This rifle has the standard blade and notch sights found on nearly all "Kentucky" rifles and has no visible markings. The full length stock has moulding along the forend, a shallow cheekpiece, scrolls at the rear of the wrist, and rococo carving on the left side of the butt. The patch box design, side plate, trigger guard, and lock are all similar to the J. Ferree signed rifle in "The Lancaster School" chapter in "The Kentucky Rifle" by Merrill Lindsay. Note that the patch box finial is inverted on this example but both have very similar designs and release via a button on the buttplate tang. The carving and engraving on this rifle are also simpler. A similar patch box is also on the cover of "Arms Makers of Western Pennsylvania" by Whisker. Joel Ferree (born 1731) was a gunsmith in Lancaster County from the French & Indian War era through the Revolutionary War. He is known to have produced Committee of Safety Muskets in addition to rifles. He was killed and scalped by hostile Indians in the spring of 1801 while deer hunting near the home of his nephew/son-in-law and fellow gunmaker, Jacob Ferree. Two of Joel Ferree's grandsons were named after him; one was a gunpowder maker and served as a colonel in the War of 1812, and the other was a gunsmith in the 1830s. The trigger guard on this example is similar to the Jacob Ferree guard on page 118 of "Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in Its Golden Age" by Kindig. The remains of the gun shop Joel Ferree built on land purchased from his father in 1752 can still be seen in near Paradise, Pennsylvania.