Legends: A father, a son and the Kentucky Long Rifle

by Kathy Tretter, Special from Ferdinand News

To say Marvin Kemper has surpassed the skills learned at his father’s knee, is like saying Bill Gates has done a little better than his lawyer-father, William Gates Sr.

His father, Cornell Kemper, who died December 22, 2003, can be remembered for many things. The rural Ferdinand native earned a Purple Heart during the Battle of the Bulge on Christmas Day, 1944. He served as a fire watcher in the Ferdinand State Forest prior to World War II. When he returned home after the Fall of Berlin, he plied his craft as a Dubois County cabinetmaker, albeit with a young wife in tow.

But what Cornell Kemper will long be remembered for is the beautiful Kentucky Long Rifles he crafted from original stock and barrels.

Why the leap to gun-making?

According to his son, Marvin, he befriended two schoolteachers-turned-collectors who encouraged him to use his wood-working skills to restock the multitude of old, broken long rifles in their collections.

And a legend was born. By 1952, Cornell was building long rifles full-time. He ran block ads in Shotgun News, ­The Gun Gazette and Shooting Times magazines that read, “Custom Kentucky Rifles built from your lock and barrel.”

Orders came pouring in. “In the early 1950s, there were a great number of old rifles sitting around in closets, attics, barns and the like,” wrote Marvin in a piece for Muzzle Blast magazine in 2005. “Gun owners and dealers throughout the country were enticed by the ads and would box up their old, broken rifles and send them to Cornell to be restocked. It was not unusual for him to receive 10 rifles at a time.”

Cornell worked in a small gun shop adjacent to his house and across from the entrance to the Ferdinand State Forest. He was prolific, completing his thousandth rifle in 1966 and decorating it with gold and silver inlays, but he didn’t like to vary his basic design. “Each rifle was restocked from the blank and adorned with handmade patchboxes, inlays and modest carving to the owners specifications,” wrote Marvin.

“While Cornell built many Lancaster, Tennessee mountain, Hawken and other styles,” Marvin wrote, “He particularly favored the Berks County ‘Roman nose’ stock profile … each rifle was stamped ‘C. Kemper’ on the top barrel flat. His signature rifle was of the late flint period and included a straight barrel, most commonly in .45 caliber. The ornamentation typically included a brass patchbox with an ‘eagle picking its wing’ finial, eagle cheekpiece inlay, man-in-the-moon inlay behind the cheekpiece and a variety of other inlays along the wrist and forestock. All inlays, sideplates, patchboxes and nose caps were handmade from sheet stock.”

Sometimes, high school or college groups would drop by his shop, which doubled as an antique store for a time, and watch this quiet, unassuming man ply his trade.

In 1976, Cornell built rifle number 2,000 to commemorate the nation’s Bicentennial.

In all, he built more than 3,000 Kentucky Long Rifles in his 47-year career, crafting his ­final gun at age 84.

Over the years he received orders from far and wide. In 1973, the Department of the Interior ordered four rifles for display and demonstration at national parks, including the George Rogers Clark Memorial in Vincennes and Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in nearby Lincoln City.

Cornell was prolific in other ways as well. With his wife, the former Doris Berry who he found and fell in love with in Louisiana, he produced six daughters and one son. Marvin is the baby of the family. He inherited his father’s talent and has taken it far beyond anything his father ever dreamed of.

Marvin Kemper

As a child, Marvin spent much of his free time puttering in his father’s shop. His dad gave him free range to handle the tools and often called him in to help cut the barrel channels. He also allowed him to file grooves in his work bench, which would almost be unheard of for many craftsmen.

Marvin may have thought he was just playing but in truth he was learning.

He built his first long rifle in 1972 at age 13.

And a second Kemper legend was born.

He attended college and after graduation, his dad asked him to help fill some orders by making a few guns in Cornell’s style.

“Dad used all straight barrels,” Marvin explains, “and didn’t do any carving.”

Marvin, on the other hand, designs most of his rifles with a swamp or tapered barrel and does all his own carving. Cornell didn’t engrave either — Marvin perfected the skill as a sort of apprentice to the man Cornell hired to handle this task.

Where Cornell might have finished three guns in a week, Marvin’s much more intricately designed rifles take weeks to complete.

Cornell used six carving tools. Marvin uses hundreds.His father charged $50 per rifle in the early days, raising the price to $90 and finally, to around $575 in the 1990s. Marvin’s guns are a little pricier.

But Marvin did not start out to be a gun-maker. He spent 30 years in a corporate environment, but continued to practice his craft­ on the side. Two years ago he decided to build Kentucky Long Rifles full-time.

His shop is located between Evansville and New Harmony, where he moved with his wife, Karen and two children after accepting a position as property manager with the Daughters of Charity.

“This is my sixth shop,” he explains. “I  finally got it right in terms of windows, ceiling height and lighting.” While opening a shop in New Harmony holds appeal, he has been told he would never be able to get anything done as the curious would outweigh actual customers.

Not everyone is in the market for a Kentucky Long Rifle. It’s a very specialized field and only about 25 true American craftsmen are engaged in it. His customers hail from just about everywhere.

Marvin shares the history of long rifles, bandying the names of early gun makers like a teenage girl rattles off the names of pop stars.

