Tobin anyone....

[Nick de Guerre]

Chris D,

It would be interesting to know if the engraver is indicated, or any other hidden maker's marks. I can't confirm this with direct evidence...YET...but I believe that George Giddings was at Tobin.

George was the first son of Charles Giddings, who emigrated to the U.S. from England in 1865, and as of 1870 was living in Meriden, CT. He is probably best known for his work at Remington, where his daughter was a checkerer, and his younger son was listed as a "toolmaker." Charles Giddings' name has been seen on the woodwork of a few guns, including Lefevers. (** BTW, there is at least one gun out there that is stamped Charles Giddings, as maker. But it is strikingly similar to a Lefever hammer gun, and I'm not entirely convinced it isn't really just a Lefever gun that he completed. It's owned by a PGCA member.**)

George was born once the Giddings' had moved to Ilion, in 1878, and by 1905 he is listed as living in Fulton, NY with occupation of "gun maker." A Hunter Arms man?

By 1911 the Canadian Census has him living with his wife in Oxford North, Ontario, which is a little village just outside of Woodstock...where Tobin Arms was. But the census lists no occupation details for him, and I've yet to find a directory which references him.

I do not know how long he remained in Canada. He passed away in 1923, and is buried in Ilion.

That's all I have, to date. But I think circumstantially the odds are fairly good that in his years in Ontario he worked at Tobin...otherwise quite a coincidence.

- NDG