Parker History-please participate

[Bruce Day]

We all have a gun that we are fond of, it may not be the best, fanciest, costliest or the like, but I have an old Parker that I always bring when I want to be sure. Its a 1911 GHE 12ga, 2frame 30" damascus, nothing special to many. I've posted photos of it before and some I know may be tired of it, but bear with me.

Here are a few photos of the gun, the order book page and a photo of Charles E Tisdall, the sporting goods company owner who ordered the gun. This gun was part of a large order ranging from V grades to high grades, most all 12ga 30", and most were ejectors ordered at $25 extra.

Charles Tisdall is a North America success story. Born in Birmingham England in 1866 to a family of gunsmiths he came to British Columbia Canada at age 22, established a small gunshop and repair business and then reloacated to Vancouver within a few years. Tisdall Sporting Goods became the largest in western Canada and he placed yearly large orders with Parker Brothers. He was the Grand Master Mason and here is a photo of him in regalia. He became mayor of Vancouver and worked to improve and expand that city's lovely park system.

This gun order shows that the Parker gun shipment was by the Burlington Railroad to Chicago then by the Great Northern RR to Vancouver.

Tisdall Sporting Goods is said to have had three tiers of gun racks and ladders on rails. Tisdall is rumored to have been a major supplier of arms to China during the Boxer Rebellion and Chinese are said to have come in from the remote mines with small ingots of silver in payment. Guns would be shipped from Vancouver to China in crates labeled remains to be buried in China.

So this old G sold for $80 plus $25 for the ejectors, $105, a lot of money in 1911 when you could buy lesser guns for $20. A man had to stretch to buy a Parker, maybe still do. I am the third owner and imported it from British Columbia.

So thats the story of this gun. I know many of you have similar stories. You have a respected old gun, a history that you've researched, a story to tell. We put flesh on these old guns, they become special to us, and maybe to future generations.

So, if you have the inclination, can you post photos, a history, a story?

[Matt Michael]

Thats a great story. What was your source for your information? I just bought my first parker and have no idea where to look for the history on it other than looking up the serial number to see when it was made.

[Bruce Day]

If a research letter is available, get it and ask for a copy of the order book page also.

Then Google. The internet search engines are wonderful tools. Ask here also.

Matt, I see where you acquired a rather beat up 0 grade hammer gun. We had a member here who acquired another 0 grade hammer gun, little better condition, got a research letter saying that it was originally ordered by a Denver CO retailer for Charles Springer of Las Vegas, NM. Well in that area of the country they hardly come more famous than Charles Springer, a town is named after him, he was one of the landowners who hired enforcers in the cattlemen/squatter wars, and his 100,000 acre ranch is still in the family and I have met some of his family. So who knows about your gun?

[Bill Murphy]

Bruce is correct in suggesting google and other search engines as well as ancestry.com to try to pick up a name reference. If the gun is identified by name or initials on the gun or in the letter, and is a competition type of gun, I would be willing to assist as would Chris Lien or the Reverend Drew Hause. Another source of name recognition is la84foundation.com. Their search function has helped me to identify many competition shooters and their background. Use the "Sporting Life" option for searching individual magazines. The Griffin and Howe research service is another source of information on original and subsequent gun ownership. Bob Beach at Griffin and Howe is our friend and an avid researcher and is in charge of the research files up there.

[J.B. Books]

