Gun-maker carries on tradition of his ancestors
By Lynn Warren CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Dennis Glazener carries on the tradition of his ancestors by making reproduction Gillespie rifles. Gillespie rifles date back to 1753. Original weapons can cost as much as $7,000. (Photos by Elli Morris.)

For our forefathers, the smooth bore muskets and the long rifles that followed were the harvesters of food as well as a means of protection. Early settlers depended on the accuracy and reliability of hand-forged weapons to provide necessary protein and defend themselves as they pushed westward from the Atlantic seaboard. There were no factories in the colonies to mass produce weapons until well into the 19th century. The vast majority of personal weapons were forged by local craftsmen.

Midlothian's Dennis Glazener occupies a unique position in the history of firearms that were produced on the east coast. In his book, "The Gillespie Gun Makers of East Fork, North Carolina," Glazener has chronicled the 150-year history of the Gillespies, a family of utilitarian weapons-makers that he is tied to both as a relative and a gunsmith.

After his retirement from Lucent Technologies five years ago, Glazener found himself with time on his hands and an interest in his family's genealogy. "I've always been a gun enthusiast and a competitive shooter," he says, but he was not aware of his relation to the Gillespie gunsmiths until he began delving into his family's lineage. His research revealed that his great grandfather, B.N Glazener, had married Harriet Gillespie in 1859.

The connection ultimately inspired Glazener to carry on his family's tradition by making reproductions of Gillespie rifles at his Midlothian home. "I started building reproduction flintlock rifles after the fact," says Glazener.

He currently buys some pre-manufactured components, but is building a coal forge to produce more parts on his own. "My great grandfather was a blacksmith," he says. That legacy might help him toward even greater authenticity.

The earliest documented Gillespie gunsmith was John, born in Botetourt County, Virginia, in 1753. John and his family would later immigrate to the mountains of Buncombe County, North Carolina, and begin the long line of gunsmiths that would, remarkably, total 15 different craftsmen producing "thousands of Gillespie muskets and rifles up until the late 1890s," explains Glazener.

John Harvey Gillespie, who died in 1891, probably made the last Gillespie rifle.

The Gillespie firearm was a blue-collar, utilitarian weapon known for its accuracy and reliability. The first Gillespie gunsmiths built the simpler and slower loading flintlock weapons in 40-48 caliber, much past the time when faster loading percussion cap rifles became popular. The 13-pound Gillespie with a 45 1/4" barrel "related to the Kentucky long rifle and was preferred by mountain men," says Glazener. Later, Gillespie gunsmiths would produce the percussion cap rifle in 30 and 31 caliber models.

During the growth of the nation, the rifle was important in feeding a man's family, but it also fulfilled a role in protecting them. In the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the War of 1812, the standing armies were equipped with standard issue weapons. But when the local militias, the forerunner of today's National Guard, were activated, they came to battle with the weapons that hung over their mantels at home. With no standard caliber weapons, each militiaman brought his own lead and bullet mold to battle and scavenged the battlefield for spent balls to melt down and remold.

No two Gillespie rifles were ever made identically, wrote Ethelene Dyer Jones in an article for the Union Sentinel in Blairsville, Ga. But, "many a mountain man who gambled his life on his rifle trigger swore by his Gillespie rifle," she wrote.

An unknown number of the original weapons still exist and bring a healthy price - as high as $7,000 when they can be found. Glazener owns one made by Mathew Gillespie circa 1810. Reproductions typically bring $1,000-$1,200.