Life Lessons from a Pioneer Gunsmith Ancestor
Finding Your Life Calling
What do you want to do with your life? Young and old alike, this important question must be answered. So how do we do it? Jonathan Browning, American pioneer and gunsmith, has the answers.
Jonathan Browning, my third great grandrather, was born in Bledsoe Creek, Tennessee, in 1805. Drawn to the edge of the American frontier by the promise of land and opportunity, Jonathan was confronted with the rugged reality of wilderness life at a young age. He lived in Tennesee, Illinois, Iowa and would spend his final days in the Utah Territory.
Throughout this journey, Jonathan discovered his mechanical talent, built a thriving career as a gunsmith and devoted his time, talents and resources to building up the newly formed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This article traces Jonathan’s journey from boy to man, and touches on the turning points that led to the discovery and development of his talents. His work ethic, passion for self improvement, and spirit of sacrifice have inspired me. I share them now with the hope that modern pioneers, young and old, can benefit from his life experience.
Be curious
When Jonathan was only 13, he took a job as a farm hand. Noticing a broken rifle hanging in his employer's barn, he proposed taking the broken rifle as payment for his labor. The farmer happily exchanged the worthless rifle as payment for Jonathan’s work.
Jonathan took the rifle to a local blacksmith who confirmed the gun was beyond repair. Undeterred, Jonathan tinkered on the old rifle until he found a fix. Upon showing the fixed rifle to the previous owner, the farmer offered him $4 to buy it back. While that was a nice profit in those days, Jonathan’s discovery of his mechanical talent would be immeasurable. It would shape the rest of his life and in fact, influence the course of history. His discovery would lead to a transformation in the firearm industry, impacting law enforcement and militaries around the world for the next 200 years.
That lucky discovery came to Jonathan because he was working. Work exposes us to problems and needs. If you pay attention to the broken rifles hanging in the barns of your work environments, you too may discover an opportunity that was meant for you to fix. In this way work can spark awareness of unmet needs. It can open opportunities to explore and discover your passions.
As a young person I experienced a similar discovery in my 8th grade home economics class. In that class we cooked, sewed and surprisingly, started a business! Over a week, we competed with our classmates during the lunch hour selling snacks to students in the cafeteria. Our group had a hunch that nachos would be a big hit, so we launched “Nachos to Go”. Demand far outstripped our expectations and we sold out every day. At the end of the competition, we shocked our classmates by earning 4x more in profits and we each started our summer break with a pocket full of cash. Not bad for 5 days of work!
This experience gave me a taste of entrepreneurial exhilaration that comes from a well aligned business idea. But it also set me on a course of what would be a 20+ year career in marketing. As a young 13 year old, I saw a “broken rifle” hanging on the wall of my middle school. Using some of my creative and crazy friends, I created and broadcasted advertisements for our nacho business over the school PA system every morning, creating buzz, excitement and anticipation for our nachos. This experience stuck with me. Later as a college student, it helped me select my major in marketing. My middle school nacho business helped me catch a glimpse of what could become my life’s work. The signals were already there.
The necessity of work and pressure to provide draws us out into the world of opportunities. It challenges us to discover and develop our talents. Even menial assignments can yield discovery and understanding. Because in the process of toiling through a tough assignment, sometimes we see a broken gun hanging in the barn that needs fixing. And we realize we were meant to fix it.
Find a Need
In the early 1800’s, a gun was a necessity for an American settler. Guns provided frontier families protection and helped them secure food and provisions. But without a local gunsmith, settlers in these frontier towns had to travel long distances to repair or purchase a gun. Being a settler himself, Jonathan became acutely aware of this market opportunity after reselling the repaired rifle back to the farmer for a tidy profit.
Once Browning discovered his ability to to fix guns, he proposed an arrangement with his father (chores in the early morning) so he could propose an arrangement with the local blacksmith (gun repair in the afternoon). Under the wing of the blacksmith who had the tools and the customers but lacked experience and gunsmith know-how, Browning seized the opportunity to convert his mechanical talents into a marketable skill. He would learn by building and get paid to learn.