"The Journey Begins" In December 1984 I was a 27 year old Captain stationed at Pease AFB NH awaiting transfer to a small radar station in Iceland. It was my turn for a "remote" assignment. (There was some great goose hunting there but that is another story.) I was young and knew very little about Parkers, but they had a mystique about them; this was before the PGCA existed. The most respected gunsmith in the area had a pair of Trojans for sale, a 12ga 28” barrels bored modified and full, and 20ga 28”. Being a duck hunter I was drawn to the 12ga. The day before leaving for Iceland I broke down and purchased the 12ga, 163332, a 1913 gun with a dolls head rib extension. It was in very good condition with about 60% case colors. Duck season was still open so on the morning I was to depart I woke up early and went to an old dairy farm in my home town of Dover that bordered the Bellamy river. It was a cold December 10th and there was a little snow on the ground, the tide was low and as legal shooting time approached I spied a small group of ducks in a narrow brackish channel. The bend in the channel and tall banking would cover my sneak and allowed me to get within 25 yards before they flushed. I brought the Trojan to my shoulder and fired the right barrel, a big Black duck tumbled out of the sky when the 1 ¼ of lead 4’s hit home. I swung to another duck but the gun would not fire. I had never used a gun with two triggers before. It was too late to recover. I walked over and picked up my trophy. While standing there admiring my duck a small group of mallards came into the cove. They were 90 degrees to my position, going left to right at 50 yards or so. There was no time to think, only time to react. I raised the gun to my shoulder still holding the black duck in my left hand. I rested the barrels/forend on my left arm and pulled the back trigger. A big green head dropped out of the sky stone dead. There may have been some luck involved but I walked over to pick up the drake believing everything I had heard about a Parker, it was at that moment a magic shooting wand, and it was mine, I actually owned a Parker. While walking back to my Jeep my thoughts turned to who had used this gun before me, I had a “feeling” it was another duck hunter but had no story or evidence to back it up. I picked up my second duck and went home, leaving the ducks and the gun with my father. While in Iceland I purchased and read Peter Johnson’s and Larry Baer’s books on Parkers, but I still wondered about my Trojan and where it had been. When I came back from Iceland the Trojan was my go to gun for waterfowling until lead was banned. It sat idle for a few years until Bismuth shells came out. Starting in 2000 other Parkers joined it in the gun cabinet but it remained my principle sideby fowler and I enjoyed many a memorable hunt. In 2001 I discovered via internet the PGCA and found I could get a Research letter on my guns. I immediately ordered a letter on my Trojan. When the letter finally arrived I found some basis for my “inkling” the gun had belonged to another duck hunter. My Trojan was ordered in January 1913, it was completed and shipped to the Parker warehouse in June 1913 and then shipped as part of a 25 gun order, all Trojans, to the Walters and Martin Company of Norfolk VA. It sold for $19.00, (a dollar went a long way back then.) I believe the gun most likely started its life shooting fowl on Chesapeake Bay. December 10th seems to be a special day for this gun, in 2001 I was hunting alone on the salt water Cocheco river in Dover, it was a bright sunny day and the action was slow. Suddenly I heard some honking and a lot of it. A big group of Canadas was coming down river and they were hugging my side of the shoreline. The range was about 45 yards and the old Trojan barked twice (I knew how to use two triggers this time) two Canada geese splashed into the river. I had doubled on geese on the 16th anniversary of my first day with this gun. Coincidence, maybe, but I started to wonder if this gun went on it's first hunt on December 10, 1913. Over the course of 23 years use on the brackish waters around Great Bay NH the gun was really showing its age from the wear and tear of salt water hunting. On my 50th birthday in 2007 Scott Kittredge and I went on a “great adventure” and drove 8 hours each way to meet Lawrence and Babe DelGrego. I treated myself to a partial restoration, having the wood and barrels redone but leaving the original case colors alone. A few months later I drove back to Ilion to pick it up. I could not believe it was my gun when Lawrence led me to the vault where my Trojan was laying on the bench. It was proud again and so was I. I am blessed to have several more Parker’s including a couple of “neat” ones but I learned again just recently on a crow shoot that it remains the magic wand I once thought it to be. I knocked down a real tall one, killing it stone dead and watching an incredible long dead fall straight down, with a single shot from the left barrel. There are nicer Parkers in many regards but there is not a better Parker in either performance or the memories it has given me. It was my first Parker and suspect no matter what it will be one of if not my last Parker because there is nothing quite like ones first love is there?

[Dean Romig]

Alot of years ago I wrote a story of the first Parker I ever encountered and it was published in Parker Pages several years ago. That old Trojan has always been very special to me because it was the "touchstone" that drew me to the The Parker Gun.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

Alot of years ago I wrote a story of the first Parker I ever encountered and it was published in Parker Pages several years ago. That old Trojan has always been very special to me because it was the "touchstone" that drew me to the The Parker Gun.

Nice story, but wow are you old, no wonder that Trojan was in such good shape, it was practically new

[Dean Romig]

Ya know... you're right

It was only about forty-five years old when I hunted with it

WOW, I apologize for the first part of that story being so corrupted... I don't know what happened.

[George Lander]

If every old Parker (or any other old double for that matter) could talk what a story they could tell. My favourite mystery Parker is a 20 bore DHE that I purchased at auction from Holt's in London, England. It was built on a "O" frame with 30 inch Titanic Steel barrels, splinter forearm, straight handed stock with chequered butt. SN is 213884. The barrel flats are covered with London proof marks.

The Parker Research Letter contained only the information that my gun was "completed on September 10, 1925. According tp Parker Bros. Stock Book No. 75 it was a DHE hammerless, 20 gauge. It featured Titanic Steel Barrels with a length of 30 inches and 2 5/8 inch chambers. It's stock configuration was straight grip. According to Parker Bros. Stock Book No. 75, it's specifications were: Length of Pull: 15 3/8 inches, Drop at Comb: 1 1/8 inches, Drop at Heel: 3 1/4 inches, weight 6 pounds 8 ounces. The price listed in the January 1, 1925 price list for a DHE Grade was $166.00." According to Mr. Conrad that is all the information that was available on the gun.

Engraved on the oval initial plate on the stock is: "2"
"S.D. McGRAW"
"N.Y."

I would dearly love to find out more about this gun. Who was S.D. McGraw? How did it end up in England & why did it go through proof? I know that there was a professional baseball manager named McGraw with one of the New York teams during the 20's & wonder if this could have been him. I tried Googleing the name but came up with very little. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards, George

[Bruce Day]

George, a great story and sounds like you are asking for help from others. Folks, we need pictures, the stories are wonderful but we want to see your gun and if you have some history photos with it, I think people want to see them.

Probably many of you saw through my post and the timing. I'm only one person here that has a passion for these old Parkers and it seems to me that what we are about is admiring, using, shooting on game and targets, learning about the technology and history of these guns and their times , welcoming to new members , and being kind and respectful to each other. Enough already, show us your guns and tell us about them.

HEY JOHN...I see you are on and I know you have an old gun that is interesting. How about it?