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Registered: Jul 2016

posted 07-05-2016 05:41 PM            

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I have a family heirloom coin silver serving spoon with maker's mark J.C. WILSON. The original owner of the monogrammed spoon, EGM (1795 -1873), lived in Romney, Virginia (now West Virginia). Family story is that the spoon was made from silver dollars that EGM earned as a drummer boy in the war of 1812. Traditionally, the spoon has been passed on to our family's oldest surviving son. I inherited the spoon in 1982.

Despite much expert assistance, I have been unable to uncover any reliable information regarding the silversmith, J.C. WILSON. However, I have found for sale a set of coin silver teaspoons and a coin silver sugar tongs. Each item had a J.C. WILSON maker's mark identical to that on the serving spoon.

[snip please properly post images]

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posted 07-05-2016 10:44 PM            

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Please read the following page on how to post photos on this forum. http://www.smpub.com/ubb/FAQ/HowToPostPhotos.htm

I do not know anything about this silversmith so I cannot help you with this - hopefully someone here will be able to help. One thing I can help you with is that your family story about this spoon, like most every other family story that comes down with heirlooms, may be a bit romanticized. Your ancestor was, I believe, Ephraim Gilmore Means. You mention that he was born in 1795 which would make him a bit too old to have been a drummer boy in the war of 1812-1815. Most drummer boys were too young to be a regular soldier. As such they tended to be more in the 14 to 16 years old range while soldiers tended to be more in the 17 years and older. Your Ephraim would have been around 17 or 18 at the start of the war and 20 or 21 by the end of it. I did a quick look up on him and found that he did serve in the 1812-1815 war, but he served as a private in the 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment, sometimes called Evan's Regiment named after its commander. There would be more information on him and his service and whether he received a land bounty at the end of the war (many soldiers of that war were eligible to apply to receive up top 150 acres of land out on the frontier) at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The National Archives would likely have any pension papers he may have filed as well.

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posted 07-06-2016 10:39 AM            

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A quick look at the census records shows that Means was in Hampshire VA (1820), Newark OH (1830), and Salem OH (1840). He married his first wife on 1 Jan 1815 in Allegany County MD; his second on 17 Oct 1843 in Champaign County OH. He eventually settled in Jefferson, Logan OH where he is recorded as a well-to-do farmer in the 1850 census. Given the form of the spoon, it dates from the period of his first marriage. I checked for any J. C. Wilson working in MD, VA, and OH, but found no possibilities. I have seen the original EGM monogram on this piece, which is charming, though naive in execution, suggesting a country, rather than city, origin. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell when or where it was done; it may have no connection to Wilson, who could have been a wholesaler supplying that area. As stated elsewhere, I have seen this mark on various pieces of this ilk over the years, but have found no commonality of time/location among them.

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posted 07-06-2016 10:50 AM            

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Hi Wev. Your idea of Wilson being the wholesaler or retailer rather than the silver smith sounds like a promising avenue to explore.

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posted 07-06-2016 03:21 PM            

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Thank you wev and Waylander!!
It is wonderful to receive such erudite and helpful replies.

I have resized and posted a picture of the J.C. WILSON maker's mark in the photo gallery art the address below:

[This message has been edited by wev (edited 07-06-2016).]

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