By the time he was 19, although he never apprenticed under a gunsmith, he had become a skilled firearm mechanic through the trial and error of fixing guns. His curiosity and determination, and his talent for fixing things, made up for what he lacked in experience and formal education.
In our rapidly changing and well-developed economy, it’s harder to find emerging, unexploited opportunities. This may discourage young people from trying. In a 2005 Stanford commencement speech, two years before the iphone was launched, Apple founder Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” Like Jonathan, like Jobs, we can use this formula to connect the dots to an opportunity, a change, that will be a part of the new normal.
In 2008 Todd McKinnon, the founder of OKTA, saw a shift. Software applications were moving from data centers to the cloud. As he connected the dots of this change and looked into the future, he saw an opportunity. The proliferation of cloud applications would drive the need for cloud-based authentication. Against the headwinds of the Great Recession he founded OKTA. 12 years later OKTA is a leader in cloud-based authentication and worth more than 26 billion dollars.
By the time Browning was a teenager, he saw many settlers making their way west. And every one needed a firearm. His observation of this opportunity would propel him to the next stage in his journey — becoming a gunsmith.
Build to Learn
While Browning had acquired useful skills from repairing guns, he wasn’t entirely qualified to be a gunsmith. For that he would need to learn how to build a gun. To build a gun he had to learn to make a gun barrel. And only a gunsmith who had done it before, with the tools and expertise, could teach him. But there were no gun schools on barrel making. There wasn’t even a gunsmith in his town. There was little hope of him becoming more than just a firearm fixer.
But one day Jonathan saw an inscription on a rifle barrel that read “made By Samuel Porter, Nashville”. Nashville was only 30 miles away from Browning’s home in Bledsoe Creek. So at the age of 19, he took the gun, traveled 30 miles to Nashville, sought out Samuel Porter and made him a proposal. In exchange for teaching him how to make a gun barrel, he offered his labor — for free. Samuel, sensing the young man’s work ethic and drive, countered with an offer of $2 / week plus room (a hayloft in the barn) and board. Browning accepted and became Samuel’s apprentice.
Even in today’s information-driven world, apprenticeship is an essential part of a well-rounded education. Elon Musk said that “having a college degree doesn’t equate to exceptional ability.” He added, “you can learn anything online for free”, and noted that billionaire moguls like Bill Gates and Oracle’s Larry Ellison dropped out of college. Ideally, he added, you would have dropped out of school “and did something”.
College and universities are good but they are not enough. Modern apprenticeships can be had by examining the many opportunities all around us and finding mentors to help us learn how to build something. I’ve had a number of young people reach out to me and ask for career advice. I love talking to young people and sharing my experience and advice. Many professionals can’t offer apprenticeships, but most have access to internships, and can support a young person as a mentor as they “build something”. I encourage young people who are exploring a career in cybersecurity or computer science, to start by building a simple website.
Following his apprenticeship Jonathan had much more than knowledge. He had cash, confidence and a new friend in Samuel Porter. He used his earnings to purchase as many blacksmith tools that his horse could carry, and headed back to Bledsoe Creek to build his life.
Build Your Life
Upon returning home, Jonathan married and opened a gunsmith shop. As he established himself, Jonathan turned his hand to design, finding a new problem to solve. In those days, rifles took painstaking long to reload. Single shot rifles left settlers exposed to danger and limited their ability to successfully hunt and secure food. In response, Browning added a semi-automatic feature to the top of the rifle. This horizontal cartridge moved the next round into position automatically as the trigger was cocked. The innovation would give migrating pioneers a defensive advantage against the many hostilities they would face on the frontier.
