>John, thank you for the posting about the Gibson family. Last September I >had posted to the list the following: I understand that Jonathan Adams (Rev. War soldier) of Marlboro had a daughter named Divinity. Does any one know who she married? I admit that I wondered if she had married James Gibson since I thought his wife was named Divinity. Low and behold, your articles states, referring to James Gibson: "James married Divinity Adams". Thanks! Larry Jones I am passing this on to the Marlboro Co. lists because of the local family >information. Hope it helps. > >John > >>From: "diane k" <[email protected]> >>Old-To: <[email protected]> >>Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 21:59:26 -0500 >> >>This message ought to be a goldmine for some Gibson researchers. >>diane >> >>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >>EXtract from speech delivered by Col. J. Preston Gibson at a reunion of >>the gibson Family in 1905. >>On the side it says: This is a history of the branch of the Gibson Family >>at Gibson,NC and SC. >> >>If you lose this mail or want to send this to another reseacher, you can >>find the same data at: >>http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/6598/gibson.htm >> >>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >> >>"Had our family preserved and recorded events and facts, dates and >>transactions connected therewith, it would be comparatively easy to collect >>facts and intelligently present a historical family sketch on this >>occasion. I have been handicapped in the Preparation of this paper, simply >>because there is no record of the early history of my distinct family. For >>years I have endeavored to investigate and ascertain something definite and >>reliable concerning the origin of our family. That they in Colonial days >>left their homes in Scotland and settled in Va., there is no question, for >>there is abundance of evidence to substantiate the many assertions of their >>early patriotic struggles, and heroic achievements, but previous to their >>advent in this country, I have been unable to trace their history far back >>into European history. the gibson family in England, Scotland and Ireland >>are to be found in almost every section of those countries, and for the >>past several hundred years the gibsons have in various ways ?(proven) >>themselves >>famous and honorable. Both in England and Scotland, at more than one >>epoch, have the Gibsons prominently and conspicuously figured in the >>political >>area. Sir Thomas gibson, of England, in the 17th century astounded >>Parliament?? all of Great Britain to talking , on account of his profound >>learning: logical, wise and judicious reasoning. While there are many >>families of Gibsons in the old country, yet I believe many of them are >>related, and while there are three or four separate and district gibson >>families in Virginia, yet I know that our ancestors came form Scotland not >>a great while before the Revolutionary War. All the Gibsons in this country >>are related, all having descended from the same ancestors. I have met >>Gibsons in the United States from New York to the extreme West, and all of >>the possess the same striking family features and constitutional >>characteristics. >> >>There is a piece of unwritten history connected with our family that I am >>not prepared to verify or controvert. It has been said that our real >>surname was not Gibson, but McGregor. That our ancestry in his zeal for >>liberty and political freedom in attempting to eliminate autocratic >>restraint, overstepped the proprieties of a subject and a soldier, for >>which he was charged with insubordination, was hunted by his government but >>was >>never captured. Being a member of the patriotic McGregor family, he and >>many influential friends who secretly conveyed him on board a ship where he >>concealed himself until at sea when he came from his place of concealment, >>but after landing in this country assumed his mother's name, which was not >>Gibson. Whether this be true or not, I am unable to say, but the statement >>has been made on both sides of the Atlantic. >> >>Just prior to the Revolutionary War a widow lady with her two sons and one >>daughter, Nelson and Thomas gibson, emigrated from Va to Richmond county, >>NC., and settled ten miles east of Rockingham, in what was then a splendid >>cattle range. All the evidence secured by me supports the belief that >>these boys were born in Scotland, coming to Va. with their father, whose >>name was >>Ziba, and who died in Va soon after arriving in this country. These two >>boys, Nelson and Thomas, both enlisted in the Revolutionary War, having >>recently fled from Europe, they were fired with a desire for freedom and >>bravely fought under Gen. Marion and other patriotic chieftains for >>Colonial Independence. In more instances than one are these two Gibson boys >>mentioned and complimented for their brazenness and heroism. This same >>Thomas Gibson was Mr. Eli" Gibson's grandfather, he and his brother Nelson >>both married sisters whose maiden names were William's. >> >>The unmarried daughter of this widow, who came with her mother and two >>brothers from Scotland to Va. and later to Richmond