A Rifle With A Cool History

Brookwood · August 2023

One of the longrifles I once owned, came with a lot of provenances about its travels through time.

The gun was a Pennsylvania made rifle made by a man who was born in Dauphin County in the year 1790, the son of a gunsmith that also built rifles during the Revolutionary War. John Shell, my guns maker also served in a Dauphin County regiment as a Major during the War of 1812. He made a lot of rifles and some fowlers that he always signed his name to along with a numbering system that designated when each was made.

The particular longrifle I owned was also something very special out of the ones that have survived over all of the years of his work. John Shell died in 1870. Back in the year 1849, he made a special gun for one of his sons, Amos Shell who at just 19 years of age became enamored in a future of adventure and travel on the vast frontier of our expanding country. News of the Gold Rush happening at that time may have had a lot to do with this young mans dreams and desires. He left his home in Pennsylvania and joined a wagon train heading west with the new rifle his father had made for him.

Not much is known about the rigors he endured during much of the trip but tragedy struck in a place called Little Sandy I believe somewhere in Wyoming Territory. Amos Shell died there. Most likely just buried along the trail but his rifle survived and was sent back to the family in PA.

It was originally made a flintlock but was converted to percussion sometime during its use. Inside the patchbox lid is scratched very crudely by what I believe done by Amos himself, his name.

Anyway, I met a man living near Boston MA that was a direct descendant of John Shell and his son Amos several years ago and through the years of friendship agreed to sell him this fine long gun. It is happily back in the family hands!

Note: Top rifle original John Shell, bottom a somewhat fancified copy made by Joe Rundell (a former owner of the original) of Flint MI during the early 1960's.