After his father died, Jonathan continued West, following the opportunity to serve a growing population of settlers in the expanding frontier. He moved his family to Quincy, Illinois where he opened his second gunsmith shop. Settlers from nearby Nauvoo frequented his gunsmith shop. After becoming acquainted with them and their religious beliefs, he relocated his family and gunsmith to Nauvoo and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Enduring persecution from intolerant neighbors, the people of Nauvoo resolved to find a place where they could exercise religious liberty without fear of encroachment by mobs and violence. This great exodus Westward would move hundreds of thousands along the Mormon trail to what is now Salt Lake City, Utah.
After fleeing Nauvoo in 1846, Browning remained at the head of the Mormon trail in Iowa and assisted in outfitting the hundreds of groups that passed through on the 4 month trek West. Following the initial exodus from Nauvoo, an increasing number of migrant families arrived from the British Isles and Europe. These pioneers were entering a new and unfamiliar land. For 7 years, Jonathan remained behind, living in a frontier outpost, helping these pioneers assemble needed supplies and firearms. He also served as a lay ecclesiastical leader for the families that remained behind to help. His impact was felt by the thousands of migrant pioneers who crossed through Council Bluffs Iowa on their way west from 1846 to 1852.
Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Whether our calling in life gives us an opportunity to touch thousands or just a few, there is always an opportunity to help others along the way. To take our time and talents and to bless the lives of others. It’s something every one of us can offer. And perhaps that is the most important life lesson of Jonathan Browning.
Embrace Necessity
Jonathan’s life reminds us that necessity is the greatest teacher because it leads us, perhaps compels us, to be resourceful; to be self-reliant. It helps us to see and seize opportunity. Born into a frontier life with almost nothing, Jonathan’s necessity, and the challenges of frontier life, helped him became a successful gunsmith.
One of Jonathan’s sons, John Moses Browning, is widely known as the father of modern firearms. It was in his father’s gunsmith that John would discover his own genius for mechanical design. His breakthrough gun designs would influence the success of U.S. military engagements in World War I & II, and fuel the commercial success of Remington, Colt, Winchester and eventually the Browning Arms Company. From the book, John M. Browning, American Gunmaker, I quote:
“Some years following Jonathan’s death, one of John M. Browning’s sons asked: “If Jonathan had been a wealthy man, a millionaire cheese maker, for instance, and had made it possible for you to have a roomful of guns, big-game hunts in Africa, Alaska, all that sort of thing — how many guns do you think you would have invented?”
“John was taken off guard and, for an instant, looked like a boy caught in a melon patch. Then his expression became serious. It was a bantering question of course, but it caused a frown of consternation.
“Why,” he said, “I wouldn’t have made any guns. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to try. For I can tell you one sure thing. A man may give his days and nights to his work, enjoy it, take pride in it, but it isn’t fun — not like the fun we had catching those trout for supper, not like the fun I had eating them. No, I’d not have made any guns,” he said. “And,” bursting into laughter he added, “I’d not have made any cheese, either.”
We can learn many things from our pioneer forbears. But perhaps the most relevant to us, in our day and age of prosperity, is this: If your life isn’t as comfortable or carefree as the next person, and you feel frustrated by it, embrace your inner pioneer, take up your journey and make a life on the edge of the frontier. Pioneers didn’t seek the easy path. By taking his trek West, Jonathan created an environment where his talents could flourish. He discovered a part of himself that otherwise would have remained dormant. See life’s challenges as a catalyst that brings out your best talents and opportunities. Leave the security and the comfort of the known. Move yourself to a place that will challenge you to learn and grow.
Conclusion
I pay tribute to Jonathan Browning and his family for their pioneer life and sacrifices. I hope his life can inspire you to move to the edge of your own frontier — whatever or wherever it may be.
Sources
Browning, John. Gentry, Curt. John M. Browning, American Gunmaker, Doubleday and Company, Inc, 1964.
Akhtar, Allana. Elon Musk said a college degree isn’t required for a job at Tesla — and Apple, Google, and Netflix don’t require employees to have 4-year degrees either, Business Insider, June 2, 2020.
