L.E. Williams was born on January 2nd, 1959, in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was raised in a small community adjacent to the 1300 acres of Grand Marais State Park in the southern part of Illinois. Camping, fishing, hunting and shooting guns were always a big part of his childhood. As a teenager, he made a hobby of purchasing old guns to refurbish and sell for a small profit. After serving six years in the military, he settled down some twenty plus years ago and made his home in the secluded woods of Backusburg Ridge, Kentucky. Being a fourth generation carpenter, he made a modest living with self-employed carpenter work for sixteen years. A combination of a minor health problems and a slow local economy encouraged him to finally retire his small construction company and pursue his lifelong interest in guns.

Being around wood and guns most of his life made early traditional flintlock gunmaking a natural step. Curiosity with muzzleloaders began in the 1980