe Ohio,1823-1858, Flint & Percussion
3.John Jordan, Windsor Virginia, D. 1877
4. John Jordan, Missouri valley , Iowa 1882-1887.
He also listed four other Jordans but their first names do not start with the letter J.
I will check the Ohio & Virginia books later.

G-Man · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2012, 10:55:12 PM »

If it is iron mounted and looks like something out of Virgnia I would bet good money your J Jordan is probably Jerman Jordan of Ross County, Ohio. He worked in the 19th century and made a number of very southern looking iron mounted rifles in Ross County, which is located in the Paint Creek/Scioto valley area of Ohio. His work is a good example of how we can sometimes be fooled by assuming a regional attribution based on mounts. His work is also really nice - good lines and nice mounts.

Here is a link to an AOLRC article about him - note the iron mounted piece as well as some very fine brass mounted guns that he made.

http://www.aolrc.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/vol-xii-no-2-sept-1990.pdf

Guy

Dr. Tim-Boone · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2012, 01:05:39 AM »

That Jordan makes some beautiful guns...Woodsrunner does the one you are looking at match these from Ohio?? Beautiful architecture

G-Man · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2012, 01:37:23 AM »

He made an interesting variety of rifles for one shop, probably relecting a wide range of customer needs and circumstances. I have seen at least one iron mounted piece without a buttplate or entry thimble that was attributed to him by the owner, but it was unsigned.

His triggerguards have a very similar feel to the Joseph Bogle rifle but there is no evidence to my knowledge that he ever worked in the south. The region he worked in was part of the Virginia Military District lands reserved as grants for Rev. War veterans from Virginia so his iron work may reflect some customer preferences, or perhaps indirect association with a gunsmith trained in an area of the south where iron mounts were common. Lots of sons, grandsons, nephews, of old Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina gunmaking families moved over the mountains and down the Ohio in the 1790s and early 1800s as the territory opened up for settlement.

Guy

Dennis Glazener · « **Reply #5 on:** February 01, 2012, 12:03:07 AM »

Woodsrunner sent me the photos of the J. Jordan rifle. Its the full stock rifle shown below. We are trying to get some better photos but so far no luck. It appears to me that the Jordan rifle has some incised carving showing just above the rear entry pipe. Not sure but when I enlarged the photo it looks like its carving. Is it me or does the trigger guard and triggers resemble the Jerman Jordan Ohio rifles?

The full stock is the bottom rifle in the first set of photos and the bottom rifle in the other two sets of photos.

The same guy owns the half-stock maybe a very late WV rifle of some sorts?
Dennis

G-Man · « **Reply #6 on:** February 01, 2012, 12:51:45 AM »

The photos are hard to see the detail - but the fullstock does look like Jerman Jordan rifle, to me anyway. Someone who knows more about Ohio rifles might hopefully comment. The sideplate and oval inlay look like some of his later guns.

Guy

Mark B · « **Reply #7 on:** February 02, 2012, 12:47:58 AM »

Woodsrunner, Google AOLRC [ Association Ohio Longrifle Collectors] . At the home page you will find subtitles. Click on "publications". Scroll to Sept 1990, and you will find a nice article on J Jordan by William Reynolds.

woodsrunner · « **Reply #8 on:** February 06, 2012, 06:24:11 AM »

Thanks to all for responding to my request for info on these rifles. These are for sale locally, and I do have an interest in the Jordan rifle. Right at the moment, however, I've got to go slow on spending $$! My wife just had knee replacement surgery, and while I do have pretty good insurance coverage, I'll still have a hefty amount to pay also!

Uh, by the way.....remember what they told you in the military? Re-up and stay for 20 and Uncle Sam will pay ALL of your medical expenses for you AND your dependents?? Hey, it just ain't so! Pretty good coverage, but it just doesn't cover everything by a l-o-n-g shot!

Dennis Glazener · « **Reply #9 on:** February 07, 2012, 11:54:11 PM »

More photos of the Jordan rifle. Also have more of the half stock but will not post them but if interested let me know and I will email them to you.
Dennis