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The Hissem-Montague Family  |
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The Hissem-Montague Family |
The Gibbons family arrived in America early and were, originally, Quakers. The first in America were John and Margery Gibbons.
(17) Robert GibbonsThe brother of John Gibbons. He accompanied John to America.
A fellow researcher asks some pertinent questions. All I can say is that I don't remember, but I didn't have much confidence in the generations (11) through (16), so did little more than cite them [since deleted].
Hello, Steve.(17) John Gibbons (1656)I have looked at the Gibbon page on your website from time to time, and now I have noticed that you have a mail connection at the bottom of the page. You have done a nice job with your website. I like the way that you give background information in the colored boxes. Congratulations on the success that you have had researching you Hissem line, too.
I am wondering where you found the pedigree for (17) John (1656) Gibbons, going back to (11) John Gibbons. Did that come from the book that you mention, George Walter Goodley's "Bethel Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Thru Three Centuries. A historical account of an early Pennsylvania Community"? Or have you looked at the Warminster church records that you mention later, saying, "where his family resided, as appears by church records, as early as the middle of the 16th Century."?
Have you read this 1899 query in Wiltshire Notes and Queries? I quote:
"Gibbons of Corsham and Warminster. -Can any one give me information respecting the previous family records of John and Margery Gibbons, Quakers, living at Corsham Ridge 1670-78, and at Warminster 1678-83? Their children were, Mary (died at Warminster, Nov., 1679), John and James. John Gibbons, senr., purchased land in Pennsylvania of William Penn in 1681, and in 1682 convej'ed a full moiety thereof to Robert Sutherv, of Westbury. In his will, dated 2-11-1720, he leaves money to a brother, Robert, and sister, Jane, still in England. Jane married Benjamin Power, in 1677-78, "both of Corsham Meeting". Her brother, John Gibbons, signed the permission. "Monthly Meetings" were held at his house, and after his removal to Warminster he appears as a delegate to the "Quarterly Meetings" at Devizes, Cannings, Marlborough, and Calne." [End of quote]CitationI am wondering if this woman was correct--that the Corsham John Gibbons moved to Warminster--or if there was another John Gibbons in Corsham. Having looked at the will she mentions, I believe that the name of the sister is Alice, not Jane (but he could have had more than one sister, of course.) Are you aware that John Gibbons is said to be brother-in-law to Robert Sothery/Suddery/Southery of Westbury, Wiltsire, near Warminster? I have not found a primary source for that information. Suddery did get his 250 acres in PA from the 500 acre purchase that John Gibbons made from William Penn. Since Robert Suddery named one of his daughters Margery, it does seem reasonable that John Gibbons's wife Margery was a sister of Robert Suddery. If John and Margery really married in Warminster, that would make it even more likely.
Have you seen this ship record saying that Edward Beazer, Robert Pyle, and John Gibbons (with wife Margery and sons John and James) all came to PA on the Bristol Comfort all arriving 8th month, 1, 1683? Beazer and Pyle came from Wiltshire near Corsham. http://chester-county-genealogy.com/modules/lexikon/entry.php?entryID=89 Oddly, I found this on the same site http://chester-county-genealogy.com/modules/lexikon/entry.php?entryID=95 for the Amity arriving 1682.
"John Gibbon and wife Margery, settled in Bethel township. He was a weaver." I think this one is wrong because the ship's list is more likely to list the family members as above than to say where they would settle. Probably someone was trying to read an illegible name and knew about John Gibbons? I realize that you might be asking yourself the same questions that I am. I am sure that you can tell at least where you got the pedigree that I mentioned at the start of my letter.
Kind regards,
Mary Vukman"
John Gibbons Sr. was born in about 1656 in Warminster, Wiltshire county, England. He emigrated to America and died in 1721 in Bethel Plantation, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He married Margery Suddery while still living in Warminster. He was a Quaker.
| Wiltshire, England
This town, and the village of Bishops Canning close by, are located 21 miles northwest of Salisbury. It was a market town of considerable importance in its day. In the Middle Ages the town became famous not only for its wool and cloth trade but also for its great prosperity as a corn market, second only to Bristol in the West of England. Many of the buildings which survive in the Market Place owe their origin to the great corn market days when they were used as stores and warehouses, or as inns and hostelries for the buyers and sellers who came from many miles around. During the Civil War (1642-1645) the town is thought to have changed hands at least four times between the Royalist and Parliamentary supporters. When James II came to the throne in 1685 the local gentry and the Wiltshire Militia supported him against the Duke of Monmouth who was defeated. When the writer William Cobbett visited the area in 1826 he still found it a fertile and productive region of, for the most part, arable farming with also the rearing of thousands of sheep. QuakersThe Non-Conformists, including the Independents, Quakers, Congregationalists, Methodists and Baptists, were well represented in Warminster. All, however, continued to be persecuted. In Januaury 1660 the father of Edward Bezer, who accompanied John Gibbons to America in 1683, was taken, along with other Quakers, "from their religious meetings, others from their habitations and employments, and for refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance [were] committed to prison." |
John Gibbons was the founder of a large and respected family in Pennsylvania. His name is found in Proud's "History of Pennsylvania" among the eminent persons of The Society of Friends, or Quakers, who settled near Chester in 1683, migrating from Warminister, Wiltshire, England, where his family resided, as appears by church records, as early as the middle of the 16th Century. He and his wife Margery were among the best-educated Friends [John was noted as "a man of superior education to that of most of his neighbors"] and appear to have been in very comfortable circumstances. He was an original purchaser of 2 tracts, one in Thornbury and one in Bethel, and he lived in the latter, becoming one of the largest land-owners in the county.
