Thanks for the comments. This gun is presently in my younger brother's possession. He is pretty liberal with letting me have it whenever and as long as I want. But I'm afraid of shooting all my 30-40 ammo up (I do reload) if I was to have it very long. He has already stated that it will be  passed on down to one of my five sons. Likely the oldest who has two sons himself. That would be 6 generations if that actually happens.
The checkering was actually done by my grandfather's brother who had it until his untimely death in the 1940's. That is when my grandfather had it given to him. The checkering was done with a razor blade. There is a bolt that goes through the wrist of the butt stock. That was done to keep a crack from propagating any further. This type of crack is common for this model. My brother has the original shotgun-type butt plate for this gun. I did offer to get a replacement stock and use this butt-plate. The original stock with the checkering and repair could always be put back on.
My brother will get first crack at getting a deer with it. I'm sure I'll get my chance in the next few years. This gun is perfect for a left-hander like me. (Started out with a Marlin 30-30 back in the 70's, then graduated to flintlocks. So this would be the most modern gun design I will have deer hunted with.)