David Weller’s Role in the Bardstown Rifle ©

Foreword: Among Kentucky’s nine gunmaking schools, the Bardstown School centered round Nelson County was known for producing the most highly decorated rifles in the state. Gunsmith Jacob Rizer was instrumental in the development of the Bardstown rifle, but it was during his partnership years with David Weller that the Bardstown rifle’s artistic enhancements blossomed after the War of 1812. Rizer was the master, but Weller was a close second in the quality of his work. The story of the Bardstown rifle is incomplete without the contributions of David Weller.

Figure No.1a: David Weller’s finest known rifle is signed in script on a silver barrel plate, “D * Weller.” It was made about 1826-1828 during Weller’s post-partnership years at Elizabethtown in Hardin County, Kentucky. The gun has Weller’s typical Bardstown style patchbox and fish inlay near the first barrel wedge. His patchbox finial has a deeper piercing than Rizer’s, running almost to its base. The finial’s tip was also simpler, seen here as a small ball with pointed tip. Barrel: 44-1/2 inches long, .36 caliber bore, 6-groove rifling. Author’s collection.

Weller’s Background: When Rizer arrived in Bardstown in 1806, the Weller family had already been in Nelson County for ten years and David Weller was fourteen years old, the usual age for an apprenticeship. Earlier Maryland connections between the Rizer and Weller families suggest Weller was apprenticed to Rizer. Weller completed his training in 1813 and in July of that year opened a gun shop in Louisville with partner John Greenawalt. The next year both Weller and Greenawalt enlisted in the American army for service in the War of 1812 and took part in the Battle of New Orleans in January of 1815. It is unknown if Weller returned to Louisville, but later that year he was back in Bardstown and went into partnership with Jacob Rizer. The “Rizer & Weller” partnership lasted until 1826 when Weller left for Elizabethtown in nearby Hardin County to work independently. He worked at Elizabethtown until his premature death from cholera in 1847.

Impact on Bardstown Rifles: No signed Jacob Rizer rifle with a Bardstown-style patchbox has been documented before Weller’s arrival in 1815. Several early pre-partnership full-stocked rifles signed “J. Rizer” are known, and they are plain guns without a patchbox. But during the Rizer & Weller partnership years of 1815-1826, most rifles had a Bardstown style patchbox. Subtle differences are seen in patchboxes made by Rizer when compared to those by Weller, but the overall design was the same. Those differences include the engraving around screw heads, depth of finial piercing, shading of engraved scrolls, and tightness of serpentine lines bordering patchbox lids. Maryland influences are seen in the patchbox design, since both men came from Maryland, but without a surviving pre-partnership patchbox by Rizer, individual contributions remain unclear. Rizer was trained in Maryland and later trained Weller, so he probably had the greater impact on patchbox design. But the traditional Bardstown patchbox did not appear until after Weller became Rizer’s partner, so Weller undoubtedly influenced its final design.         

Weller Rifles: Partnership rifles signed “Rizer & Weller” were made individually by either Rizer or Weller. Circumstantial evidence suggests Rizer stocked a larger percentage of their rifles, while Weller made the early hand-hammered, heavily swamped barrels. A partnership rifle made by Rizer is illustrated in the prior June 6, 2024, blog article, “Kentucky’s Finest Gunmaker, Jacob Rizer of Bardstown,” while a partnership rifle made by Weller is illustrated in Kentucky Gunmakers 1775-1900, Vol. I, p.142, Fig. No.6. Several full-stocked rifles and a later half-stocked rifle by Weller have survived from his Elizabethtown days and are illustrated in Kentucky Gunmakers 1775-1900. His finest known rifle, made in Elizabethtown about 1826-1828, is illustrated in Figures No.1; a similar unsigned rifle is known.

Figure No.1b: The patchbox on Weller’s best-known rifle has his typical deeply pierced finial with simple tip and his vine engraving on the lid. Weller’s forestock inlays were purely decorative, being located between barrel wedges rather than at the wedges. Author’s collection.

Figure No.1c: The back of Weller’s rifle has a typical Bardstown 8-pointed hunter’s star in the cheekpiece. His cheek has a single molding line at the bottom, while Rizer’s cheek had a flattened lower edge that was cross-hatched. Author’s collection, photos by J. Jaeger.

Weller’s Apprentices: Several of Weller’s apprentices are known: younger brother Charles Weller; son George W. Weller, wife Mary’s younger brother Samuel Matthis, Madison Hubbard, and Benjamin Davenport. Rifles by Samuel Matthis and Madison Hubbard are illustrated in Kentucky Gunmakers 1775-1900, and more recently discovered rifles by Charles Weller and Benjamin Davenport are illustrated below in Figures No.2 and No.3, respectively. A final rifle by Henry Killen, who apprenticed under Rizer while Weller was in the shop, is also shown in Figures No.4. The significance of the Killen rifle is the use of details that also reflected the influences of Weller.    

Figure No.2a: Only one signed rifle by David Weller’s brother Charles is known. He was apprenticed to Weller from 1816 to 1821. While mounted as a “poor boy” rifle, it has a typical Bardstown swamped barrel. Barrel: 44-7/8 inches long with .34 caliber bore. Courtesy S. Gorham.

Figure No.2b: The reverse of the Charles Weller rifle has a simple cheek with single molding line, similar to older brother David’s work. The side facing has an open front bolt hole, indicating the gun was originally a flintlock. Courtesy S. Gorham, photos by Author.

Figure No.3a: This fine Bardstown rifle was made by Weller’s Elizabethtown apprentice, Benjamin A. Davenport, who finished his training in 1832 and moved to nearby Lebanon in Marion County to work. Barrel: 44-1/2 inches, .32 caliber bore. Author’s collection.

Figure No.3b: The reverse of the signed “B. A. Davenport” rifle has a typical Bardstown side plate and 8-pointed hunter’s star in the cheek. The star has thicker, slightly rounded horizontal rays and modified engraving. A typical Bardstown chip-carved border runs along the butt plate edge.

Figure No.4a: This Bardstown rifle was made by Henry Killen, Rizer’s apprentice from 1818 t0 1825. Killen worked at Elizabethtown in Hardin County for a few years before moving to Tennessee in 1828. The patchbox shows strong Weller influences in its finial. Author’s collection.

Figure No.4b: The reverse of the Killen rifle has Rizer’s flattened cheek with Weller’s molding line. Despite a single lock bolt, it was originally a flintlock based on a vent pick hole in the butt’s toe. Barrel: 46 inches long, .40 caliber bore. Author’s collection.

Summary: The Bardstown School of gunmaking in central Kentucky was known for producing the State’s most highly decorated rifles. Gunsmith Jacob Rizer was responsible for starting the school, but his early partner, David Weller, played a significant role in the final design of the Bardstown rifle. Weller’s work is less often encountered than Rizer’s, but surviving examples demonstrate his abilities as a fine gunmaker and contributor to the Bardstown School, second only to Jacob Rizer himself.