Does anyone have any information on George and Mary Gibson - Chippoakes Creek - 1660s In April 1664, William Bird was called upon to repair a breach in the peace that called into play his acumen both as Justice and theologian- the suit of Mary Gibson versus Thomas Stevenson et uxorem. Johanna Stevenson, a woman of impulse, whose infant, Sarah, had been christened at Martin's Brandon, possessed all the qualifications of a fishwife of Billingsgate. ........ ................... Goodwife Stevenson, with head undrenched, unbloodied, and since the autumn of 1657, unbowed, had in 1664, fallen foul of another neighbor also devoted to tobacco culture. The aggrieved on unbosomed the outrage, with its springs in a question of meum et tuum, to Justice William Bird, who amplified what he then heard with what, with his own eyes, he had seen; "Gentlemen these are to certefie you that Mary Gibson the wife of George Gibson Came with a Complaint to me against Tho: Stevenson & his wife which was that the said Stevenson trespast her husband & she forbidding of him Difference betweene them did Arise Per which meanes Goodey Gibson received a hurt in her arms by a stick that the said Stevensons wife flung at her, as she informed me. Gentlemen, the wound I saw that she had in her arme, which was much for one might have layed the topp of ones finger into it, Itt was deepe, & after the said Mary Gibson was gonne, Stevenson and his wife came before me & brought A peck of cotton wood with them, which I tooke & Crumblled, but Stevensons wife says that was the stick she flung & hitt her with, this was her own confession, the Originall of their difference was about the bounds of their land, & I being agent for the merchants did cause a sworne surveyor to Runn over their plantable ground before this difference happened & marked a tree betwixt them, Giving the said Stevenson his full due. In Wintesse to the truth herof I havesubscribed this 16th of April 1664 - William Bird " On Sunday, June 3, Stevenson had found a weak point in his opponent's theological armor; At a court at Westover, June 3, 1664 Humphrey Allen deposed that he, Geo. Barefoot, and George Gibson "comeing together & discoursing of the day of Judgement & resurrecon of the dead to give account for the deedes of this life the deponent told the said Gibson that flesh must rise againe at that day (& to that purpose) whereto the said made answer, that he would never believe that when the flesh is rotted or parted from the bones, that the same body can ever rise agains, the deponent replyed; how can you then say your beleife, & be of that opinion." This deposition George Barefoot supplemented by asserting that George Gibson had openly called himself "an atheist." Thereupon Theophilus (X) Beddingfield, 30, who had a daughter Mary baptized at Martins Brandon in 1660, and who later took into his household Jane, orphan of Ridhcard Babley to "teach er to read and spin and have competent clothing" furnished further details: Being at church on the Sabbath day & after prayer standing in the Churchyard Tho: Stevenson talking with Mr. Burd concerning his difference with George Gibson & Saying to Mr Bird he did not mind Henery Preston from taking his oath against him But the said Goodman Gibson should never take his oath for he was an athiste, so Mr Bird replied and asked the said Stevenson what pretty word that was, stevenson replyed he could not speak it so plaine as wee could. Then William Osborne called to Elias Osborne that he meant Athis, and Stevenson replyed agiane I am Athuse & he could prove by two sufficient oathes that George Gibson said there was no resurrecon for the said Gibson said that when our flesh was parted from the bone they could never rise again." Theological weaknesses notwithstanding, the Gibsons came out triumphant. The decision, signed by Francis Grey and William Bird, runs as follows; "Whereas itt doth appeare before us this 7th day of 10br 1663 that Thomas Stevenson & his wife hath lately trespassed Geo: Gibson & his wife many wayes, we do therefore order that Tho:Stevenson do make present payment of one hundred pound of tobacco & all charges that hath proceeded on this accounty. (The First William Bird of Charles City County, Virginia -- The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography - Vol 42 Jan, 1934 page 41-46) "I have been too long barked at to be mindful of the noise." **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222846709x1201493018/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=115&bcd =JulystepsfooterNO115)