Four Bean Soup...

Traveling together, wilderness hunters Daniel Boone and William Bean first laid eyes on the northeast area of what would become Tennessee while on a hunting trip prior to 1769...Bean was impressed enough by the beauty and resources of the area, that he became Tennessee's first permanent settler, building his first home in what would later be called Bean Station at the future crossroads of the Old Wilderness Road and the Old Stagecoach Road...

At this time, William became the first of four continuous generations of Bean gunsmiths...A naturally talented tinkerer, he took to gunmaking using locally found raw materials, even fashioning his own tools and machinery...

His rifles were so highly prized for their durability and accuracy, they were passed down from one generation to another by his customers...During the American Revolution, when soldiers were often expected to furnish their own weapons, many of the most feared marksmen brought Bean rifles with them into battle...

All seven of his sons followed him into the business, his oldest, Russell, being the most notable, not only for his skills at the workbench, but for his often uncontrolled temper...Following an alcohol-fueled rage he once cut off the ear of an infant, the reason for which being lost to history...

Refusing to answer a bench warrant issued by then Magistrate Andrew Jackson for his arrest regarding the offense, Bean barricaded himself inside his cabin with several of his own firearms...Not finding anyone brave or foolhardy enough to execute the warrant, Jackson confronted Bean himself, and by sheer force of will, brought him to justice...

Four of Russell's sons answered their country's call for fine firearms by entering the business with their father...Baxter was known not only for his rifles, but also his handguns...A contemporary of the times, Col. David Crockett, is known to have owned several Bean rifles, and is likely to have held one in his hands at the time of his death at the Battle of the Alamo...

Charles, Jr. was the last of the fourth generation to be actively engaged in the firearms trade...He converted many of the original flintlock actions made by his ancestors to percussion actions, and continued to make percussion firearms after other manufacturers had moved on to the modern breechlock mechanisms...

His rifles still commanded a higher price despite the advantages given by the breechlocks...Some were thought to be in use at the Battle of Bean Station during the War Between the States, where CSA General James Longstreet and his men routed the Union forces of General Shackelford and forced their withdrawal...

The Bean family thrived well in later years, sometimes altering the spelling of their surname, marrying into other families and expanding the frontiers of America...The gun business was apparently ingrained in the family DNA as evidenced by future events...

In 1908, a young beauty named Leslie Beene, then 14 years old and a direct descendant of William Bean, married a 17 year old cotton farmer named Claudie Johnson who built their home on his own land with his own hands in southern Arkansas...Even though Leslie's mother accompanied them to the courthouse for their marriage license, and gave her permission, in today's world Claudie would likely be prosecuted...

They were together more than 60 years, living on the same farm and dying within 11 days of each other after raising five children to adulthood...Their oldest daughter, Evelyn, married a young oilfield roughneck named Earl Young a month before the outbreak of World War II when he enlisted and left for overseas duty with the US Army...

Returning from his duty wearing staff sergeant's stripes following the Allied victory, he and Evelyn raised two sons in Texas, the youngest of which, after a successful sales career, built a construction business and started raising his own family, but tragically died from a heart attack before the age of 40...

The oldest son, following a varied career path, established a gun sales business, and built and co-owned the finest gun store and first indoor shooting range in Montgomery County, Shooter's Station...After successfully re-establishing the firearms trade in the family history, he retired and became a recluse where he offers his unbidden opinion on varied subjects by sporadically publishing entries in a rarely read blog and entertains his loyal fans with parody videos...

His mother, Evelyn, still lives in her own home nearby, where she looks forward to visits from her grandchildren and great-granddaughter while wondering whether her surviving son will ever grow up and make something of himself...Excluded from most intra-family discussions is a noted fashion designer said to be a distant relative...

More articles concerning Firearms and Shooting...