This is all speculation at this point for there is none for whom to vouch of its validity...
This note from 1961 tells of My Great Great Grandmother Martha Louisa Bennett Sanders
sister Elizabeth Bennett Castles.. who was the oldest child..born in 1839 and died in 1927
Her Son William Thomas Castles recants the story of Elizabeth helping her father
Thomas Bennett at the Forge when he constructed Rifle Barrels...
This Scrap of paper was found within the pages of a book this woman purchased... she
had the foresight to include it on the internet in hopes it would be found by family..
Tom Bennett
Chester, S.C.
Three Generations of Riflemakers
The following was related to me by Mr. W. T. (Tom Castles of Chester, S.C.) in June 1961. TOM CASTLES was 92 years old at the time, with a good sharp mind.
Tom Castles’ mother was the sister of the third Tom Bennett, and the daughter of the second Tom Bennett. As a child, she helped her father, the second Tom Bennett, to weld rifle barrels in his forge, by holding them for him. She also told her son, Tom Castles, how her father straightened rifle barrels. He did this by pulling a silk thread through the barrels. By sighting through the barrel, with the tread pulled tight, he would straighten the barrel; in the conventional manner of that day.
According to the family history, the first Tom Bennett came to Chester, S.C. from Pennsylvania as a riflemaker. The second Tom Bennett made rifles and died in January 1861, just before the Civil War started. The third Tom Bennett died in 1924 at an old age.
Mr. Castles had two signed guns made by the second Tom Bennett. One is a full stock C&B rifle with oval patch box, 41 cal. with a 44” barrel. This rifle has 16 silver inlays with quality workmanship throughout. It is of first class work.
The second gun which Mr. Castles had was a ”Boot leg” pistol, signed T. Bennett. It had a 4-1/2” barrel, 50 cal.
The T. Bennett rifles I have seen are of first class work, and the inlays are of a very good quality, well inletted, as well as nicely engraved.