County, NC, married old >>man " Wild Cat Billy Smith" the Grandfather of Major Wm. E. Smith, and >>great grandfather of Mrs. Henry D. Gibson and myself on my mother's side. >> >>I have never believed the story told concerning the change of name from >>McGregor to that of Gibson, for there are several facts which substantiate >>the belief that the ancestors of our family, viz: Thomas and Nelson Gibson, >>were nearly grown when they came from Scotland to America. They spoke >>fluently and perfectly the pure Scotch dialect and the mere fact that their >>mother, a widow lady, had she been surrounded with relatives in Virginia, >>would not have abruptly broken away from them amid those turbulent and >>unsettled times and emigrated to a country amid strangers, leaving kindred >>and loved ones behind.. >> >>I am expected on this occasion to tell something of our family during and >>since the Revolutionary War and what became of the original members of the >>gibson family. >> >>This may be tedious and uninteresting to some of you, but should be of the >>utmost importance and freighted with deepest concern to the younger members >>of the gibson family, for our history has been very imperfectly recorded and >>preserved, and I have undergone no little trouble and expended much time in >>my research and investigation in order to collect accurate and reliable >>information concerning this now large and influential family. >> >>Thomas Gibson, the grandfather of Mr. Eli Gibson, being the direct >>progenitory of the gibson's of this section, I will therefore speak mostly >>of his descendants. there is but little known of Nelson's family, as he >>had but few children, the most of whom went West soon after the >>Revolutionary War. >> >>Thomas was married but once and was the father of thirteen children, all of >>whom lived to be grown and married. He, like many of his descendants, was >>blessed with a large family. The Gibson family has been most prolific and >>has multiplied most rapidly. The names of Thomas children were: James, >>Stafford, Thomas, John, Nathaniel, Elijah, Elisha, Nelson, Nannie, Sallie, >>Agnes, Mary and Fannie. Whom they married: James married Divinity Adams >>and had no children living; he was the father of Shockley Gibson who lived >>in Georgia, and was the grandfather of Shockley and Nathan Gibson, of gum >>Swamp, Richmond County, NC. Stafford married Nancy Somerlin, had four >>children; died in Richmond county and his widow and children moved to >>Mississippi, (her son Thomas returned to Richmond county on a visit in the >>year 1827)> Thomas married Pollie Morrman, had ten daughters and one son: >>he lived and died in Chesterfield county, SC., and subsequently the widow >>and children moved to Indiana. John married Nancy Pearce and was the father >>of twenty-one children, the last two being twins. Nathaniel married twice >>to daughters of Stephen Mendenhall, a Quarker of Guilford county, NC; his >>first wife was named Rachel and second Elizabeth. Elijah married Nancy >>Gibson, his first cousin, Nelson's daughter; parents of Aggie Gibson, who >>married Rev. Thos. Gibson, who lived and died near St. John's Church, >>Richmond county, N.C. Elisah married the widow of his brother Elijah. >>Nelson married Bedie Roberson, he died and his widow moved to Mississippi; >>had six children; his oldest daughter Agnes was the mother of Joel Bullard >>who lived and died two miles north of Gibson, NC. Nannie married Jacob >>Mangum of Chesterfield County, SC. Sallie and Agnes married brothers by the >>name of Sumerlin. Mary married John Strong of Chesterfield co.,SC., father >>of Henry Strong, who moved to Mississippi, but since the war between the >>states he moved to Brazil, South America. Fannie married John Watson. >> >>The above is a correct history of Thomas Gibson's family. About the year >>1800, John and Nathaniel, his sons moved down and settled in lower Richmond >>county, between the Green Pond and what is now the town of Gibson. As >>stated before John had twenty-one children, and their descendants are >>scattered in many States. Nathaniel settled where his youngest son, Eli, >>now lives in his old age, one mile north of gibson, on the old Rockingham >>road. Ads before stated, Nathaniel married twice, sisters by the name of >>Mendenhall, true, noble women, cultured for that day and deeply pious. He >>sleeps by the side of his two wives in the Gibson cemetery near the old >>Gibson homestead. Nathaniel lived to be quite old, but for many years >>before he died he was an invalid from the effects of paralysis. During his >>life there were no railroads in this county and all transportation was >>carried on with wagons, and hundreds of North Carolina covered wagons, from >>the central and western counties, came south with their produce, and >>Nathaniel Gibson's was headquarters for them. He would sometimes get in his >>cups >>and often when in that condition would say that his "name was McGregor", and >>was always proud of his Scotch ancestry. There were six children by his >>first marriage, viz: Nathan, thomas, John, Elizabeth, Ziba and Rachel. >>There were eight children by his second marriage, viz: James M, Mary, Noah, >>William, Betsy, Nelson M, Ann and Eli. Whom they