Kentucky’s Bryan Gunsmiths and Their Lexington Style Patchbox ©
Foreword: Kentucky’s best known patchbox is the iconic cast brass Lexington style patchbox that identifies better rifles of the Lexington School of gunmaking. Its evolution remains unclear, but evidence points toward the initial design being brought to Kentucky by the Bryan family of gunsmiths from North Carolina. William Bryan Sr., the earliest known Bryan gunsmith, settled Bryan’s Station a few miles northeast of Lexington in 1779. Both William and oldest son William Jr. were killed by Indians within the first year and left no signed rifles. But second son Daniel caried on the gunsmithing tradition in Kentucky and became Lexington’s most important early gunsmith. He is thought to be responsible for the unique design of the Lexington style patchbox. Several of his sons were also gunsmiths, with oldest sons William and Lewis making most of the surviving “Bryan” rifles.
Figure No.1: This Bryan rifle is signed "L. Bryan" on a silver barrel plate and was made by Lewis Bryan about 1812. The original owner's name, "C. Hazelrigg" for Charles Hazelrigg, appears on the silver overlay on the patchbox lid. A family provenance states the rifle was used in the War of 1812, and Kentucky records verify Hazelrigg served in the Kentucky Mounted Militia in 1813. The barrel has been shortened at the muzzle by a professional gunsmith early in the gun's life, perhaps to make it easier to carry on horseback. Author's collection, photo by J. Jaeger.
Bryan Family History: William Bryan Sr. was born in 1733 in Virgina and became a gunsmith. He later moved to Rowan County, North Carolina, where he and son Daniel served as a gunsmiths in the Revolutionary War. In 1779 William with fourteen other families left North Carolina and settled Bryan’s Station on Elkhorn Creek in Fayette County, Kentucky, a few miles northeast of Lexington. In 1779 William’s oldest son, William Jr., was killed by Indians and in early 1780 William Bryan was severely wounded in an Indian attack. He died eight days later on May 24, 1780, but survived long enough to write a will that left his gunsmithing tools to son Daniel. Conditions became so dangerous that the remaining Bryan family members returned to North Carolina later that year. Daniel retuned to Kentucky in 1782 and worked as a gunsmith in Lexington. In 1786 he married and moved about six miles south of Lexington, built a large stone house and gun shop, and worked there until his death in 1845. He acquired over two thousand acres of land in Fayette County and in mid-life gave up gunsmithing to run his other businesses. His sons Lewis and William took over the gun shop after the War of 1812 and continued making the iconic Lexington rifle into the early percussion years.
The Lexington Patchbox: The Bryan family is the probable source for introducing the Lexington style patchbox to central Kentucky. The “captured lid” style and simple engraving appear to be taken from early North Carolina rifles, and stock architecture was strongly influenced by their North Carolina years. Patchboxes were two pieces of cast in brass, a surround and lid, but at least one known Lexington patchbox was made of sheet brass, as well as a second later example in sheet brass probably from Missouri after Louis Bryan had moved there. Lexington was blessed with early brass foundries by/before 1800, making the conversion from a more complex four-piece sheet brass Lexington box to the simpler cast two-piece box a reasonable step. Brass foundries were advertising cast gun mountings for sale in Lexington by the early 1800s, undoubtedly based on the Bryan pattern. The two-piece cast brass box was less labor intensive to finish and mount than the traditional four-piece sheet brass box with segmented hinge, making it the patchbox of choice for most gunsmiths working in the Lexington School. The foundries casting the Lexington patchbox may have played a role in its final design, modifying an earlier Bryan pattern slightly for ease of casting or perhaps to avoid legal issues with their castings.
Figure No.2: Pre-War of 1812 Bryan rifles had patchboxes with a larger finial where the inside "petal" at the finial tip touched the base. This rifle is signed "L. & W. Bryan" and was made a few years before the War of 1812. Courtesy M. Hankla.
Figure No.3: The patchbox from the "L. Bryan" signed rifle has a later post-War of 1812 patchbox where the finial's smaller inner "petal" does not touch the piercing's base. Note the stylish "fish tail" inside the finial. Author's collection, photo by J. Jaeger.
