AmericanLongRifles Forums

General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: Cades Cove Fiddler on April 06, 2018, 08:05:50 PM

Title: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Cades Cove Fiddler on April 06, 2018, 08:05:50 PM

... Wiley Gibson of the Boyd's Creek area of Sevier County Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains was the last of five generations of gunsmiths,.... All guns by the Gibsons were known as accurate hunting and match target rifles,... Ike, Bob, Wiley and Jefferson are some of the Gibsons,... Wiley lived into the 1940's and most likely made rifles into the 1930's ....only guns of theirs I have seen are 1/2 & 3/4 stocked percussion, with some using converted old flint locks,.... next to Last photo is Wiley Oakley,... the famous "Roaming Man of the Smokies", from Gatlinburg TN,.... who I believe carried a GIBSON rifle,..... I would like to see photos of signed GIBSON guns if you boys have one,... !!!! regards,.... Cades Cove Fiddler 

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.ibb.co%2Fj8msBc%2F29101570_10213880121069113_343516840158298112_n.jpg&hash=2ef638417e6677d0b6f6e10ffc1030f0827c30c3) (http://imgbb.com/)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2FfbTYHH%2F29133625_10213887194565946_342332120674336768_n.jpg&hash=99ce66d0fb5f0e0fd84919f934b4ebdeea34002e) (http://ibb.co/bOZUrc)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2Fd3tprc%2F29176742_10213887195805977_5565212257568161792_n.jpg&hash=980cae0832035fe551e0efa036c76652438e40b3) (http://ibb.co/nfrLxH)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2FdaLVxH%2F29136090_10213887193965931_8069029602447589376_n.jpg&hash=b34137d96d4fa38801142a731f6695ce08d646aa) (http://ibb.co/bRuqxH)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2Fk4ouPx%2F29136216_10213887192645898_6893878154570498048_n.jpg&hash=b950be8ab470e70da556f4aa2cf4e488fbd4eed1) (http://ibb.co/cD7AxH)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.ibb.co%2FcrDprc%2Fajaxhelper.jpg&hash=d180dc3ac59ba2c963ed1002186c695fdea68799) (http://imgbb.com/)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.ibb.co%2FfAfDHH%2F20155966_10212048238553195_8520698501162567157_n.jpg&hash=02fc20d5c83cc4ddb1ea8d548762b989e58f40ff) (http://ibb.co/ec5fxH)

(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpreview.ibb.co%2FkZxAxH%2F29063161_10213880214111439_2336085768025407488_n.jpg&hash=e6fd00385fbb0868d149958a02a3234afce1e0a1) (http://ibb.co/jXDTjx)

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: JBJ on April 06, 2018, 09:05:37 PM

Makes me homesick. Thanks, Fiddler.
J.B.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Sequatchie Rifle on April 07, 2018, 05:50:13 AM

My family is from Boyd’s Creek. I’ve got a Wiley Gibson rifle somewhere. I’ll have to dig it out and snap a few photos. It’s nothing special.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: timM on April 07, 2018, 04:06:07 PM

CC Fiddler,

Great post, thanks for taking the time.   Sequatchie Rifle, I would also be interested in seeing your gun. 

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Stoner creek on April 07, 2018, 05:33:33 PM

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a nice long sit down chat with old Wiley?

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: oldtravler61 on April 07, 2018, 06:50:48 PM

  Just spending time with C.C.F. is in it's self a history lesson.  He knows his southern guns ! Wether it be Tennessee, smr or Soddy style.
  Good person to spend time with.  Oldtravler

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: J.E. Moore on April 24, 2018, 02:06:06 AM

Do you know if any of these rifles had brass triggerguards or buttplates?  The last couple pictures look close to the same style that belonged to my great great grandfather.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Sequatchie Rifle on April 24, 2018, 04:49:02 AM

He made rifles with both iron and brass fittings.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Bob McBride on June 21, 2019, 06:08:33 AM

This seems worth bringing back to the top to remind us of what a Tennessee gunsmith looked like. Does this look like a man who would carry a rifle that wouldn’t win the prized turkey in any county in the country? Looks like my grandpa. You know this man could switch the fire out of a lazy boy without raising his heart rate over 65 bpm, recite the Bible verbatim, and make a mean apple pie moonshine.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Buck on June 22, 2019, 02:37:10 AM

Bill,

You should have 2 of them - great guns.

