Looking for a Gibson....

[Guest ChadroG]

Howdy all, new to the board but a long time reader! I have a question/request I guess. My family name is Gibson and I live in the Eastern part of the state. I was always told, while growing up, that my great great grandfather was a famous (for this area) gunsmith. I found this to be true while doing some Genealogy for a project while in college. His name was Wiley Gibson, and was the last in a line of 5 generations of gunsmiths. The art was lost somewhere along the way in my family but we never lost the love of firearms in general. I have found pictures of him online and it's crazy how much he looks like my grandpa and even my dad in the last years of his life (If you smoke....stop yesterday!!!!). Anyway, Wiley Gibson made mostly what is referred to as a Hog Rifle but made flint locks as well. One apparently won a marksmanship competition in Washington DC one year. There was even sayings to attest to the quality of his work like, “you could only make that shot with a Gibson...". These are all things I have found online, some reading in online historical databases, and the like. What I am looking for is anyone who has even seen, owned, has had, currently has, or knows anything about the weapons he made (any of them), any type of markings he might has used, has a picture of one, or even knows any information about what makes a rifle a "Hog Rifle". Thanks in advance for the help and the great site!

[Jonnin]

At 25 years per generation, thats 1830s roughly, as you are generation 7.

Any chance you are from england? When did they arrive in the states??

http://www.buyantiqu...nnonBarrel.html for example?

I would try civil war forums/areas/searches on the web. Gotta have been making some for the war...

I tried for a few but, well, curse you mel gibson! Just about anything you try gets 1000000000 pages of crap about the patriot or his other movies, and taking off "mel" only removes half of them.

What about an Abram J Gibson?

Quoted blurb:

Although Gibson known to have been involved with patents utilized in making Pond revolvers, this large handgun clearly evidences many features of the large Prescott 38 Navy revolver:

also:

http://books.google....ved=0CE0Q6AEwAQ

a book that mentions a gibson making a hog rifle in the old way (as if he were making replicas or something at this point).

last one:

http://books.google.com/books?id=G_dGAAAAYAAJ&q=antique+%22hog+rifle%22&dq=antique+%22hog+rifle%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wDx7T42DFoWe8QTxkcnpBA&ved=0CF8Q6AEwBA

so it looks like you may have to buy a book or 2 to find out more. I did not see a ONE listed anywhere on the web, not a picture nor an auction or anything.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Jonnin

[LI0NSFAN]

Did a quick search and there is a guy that goes by the screen name BUCK on http://americanlongrifles.org who use to own a gibson rifle. He might know where it is now.

Also sent an email to a friend that is a patient lawyer and if you family ever lived in TX he held the original patient on a recoil pad. Here is a link to the patient filed in 1923 http://www.google.tk...epage&q&f=false

on the left of that page there is a link to a drawing of the pad as well

Edited April 3, 2012 by climberscott_1999

[Guest ChadroG]

To climberscott_1999, we are not from Texas....damn it more money lost!!! lol.

To Jonnin, the Gibson named side of my dad's line is from England but not sure on the arrival date. The English was somehow very found of Cherokee women though as we know more about that side than the English side. I guess my forfathers liked them tan! My mom's side is from the royal Moncrief clan of Scootland, and apparently there is a town and castle and the whole 9 yards named after my family there....but back to Wiley.

I am not sure of a middle initial, but I know where he is buried so I might be able to check one day this week. I have found very little online from resources outside of the east TN area, mostly estu and databases like that which are dedicated to preserving the history of the area. I found some stuff on his dad fighting in the civil war and such but not much else. I guess the lure of the open ended phrase "Famous Gunmaker of the Smokies" is killing me to know more! Sorry to load up the form with something that really is more of a treasure hunt/family tree/ history question. Below are some links and some with pics of him and a few with the guns and in the shop. Thanks for the help and the quick responces!

This one was big news I guess as it made it out of TN...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19410318&id=_eUdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ASMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2779,1790992

From the states pages.

http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/recordgroups/findingaids/RG82B7-55.pdf

From ETSU, he was apparently in a book called Guns and Gun-Making Tools just open the link and do a Ctrl + F to "find" the term Wiley

http://www.etsu.edu/cass/archives/Collections/afindaid/a65.html

From TN virtual archive...

http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/conservarts/id/127/rec/17

[Ramjo]

This is interesting.

