I think I am the guy a couple of threads have spoken of. I don't know much of anything about Roper grips, but I know a few things about Kearsarge and Charlie Wendell.
When a person ordered a set of Kearsarge stocks, Charlie sent them a paper with detailed instructions on tracing the shooting hand the stocks would be held by. Those oak leafs were carefully incorporated in to the stock, to fill the gap at knuckle-bends as the hand wrapped around the stock. At first those leafs just look nice, but there is more to them than meets the eye. Indeed, they might just be the best fitting grips you've ever put your hands around, if the original owner and yourself have hands nearly the same size.
Charlie's older children remember taking walks with him, in to the forest. During some of these walks he would bring a saw and shovel, and when he found the right tree he would cut it down and then dig out the base, for the wood burl he used. I doubt this is how he got all of his wood, but some of it for sure.
His early work was all done by hand, and then later he learned how to use a rotary tool, the early version of a Dremel.
He made that box. Others like it too. That box by the way, contains Charlie's RM, both now owned by a Wendell family friend, a name that would be recognized by pretty much everyone here.
I think Charlie was on the Canton Massachusetts PD Auxillary and their shooting team, back in the day, if not there in Canton then it would be a town in the area. The info I have isn't confirmed yet, and I haven't had time to make anything other than initial inquiries.
Charlie was a chemist by trade, and this stuff was more of a hobby. The site of his shop is now Warner Power, on Depot Street in Warner New Hampshire (where I am typing from), the wooden building he worked out of burned down long ago. The locals called it the crutch factory, and apparently Charlie was, at least briefly, the man in charge there. I have some old photos of it. I am not sure if any of them show the place as it was when he worked there, because they are undated photos, and according to what I've found out it burned more than once.
His first chemist job out of college, in Boston, had no lab for him to work out of, and apparently little money to buy one. Charlie got the equipment to blow glass and he literally taught himself to blow glass and made his own lab to work out of.
He also loved to play music, and he blew a glass coronet that really could be played. It was dropped one Christmas and shattered, all that is left today is the glass mouthpiece for it.
He was, in short, one of those guys with incredible amounts of talent and ability.
Ed McGivern loved Kearsarge stocks and had several sets of them. Elmer Keith apparently did not care for them, though Doug Wesson commissioned Charlie at least twice to carve ivory stocks for special, presentation 44 magnums, that went to Keith. I can not prove it, at least not yet, but I believe Charlie carved several other sets of ivories for other guns going to other people. He and Doug Wesson were friends. The set of ivory stocks pictured above is on a Model 34 (of all things!) and is owned by the Wendell family.
My photos are put away on CDs, but I will try and dig them out and maybe post a few shots here.
The ultimate Model 19/66 Combat Magnum thread
This link hopefully takes you right to my post in the "Ultimate Combat Magnum" thread here, where I posted a photo of Charlie's own 19-2, an early 6" 19 finished in nickel. I don't think there are many of them around. And, the nickel CM photo owned by one of his friends, with a marvelous-fitting set of smooth stocks Charlie made. If the link doesn't work quite right, it's all on page 8 of that topic.