Buck

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: WElliott on June 22, 2019, 05:59:37 AM

Those are wonderful photos of Gibson. Don’t we wish we had photos of the 19th century gunsmiths and their shops.?!

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: TNvol on June 24, 2019, 06:15:02 PM

Dana,

This is a great group of pictures.  A nice Steven Gibson rifle including his signature is pictured (pages 19-20) in Kentucky Rifles of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Gibson gunsmiith's style was consistent over at least three generations.  The Steven Gibson that built this rifle was apparently Wiley's grandfather.   

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Jerry on August 17, 2019, 11:48:17 PM

Enjoyed the pictures and writings. Reminds me of my Grandfather when I was at a very young age in West Virginia.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: B.Barker on August 20, 2019, 04:05:36 AM

Neat photo's Dana. You need to do a display of all the old time gunsmith from Tennessee that you have.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: WESTbury on August 20, 2019, 04:17:28 AM

These are outstanding photos.

Talk about a guy having a face with character! The photos of people who lived during the period that Wiley did, need to be displayed more often. Those men and women had the true American spirit that built this country.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Cades Cove Fiddler on August 20, 2019, 08:17:40 PM

 ??? ??? ???... Might just do that, Brian,.... great idea,..... Thanx,.. !!!!.... say "hello" to old Enoch Hardin who built fine Soddy match rifles and only passed in 1943,.... !!!.... CCF...
(https://i.ibb.co/YLtPBq7/Hardin-1469-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/FDBm4jb)

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: scottmc on August 20, 2019, 10:56:58 PM

Now, if that picture doesn't tell the story how life was "back in the day", none do.  That might be my favorite, CCF.  This morning I was perusing the Appalachian book by Irwin Rice and they speak a little of ole Wiley.  Couple of pictures of him too.  Think the same that you already posted.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Fowler610 on August 21, 2019, 05:04:04 AM

'S'pose old Enoch made his fiddle, too.  Love all those photos.  Thanks, CCF.

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Cades Cove Fiddler on August 21, 2019, 05:41:00 AM

 ;) ;)... Fowler610,... he most certainly also made fiddles,.. and very well made ones, I have heard,... AND played them just as well,... One son, John, won several fiddle contests in the Chattanooga area in the 1920's-'30's......

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Clowdis on August 21, 2019, 03:33:01 PM

I don't know where you get these old photos, but I really enjoy them. It's a look into how life really was back in the hills. Keep them coming!

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Ken G on September 03, 2019, 04:47:24 AM

Great pictures.  Thanks for posting them.  I really like the one at the anvil.  First thing I noticed was how beat up the edge was.  His daily routine of work would probably make me whine like a little girl. 

Cheers,
Ken

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: msellers on September 03, 2019, 05:53:36 AM

Quote from: Ken G on September 03, 2019, 04:47:24 AM

Great pictures.  Thanks for posting them.  I really like the one at the anvil.  First thing I noticed was how beat up the edge was.  His daily routine of work would probably make me whine like a little girl. 

Cheers,
Ken

I am sure this is the case for most of us, and definitely the majority of the youth now days. I am not old enough to be slow8down as much as I am. Dang my youth and bull headedness.
Mike

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: mountainad82 on September 20, 2019, 04:29:55 PM

Here is a press photo I recently bought that shows Wiley Gibson using a bow drill.


(https://i.ibb.co/RjLKYN9/Wiley-Gibson-Bow-Drill.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vX2WVhH)


Adam

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: Cades Cove Fiddler on September 22, 2019, 06:12:31 AM

 8) 8) 8)... Thanx, Adam,... great pic,... Ol' Wiley lived into the 1940's and was a direct link between the old gunsmiths and contemporary makers,...

Title: Re: ... Wiley Gibson, ... Sevier Co., Tennessee gunsmith .....
Post by: WESTbury on September 22, 2019, 05:26:48 PM

That is "hands on" gunsmithing. Makes one appreciate the labor, determination, and dedication required to build those old long rifles.

Thanks for posting the picture Adam.