[Jonnin]

Well, from what I can tell these are almost home-made, single shot black powder guns, probably in the neighborhood of 30-40 caliber. The same things are also called kentucky rifles, pennsylvannia rifles, and so on based off the local name for them. They are all very similar -- it seems as if there was one design that was copied by every local gunsmith. These were the rifles used by the early settlers until about the civil war, when repeating guns started to replace them.

Anyway, I would forget about wiley for a moment and do some fresh searches on HIS parents or grandparents. If you had a name for the first or second generation of the smiths, that would be a big help, rather than the last one, who inherited a working business. Wiley could still have been running "Bob gibson's guns and goods" shop or something, is what I am getting at...

Everything I have found has referenced either abram/abraham or John gibson. And not much of that. Do any of these names pop up in your family tree?

[Guest cardcutter]

Should you be so lucky to find pic of these guns please post them for us. I know I would love to see them.

[Jonnin]

Think we are looking at something like this, for pictures. But its not a gibson, just the general type of gun.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=18969.0

[Guest James H. Sichlau]

Hello. This is my first post on this forum. I joined because while searching for historical information on Wiley Gibson, I came upon this site. I own a Wiley Gibson "hog rifle" having purchased it from Buck (see a prior post on this thread). Unfortunately it is not signed on the top barrel flat as many mountain rifles were, but the hang tag accompanying the weapon notes that it was made for the first mail carrier in Hawkins Co., TN who was also a Gibson and carried mail on a mule. Jerry Noble who wrote four books on Southern mountain rifle makers pictures a gentleman on a mule carrying a longrifle on the cover of Volume two of his books. He believes this person was the mail carrier in question and that the rifle was the piece that I now own.

I enjoy this gun as it reflects many of the traits associated with Tennessee mountain rifles. It is iron munted, features a hand forged tang that goes all the way from the breech to the buttplate, and has a wear plate on the forearm also of iron which is one piece of iron beginning with the rear ramrod ferrule and covering much of the bottom of the forend. It would have been perfect for carrying across a saddle and demonstrates that Wiley Gibson was a hell of a blacksmith. The rifle is about .52 caliber and probably could have handled an angry bear if one was met while delivering the mail in Tennessee in the late 1800s.

I would like to learn more about Mr. Gibson and learn if any of the information on the hang tag can be verified by family tradition/stories.

Jim

[gregintenn]

Jim, would you post some photos?

[Guest James H. Sichlau]

How does one post phoros on this site?

Jim

[gregintenn]

You'll need an account at a site such as photobucket. Save the pictures there. Scroll over the picture, and copy the IMG code at the bottom of the pull down window and paste it here.

[Handsome Rob]

How does one post phoros on this site?

Jim

If you like, you can email the pics to me at: robtatto580@hotmail.com & I'll happily post them for you.

[Guest James H. Sichlau]

Much obliged to have you post the photos. Unfortunately two attempts to send them to you were returned. I tried robtatto and robtattoo. Please try again.

Jim

[Handsome Rob]

Sorry! Should have been robtattoo580@hotmail.com........stupid cellphone computer thingys

[JoeJ615]

i dont know if it's the same line but my mothers maiden name is gibson and she has alot of family in east TN ... mostly in the ducktown - copper hill area

[Handsome Rob]

Here you go James.......

[Guest James H. Sichlau]

Thanks Rob! This Wiley Gibson rifle is typical of the black powder weapons made in a cottage industry in Tennessee and neighboring states. While examples exist from the early 1800s, many of the pieces are late guns which were still being made and used in the 20th century. When the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association was formed in the early 1930s, much of the impetus came from shooting matches still being held in the southern hills.

Walter Cline an early president of the NMLRA was an avid shooter of these old guns and wrote a classic text documenting their making and use in matches (The Muzzle-Loading Rifle then and Now). He found a number of itinerant gunsmiths who could "refresh" the rifling of old guns that often rusted away in barns for many years. Essentially this consisted of scraping a few thousands of an inch of iron from the rifling lands to clean up the bores and reestablish their accuracy. As the iron in the barrels was soft, "freshening" was a common repair task.

The key features of the Tennesse guns were their delicate architecture, iron mountings, and incredible accuracy. The barrels were often forge welded from wagon wheel tires(wrought iron) and hand rifled. Soddy, Tennessee came to be known as the place where rifles of incredible accuracy were made.

Wiley Gibson was born in 1861 and died in 1940, I think. Like most Tennessee makers he used iron for his trigger guards, buttplates, and ram rod ferrules. Likewise his "banana" patchboxes were also made of iron. The lengthy tangs were probably designed to strengthen the delicate wrists of these guns and I believe also beause these gifted smiths liked to show off their skills. As most people traveled by horseback, wearplates were often added to the forestocks to prevent the saddle from wearing a hole in the forestock.