Daniel Bryan Rifles: Only two signed rifles by Daniel Bryan are currently known. Both were restocked during their working years, losing the original Bryan stock architecture but retaining most of the original mountings. The earliest restock has a Lexington style stock [restocked by a local Renick gunsmith] with the original “large finial” type Lexington patchbox. The later restock has no patchbox and was probably made that way originally, since the silver barrel plate has both Bryan’s name and the original owner’s name. If the original gun had a patchbox, the owner’s name would have appeared on the patchbox lid, not the barrel inlay. Despite Daniel Bryan’s many years working as a gunsmith in/near Lexington and his early use of the Lexington style patchbox, no original rifle by him is currently known. However, rifles by his sons Lewis and William have survived.
Figure No.4: This is one of two known Daniel Bryan barrel signatures. Both signed barrels were found on period restocked rifles. This barrel includes the original owner's name, "J. Atchison." John Atchison was a well-to-do Lexington business owner around 1810. An owner's name on the barrel plate implies the original rifle did not have a patchbox, otherwise the owner's name would be on the patchbox lid. Author's collection, photo by J. Jaeger.
Figure No.5: This is the only known patchbox by gunsmith Daniel Bryan, mounted on a period restocked rifle along with much of the original Bryan hardware. The guard, with a double-tipped rear spur, is a later style used during the restocking. The replaced stock retains the triangular Lexington style, but was probably done about twenty years after the original rifle was made. Both the style of the replacement guard, as well as the rifle’s provenance, strongly suggest the gun was restocked by local gunsmith John Renick. The restocked gun was made in percussion, helping establish the time interval between the original gun and its restocking.
Courtesy J. Caudill, photo by Author.
Lewis and William Bryan Rifles: Lewis (1785-1889) and William (1787-1854) took over their father’s gun shop soon after the end of the War of 1812. Several rifles by the brothers are known. The earliest example, signed “L. & W. Bryan” on a silver barrel plate, has the large finial pre-War of 1812 patchbox and is the earliest known original Bryan rifle. Several other rifles signed “L. Bryan” or “W. T. Bryan” have survived from the flint era [pre-1832 in KY] with the smaller post-War of 1812 patchbox finial. All are highly significant rifles, since they demonstrate original Bryan stock architecture, patchboxes, molding lines, and inlay work. Lewis left the shop by/before 1836 when he moved to Missouri, and William died in 1854. When the last Bryan rifle was made is unknown, but all known/signed rifles fall within the flintlock era, i.e., before 1832 in Kentucky. The author has a Lexington School “working rifle” in percussion that has many details of the Bryan shop, but it is unsigned.
Figure No.6: Full length view of the "L. & W. Bryan" signed rifle with the earlier large finial patchbox, indicating the gun was made before the War of 1812. The rifle exhibits the Bryans' typical stock architecture with triangular butt, four ramrod pipes, upward sloping guard with heavy front post, and small oval inlays at forestock wedge locations. Courtesy M. Hankla.
Figure No.7: The "L. Bryan" signed rifle has the later, smaller finial patchbox. This rifle was professionally shortened on the muzzle end by a gunsmith during its working years [only three ramrod pipes instead of four], perhaps for use on horseback. Its original owner, Charles Hazelrigg, served with the Kentucky Mounted Militia during the War of 1812. Author's collection, photo by J. Jaeger.
Figure No.8: This rifle is signed "W. T. Bryan" for William Turner Bryan, younger brother of Lewis Bryan. It is slightly later than the Lewis Bryan rifle above based on the smaller "fish tail" detail at the base of the finial's piercing. The original owner's name, "C. Rodes," is engraved on the oval silver plate on the patchbox lid. Author's collection, photo by J. Jaeger.
Summary: The Bryan family of gunsmiths of Fayette County, Kentucky, is thought to have introduced the iconic Lexington style patchbox to the Bluegrass area of central Kentucky. Originally it may have briefly been made of sheet brass, but early local foundries soon began casting the box in two pieces as a large surround and separate lid, joined by a simple hinge inside the box where matching tabs cast on the lid and surround were aligned, drilled, and mated/attached with an iron pivot pin. The simple but elegant patchbox immediately identifies a rifle as a Lexington School gun from Kentucky, and its design probably originated with the early Bryan family of gunsmiths who introduced strong North Carolina influences to gunmaking in and around Lexington in the 1780s.