married: Nathan married >>Eliza Gibson, his first cousin, and had two children, James and John M., the >>latter lived and died at the Rev. Thomas Gibson's old homestead near St. >>John's Church in Richmond County, NC. Nathan's wife died and while a widower >>he moved to Indiana. Before leaving here he went to the legislature. He >>was a school teacher and married Susan Brown; purchased good property, lived >>in comfort for several years, but the title to the property was not good and >>he lost it. He died near Hollinsburg, Dork County, Indiana, several years >>ago. Thomas, the Methodist preacher, married Agnes Gibson, the daughter of >>Elijah, on the 29th of December, 1827. They had no children. Thomas was >>converted in 1827 at old Zion camp meeting, near Rockingham, was licensed to >>preach soon after his conversion, and lived a pure, consistent Christian >>life until his death, which occured in July 1872. He was furneralized by >>Dr. W.S. Black, at that time a member of the South Carolina conference, but >>who a few years ago died a member of the North Carolina conference. John >>married Nannie gibson, Daughter of Elijah Gibson, had only one son who died >>when about grown. John died in Texas. Elizabeth died when she was child. >>Ziba married Lisza Adams, daughter of Johathan and Polly Adams, of Marlboro >>County, SC, and they had six children three of who are now living. Rachel >>married Stafford Gibson, her first cousin, had seven children, and lived on >>the stage road near St. John's Church. He kept public stables that fed the >>stage and express horse. The next child was James Mendenhall, the first of >>the second set of children, who in the year 1843 married Hannah Smith, >>daughter of Wm. Smith and sister of major Wm. E. Smith, who lived some seven >>miles north of Rockingham, NC. They had seven children, the first being >>Ebenezer, who was captured at Fort Fisher during the War between the States >>and on March 9th, 1865, died in Elmira, NY. in a Federal prison. the others >>are well known to the citizens of this community. >> >>James M., after marriage settled near Boykin church, Marlboro County, SC; >>died October 16th, 1880. >> >>Mary, a full sister of James M. lived to be grown but died married. >> >>Noah Gibson married Julia Fletcher, daughter of Joshua and nancy Fletcher >>(Nancy's maiden name was Smith), he settled where his son Edmond now lives, >>and in early life engaged in the mercantile business. All this section of >>country was then one dense forest, but little of the land being cleared. He >>had ten children, the oldest John F. was killed during the civil War by >>sharpshooters at Petersburg, Va., August 24, 1864. The rest of the family >>are well know. Noah gibson accumulated quite a snug fortune and no man >>enjoyed to a larger degree the confidence of the entire people. >> >>William Gibson married three times. first Catherine McNeill. they had four >>children, the first duncan, who was killed in Confederate service. His >>second wife was Kitty Pipkin, who had no children. His third wife, Sallie >>McLaurin, was the mother of fourt children. >> >>Bettie married Raiford Fletcher, who had nine children and settled near Pine >>Grove, Marlboro County, SC. He reared a noble family. >> >>Nelson M. Gibson married Caroline Pipkin and settled near McColl, SC. and >>raised a large family of nine children. Isaac Pipkin, thomas, Benton, Wm. >>Nelson being the sons. >> >>Ann married John S. Fletcher, who is still living, in her 83 year, near Pine >>Grove, Marlboro County, SC. They had eight children. Eli Gibson, the >>youngest member of Nathaniel's family, is still living, and this occasion is >>the celebration of his 80th birthday. He married Lizzie Davis, daughter of >>Wm. Davis. They had eleven children, all reared at the old original gibson >>homestead where Eli now lives, and where he has resided his entire life. He >>never bought a bushel of corn or a pount of meat for his own consumption in >>his life, but has sold much of both to his neighbors. This old time honored >>Gibson home has been in the family, uninterruptedly, for more than a >>century. It changed hands quite a number of times, from the king's grant >>until Nathaniel Gibson became the owner, but since the time the papers have >>only transferred the property from one generation to another in the Gibson >>Family. >> >>This completes the family of Nathaniel gibson, but his brother John who >>lived just one mile north of him was the father of twenty-one children, >>whose descendants are scattered throughout this entire county, many of them >>our best citizens. The cildren of Nathaniel Gibson all prospered, >>accumulated property and made honorable and highly respected citizens. Much >>of which is attributed to his two pious Quaker wives, Rachel and Elizabeth >>Mendenhall. >> >>..................The Gibsons while not as a rule demonstrative, have always >>responded to their country's call in times of peace as well as war. Furing >>the war between the North and South old Richmond County had 37 Gibsons in >>the confederate service, some mere boys......." >> >> >> >>diane K. mason >> >> >> >----------- >John K. Brown, Jr. >[email protected] > >Researching: Burt, Brown, Abney, Watts