Many of the barrels were exceptionally long. The Gibson rifle barrel is 43 inches long and I handled one with a 62 inch barrel. The gunsmith who made the latter piece butt welded two barrels together end to end and rifled the finished product.

While I won't shoot the Gibson, I have a Soddy made rifle by Jonnie Clement (late 1800s)which is a hoot at the range.

Jim

[gregintenn]

Very interesting! It's been a while since I've been there, but the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville has a pretty good collection of Tennessee made firearms. I do not recall if this brand was included. Might be worth a look, ot at least a call.

[Guest tamlog]

Howdy all, new to the board but a long time reader! I have a question/request I guess. My family name is Gibson and I live in the Eastern part of the state. I was always told, while growing up, that my great great grandfather was a famous (for this area) gunsmith. I found this to be true while doing some Genealogy for a project while in college. His name was Wiley Gibson, and was the last in a line of 5 generations of gunsmiths. The art was lost somewhere along the way in my family but we never lost the love of firearms in general. I have found pictures of him online and it's crazy how much he looks like my grandpa and even my dad in the last years of his life (If you smoke....stop yesterday!!!!). Anyway, Wiley Gibson made mostly what is referred to as a Hog Rifle but made flint locks as well. One apparently won a marksmanship competition in Washington DC one year. There was even sayings to attest to the quality of his work like, “you could only make that shot with a Gibson...". These are all things I have found online, some reading in online historical databases, and the like. What I am looking for is anyone who has even seen, owned, has had, currently has, or knows anything about the weapons he made (any of them), any type of markings he might has used, has a picture of one, or even knows any information about what makes a rifle a "Hog Rifle". Thanks in advance for the help and the great site!

Don't know if you are still interested in this and I am curious to see if the fellow who posted pictures, posted an actual Wiley Gibson gun.  Anyway, if you are on Facebook, friend request me at Tam Logston and I will add you to my Gibson group.  Wiley J Gibson (1866-1948) is covered in our group.  In fact, I spoke to a curator at the Sugarlands Basement Museum (GSMNP) and he said one of Wiley's signed guns is in a museum north of Knoxville.  Wiley J Gibson was the son of William D Gibson and Amanda Nichols.  Wiley had a cousin, Dr. Stephen V Gibson (we have photos) that started out as a moonshiner and eventually put himself through medical school in Knoxville and became a doctor in Sevierville TN.

[Guest tamlog]

Hello. This is my first post on this forum. I joined because while searching for historical information on Wiley Gibson, I came upon this site. I own a Wiley Gibson "hog rifle" having purchased it from Buck (see a prior post on this thread). Unfortunately it is not signed on the top barrel flat as many mountain rifles were, but the hang tag accompanying the weapon notes that it was made for the first mail carrier in Hawkins Co., TN who was also a Gibson and carried mail on a mule. Jerry Noble who wrote four books on Southern mountain rifle makers pictures a gentleman on a mule carrying a longrifle on the cover of Volume two of his books. He believes this person was the mail carrier in question and that the rifle was the piece that I now own.

I enjoy this gun as it reflects many of the traits associated with Tennessee mountain rifles. It is iron munted, features a hand forged tang that goes all the way from the breech to the buttplate, and has a wear plate on the forearm also of iron which is one piece of iron beginning with the rear ramrod ferrule and covering much of the bottom of the forend. It would have been perfect for carrying across a saddle and demonstrates that Wiley Gibson was a hell of a blacksmith. The rifle is about .52 caliber and probably could have handled an angry bear if one was met while delivering the mail in Tennessee in the late 1800s.

I would like to learn more about Mr. Gibson and learn if any of the information on the hang tag can be verified by family tradition/stories.

Jim

Jim - can you share a photo of the Gibson postal carrier you say is picture on the 2nd issue of Jerry Noble's book.  I belong to a genealogy group on FB and Wiley Gibson is one of the ancestors we have information on - it would be nice to have a photo.

[Redrebels]

You still looking for a Gibson rifle?

[Bucolic_Buffalo]

On 11/9/2017 at 1:10 PM, Redrebels said:

You still looking for a Gibson rifle?

It's a family history thing.  I would like to see any photos of rifles that can be attributed to Wiley J. Gibson, or his father and grandfather.  I understand he was actually the fifth generation in a row to have made guns.