WANTED Atkinson family riflesmith info. KY, TN, VA.

[Drew23]

My name is Justin Atkinson and I am from the family lineage of the Atkinson Riflesmiths. There has been some info written about Wyatt Atkinson from Slickford, KY and the rifles he built years ago. 

My wife and I are both into Genealogy and we both volunteer at the local Genealogy museum in Wayne County, KY. I'm trying to work on info to build out a file on the Atkinson Riflesmiths. I'm reaching out here to see what info I can find.

I know one member here posted about owning one of Wyatt's rifling machines and I have reached out to him and I'm waiting on a response.

I would love info, pics, etc. My dream goal is to maybe eventually build a rifle styled after one of the Atkinson rifles and/or possibly get my hands on an original.

Thanks everyone for a great site and the contributions everyone has made to make it that way.

God Bless,
Justin

[Bob Roller]

Wyatt Atkinson was featured is an article by Lucian Cary in a magazine I THINK was called TRUE.I d not know if it's still around or not.
I have some OLD magazines and I will look thru them and IF I have that article,you can have it.
Bob Roller

[Ats5331]

I would reach out to Shelby Gallien. He is an authority of Kentucky gunsmiths and rifles. My guess is he will see your post and respond.

He also has a website:

kentuckygunmakers.com

[Tanselman]

Check Wayne County Historical Society's library and see if they have a copy of "Kentucky Gunmakers 1775-1900" Vols. I & II, and the new 3rd volume "Epilogue." If so, there are entries for the early Joel Atkinson I (TN), 2nd gen. Peter Atkinson (TN & KY), 3rd gen. Joel Atkinson, and 4th gen. Wyatt Atkinson in the "Biographies" sections. If they do not have the set of books, it might be worth talking them into purchasing the full set, since it also lists all of the known gunsmiths working in Wayne County in the muzzle loading era, along with all the known gunsmiths working in KY's other counties. 

Also good reading is the booklet "Wyatt Atkinson Riflesmith" by the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1964, which details Wyatt's life and shows many pictures of Wyatt, his shop, and a detailed discussion and images of his rifling bench and how it worked.

Shelby Gallien

[Drew23]

Thank you everyone. I will for sure check with the Historical Society. I have the booklet about Wyatt that I picked up there last year. I've tried this before but, I'm going to try to make a good run at it this time. I've been asking around local for the chance to at least get hands on some of the Atkinson family work and try to catalog some of it. No luck as of yet, I'm sure it will take time and effort. I saw that user Sequatchie Rifle has/had a boring/rifling machine that belonged to Wyatt. I sent him pics about getting some pics or possibly seeing it sometime but, not sure he's seen the message yet. I appreciate everything so far.

My lineage (With birth state) is as follows:

William (VA)
Joel (VA)
Peter Hammond (TN)
Joel (TN)
Peter Francis (KY) (Wyatt's Brother)
William (KY)
Orbie Kay (KY)
Billy (KY)
Justin(KY) Me