For example he recalls the work of John Small of Vincennes, a master gunsmith who was appointed the first sheriff in Knox County in 1790, and was elected a representative to the legislature in 1799 (17 years before Indiana gained statehood) during the very first election held in the Northwest Territory.

Recently the Indiana Legislature passed a law naming the John Small Rifle as the state gun (much like the state bird and state tree).

He explains how the Kentucky long Rifle was truly an American evolution.What he doesn’t talk about in any great detail — unless prodded — is himself.

When the National Rifle Association held its national convention in Indianapolis a year and a half ago, Marvin was asked by the association’s president, Wayne LaPierre to design and build a Kentucky Long Rifle as a gift­ for conservative syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin.

It was crafted, as are 99% of Kentucky Long Rifles, from curly maple. Marvin looks for exemplary figure or curl (grain) and has a ready source from a nearby woodsman in Darmstadt. He uses the finest quality barrels available, known for accuracy.Yes, some of his customers use their rifles and pistols. Others acquire them to admire them.

While displaying at a gun show, another well-known gun-maker stepped up to Marvin’s booth and pointed at an article written in the Indianapolis Star circa 1960 about his father. “That’s him, that’s the one!” the man enthused. Turns out he had read the article when it was first published and it inspired him to become a Kentucky Long Rifle and pistol maker.

The world of long rifles and muzzle loaders is indeed a small one.

Marvin’s intricate carving and inlays are truly a work of art by an amazing artisan. He currently has a number of projects in the works and is taking orders for 2016. Some are so ornate, with lots of eight point stars, moons, fish and other religious symbolism popular in an earlier era, but Marvin prefers the less flashy, more subtle rifles. However, he builds what the customer wants and can design something totally unique or replicate a design from the past.

As the interview draws to a close (he is on his way to deliver five custom sets of dueling pistols, each in their own hand-carved box and complete with a powder horn and inset box to hold lead and patches, as well as a tamping tool — Christmas gifts from a loving wife and mother), Marvin muses, “When Dad was 55 he made a rifle for me. Now I’m 55 and I’m making my son Ben one.”

He is also designing a very special long rifle in honor of Ferdinand’s 175th anniversary, that will be sold via a silent on-line auction. [hr]

175th Commemorative Long Rifle

When Marvin was asked to design a special Kentucky Long Rifle for Ferdinand’s 175 birthday, he decided to mimic the style of Peter Berry, a Berks County, PA gunsmith in the 1790s. Because his mother’s maiden name is Berry, he feels an affinity with the early gun maker who often used what might be considered a modified Roman nose in his designs. 

The town’s 175th logo will be crafted from silver inlaid into brass on the patchbox (unless Kemper changes his mind — this is a work in progress) and will include sterling silver and brass motifs, as well as the town’s skyline graphic.

This high grade rifle with a tapered and flared 45 caliber rifled barrel and premium Germanic flintlock will be on display during the 20th annual Gun and Knife Show at the Ferdinand Community Center on Saturday and Sunday, January 24 and 25. 

This is the largest gun show in the area with 130 tables — an appropriate place to premiere Marvin’s latest masterpiece. However the gun will not be raffled. It will be sold via a silent, online auction that opens following the gun show

On-line bidding for the unique Kemper rifle will open following the Gun and Knife Show beginning at 6:00 p.m. EST on February 9, 2015. Bidders must register on-line at gunbroker.com to participate. Once registered at gunbroker.com, search for “Ferdinand 175th Kentucky Long Rifle”.

Not computer savvy? Ferdinand 175th Fund-raising co-chair Lee Begle says anyone who wants in on the action but is not technically proficient can place a bid by giving him a call at 812-630-5200. Bidding will close February 22 at 6:00 p.m. EST following Ferdinand Day at the Dubois County Museum.

The on-line sale of this gun will help provide funding for Ferdinand’s 175th celebration with events scheduled throughout the year and a special celebration June 18-21 at Ferdinand’s 18th Street Park.[hr]

A little history

The name “Kentucky Long Rifles” is actually a misnomer. The first documented appearance of rifling was in Germany around 1460. The flintlock was developed in the early 1600s. By the late 1600s gunsmiths were experimenting with longer barrels than had ever been used before.

But, as with so many things, it took America ingenuity to bring out the best. It just didn’t happen in Kentucky.

Around 1725, the first incarnations of the long rifles were being designed and built by German craftsman in Pennsylvania. The uniquely American long-range rifles were carried into the frontier (at that time Kentucky) by hunters, trappers and explorers. The actual name “Kentucky Longrifle”was first used in an 1812 song The Hunters of Kentucky.

A typical rifle was .50 caliber, made of curly maple, full stock, with a 42 to 46 inch barrel. A crescent-shaped butt plate, patch box and cheek piece were also common.

The long rifle was a prime factor in several Revolutionary era battles, especially in the West. It was also the preferred firearm during the 1812 Battle of New Orleans, because the government did not have enough funds to arm soldiers so they brought their own.

The Kentucky Long Rifle was more accurate than any known previous firearm, and it soon became famous with a flight being deadly at over 200 yards — an almost unheard of range at that time. As a result, this rifle became the primary choice of frontiersmen, especially in the isolated and hazardous wilds of Tennessee and Kentucky.

The Golden Age of Kentucky Long Rifles is generally considered from 1780 to 1830.

Legend has it that Daniel Boone carried a Kentucky Rifle through the Cumberland Gap.