This is a story about William H. Gough just before he retired.
I transcribed a newspaper article as it was a poor copy and still missing a few words.
It's a little lengthy but quite revealing of the man, his life and his work.
Crests of Eastern Kings Etched in Steel by Utican
By Alberta J. Dickinson - Utica Observer Dispatch August 29, 1954
When King Farouk of Egypt had a special kind of gun turned out for him by Savage Arms Corp. (that was quite a spell before his subjects concluded they had had enough him), the job of engraving the gun fittingly with Egypt's royal crest was delegated to a comparatively obscure Utican, William H. Gough master of his art.
And when Franklin Delano Roosevelt then President wanted to present the Shah of Persia with a rifle (this also was made at the Savage Arms plant), it was Bill Gough who had the job of combining the Persian royal coat of arms with that of the U.S. In an elegant steel and gold engraving for the Shah's gun.
These are just two of the scores of famous folk for whom during his 60 years as one of the country's specialists in gun engraving. Gough has furnished top work, by way of assignments from various gun manufacturing establishment. He has been employed by everyone of the large arms concerns in the country and right now is engaged on a Remington Arms assignment which has taken up much of his summer.
So far as he knows Gough is the only special gun engraver in Central New York. Eighty next March, an inspiring person young at heart and with a captivating sense of humor, he looks a particularly youthful 68 or 70, and is as lively and active as most men half his age. His work requires the closest attention to details but he wars glasses only for driving his car.
An Englishman by birth, his father 90 years ago was a gun engraver, one of the best, in a Birmingham arms plant. “Naturally,” the Utican say, “being a British boy, I followed in my father's footsteps when it came to decide on a profession. His work was typical of English engravers, as delicate and beautiful as the watercolor paintings in which English artists excelled in his day. English hand engraving then and today for that matter contrasted with that of the German and Belgian engravers, outstanding in their field. Their carving is deeper, heavier.
Gough was living in Meriden, Conn. ____ ____ ____ ___ youth, when he began his life's occupation. He studied engraving ornamentation with Frank Sporrns, then head designer for the International Silver Co. in Meridan. In that city as a young fellow, Gough worked for the Parker gun manufacturing plant, for the Colt revolver concern in Hartford, Conn., went on to Philadelphia where he was employed as an engraver for the Fox Gun Co.
In the latter city he established a shop in conjunction with his work for the Fox plant, and took commissions in special engraving jobs from many parts of the country. There he worked on engravings for Aubrey guns then manufactured by Sears Roebuck Co. for guns turned out by the Norwich Arms Corp and Hollenbeck guns, manufactured in Virginia.
Gough was in his late 40's when he came to Utica to work for Savage Arms Corp. as a special engraver. He was with that plant for 20 years, the last two as a tool maker. Along with his responsibilities at the plant he opened a shop of his own shortly after coming to Utica, more recently, for 13 years located in the Gardner block and now for the past two years in the McLoughlin Building,Genesse 81.
This mid-town headquarters for his specialty is a study in disorder, with tables, chairs and stools littered with the work at hand and the instruments for doing it.
He does a good bit of jewelry and watch repairing too and that sort of thing is just an accommodation. Gun engraving is his first love.
He'll tell you, if you stop to visit with him of the job he did on a Colts revolver for Gen. Huerto President of Mexico and of the time he engraved a gun for Ty Cobb, presented him by Philadelphia fans, The great baseball hitter introduced by the almost equally famous “Stony McGlynn,then head of the Philadelphia Ledger's sports department used to come to the engraver's shop regularly to visit with him.
The proprietor of the famous Texas 101 Ranch and many of the cowboy's in the 101 Ranch show which toured the country annually for years all carried pistols engraved by the Ytican.
Men ___________________ their guns are very particular about the designs, Gough explains. They call for birds heads of hunting dogs, bear, moose and deer, combined with the dates of hunting achievements family crests and other ornamentation. Gough makes the free hand drawings on the steel plates with a pen or brush, carries out the final work with a gold inlay.
At his Walker Rd. home the engraver “lets of steam” he says in producing one of the finest vegetable gardens in that locality where he raises everything from potatoes to Hubbard squash.
Gough has four children. They are Irving, Hollywood, Fla, realtor, Charles, Philadelphia an ice cream manufacturer, Alfred, Brewster, Mass, proprietor of a typewriter concern and Phyllis who lives at home and attends Whiterboro Central School. The Goughs including Phyllis are active members of the Church of the Resurrection.