Edward Bezer, Robert Eyre, John Gibbons, Robert Pyle, and Robert Sothery, all Quakers, vie for the honor of being the earliest settlers in Bethel Township, in Delaware county, Pennsylvania. All were immigrants from Wiltshire and had contracted for tracts of land before coming to these shores. Evidently they all arrived with their families and settled in Bethel about 1683, the year the township is first mentioned and recognized as a township or hamlet. Bethel is in the extreme south of the county, on the border with the colony of Delaware.
| Bethel Township
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John was a juror in the witchcraft trial of the Swedish woman, Margaret Mattson, in 1683-84 that was presided over by William Penn and his Council. Mrs. Mattson was accused by her neighbors of bewitching their cattle. Tradition has it that Gibbons presented the compromise verdict that saved Mrs. Mattson. Gibbons was also once arrested for selling alcohol to the Indians.
The Gibbons Family was said to have built the first brick house in Bethel in 1683 on a 150-acre land grant from William Penn, on the south side of Bethel Road. Today, members of the Bethel Preservation Society are hoping to save what is called "the oldest continuously lived-in English style house in Pennsylania." The bricks for the one and a half-story home were fired on the property and were laid in the Flemish bond style. The home served as the first meeting place for the Concord Meeting until a structure was built on Concord Road for meeting in 1710.
I received an email about the house John built in 1683.
"We purchased the home originally built by John Gibbons in Bethel Township Delaware county PA.David's webpage contains the following information:
It was purchased from a developer to prevent the demolition of the home last March 2018. I have created a web page to capture the history of the home and thought you may find the information interesting.
http://www.1683gibbonshome.weebly.com
The local history preservation society is working on getting me a copy of the original land grant from the State of Pa. but I have copies of all deeds from that point.
Dave Tustin"
"The Gibbons 1683 Home
John Gibbons was from Warminster Wiltshire England and purchased the land from William Penn by deeds of lease and release dated August 1 and 2 1681. He purchased 500 acres, one half of which he conveyed to Robert Suddery in October 1682 and soon after that date came to Pennsylvania and built his home on the land and named it Bethel, a name later applied to the township in which it was situated.
The settlers of Bethel Township were among the earliest settlers of the Pennsylvania Colony, and many were members of the Religious Society of Friends, or "Quakers". The list of taxable residents for Bethel Township in 1693, shows nine tax payers: John Gibbons, Ralph Pyle, John Bushel, Nicholas Pyle, Edward Beaner, Robert Eyre, Thomas Garrett, John Howard, and Thomas Cooper.
Home History
Ca. 1683 = 1 Stories, in 1854 records indicate [Baldwin] raised the house to 2 stories in the Federal style. Records indicate that in 1975 the exterior stucco was installed."
"The list of taxables for Bethel township in 1693, shows nine tax payers: John Gibbons, Ralph Pile, John Bushel, Nicholas Pile, Edward Beaner, Robert Eyre, Thomas Garrett, John Howard, Thomas Cooper. In 1715, the list had doubled: Robert Pyle, John Grist, Robert Booth, Edward Beazer, John Canady, Benjamin Moulder, Joseph Pyle, John Hickman, Edward Griffith, John Hopton, John Gibbons, Thomas Durnell, constituting the list." - from "A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania," edited by John W. Jordan, LL. D.
Not withstanding the high repute in which John and Margery Gibbons were held by the early settlers, the adherence which they gave to George Keith's religious teaching caused them to be disowned by the Friends. Margery was known as a fearless and resolute woman.
| George Keith
The Society of Friends had never promulgated articles of religion to be subscribed, or a catechism to be taught. While their intellectual leaders had written about Quaker beliefs, dogma was left to the individual conscience as directed by an inner revelation. It was there, in opposition to the other religions acceptance of external revelation as the core of their beliefs, that constituted the greatest differences with Quakerism. What George Keith did was take a stand for some kind of Quaker Orthodoxy. His attempt to force a doctrine, any doctrine, on the independently minded Quakers was not well received. Keith endeavoured to advance his views in London, but the Yearly Meeting of 1694 disowned him and he established a society at Turner's Hall in Philpot Lane, where he so far departed from Quaker usage as to administer the two sacraments. In 1700 he conformed to the Anglican Church, and from 1702 to 1704 was an agent of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in America. He died on 27 March 1716 at Edburton, Sussex, of which parish he was rector. Notable in Keith's career, he was the first Quaker to call for the abolition of slavery. |
John survived his wife Margery, who died in 1707, and died on his Bethel plantation in about 1721. The Will of John Gibbons:
John Gibbons of Bethel. Date Signed: 11/2/1720. Date Proven: 1/25/1721. A. 110. To brother Robert Gibbons £5 if living 12 months after date of will. To grandson John Gibbons my half of the house I now live in and plantation belonging which land is three score and fifteen acres, when 21. To granddaughter Rebecca Gibbons, a plantation and the land which is 200 acres, when 21. To daughter in law Sarah Gibbons 5 shillings. To son James, remainder of estate, also executor. Witnesses: Francis Fervis, Rachel Fervis, Marsi Booth. To sister in England £10 if living 12 months after date of will.
The last of the Gibbons descendants moved from the township in about 1720. Much of the early information about the family is from George Walter Goodley's "Bethel Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Thru Three Centuries. A historical account of an early Pennsylvania Community."
John's children were,
(18) Mary Gibbons, died in Warminster in November 1679
(18) John Gibbons Jr. (c1680)
(18) James Gibbons (1683)
In 1700 the Bethel homestead was conveyed to John Gibbons Jr. by his parents. At that time John Sr. moved to his other estate in Thornbury Township. John Jr. was equally as outspoken in his views as his parents, and as his mother was in no wise chary in giving expression to her convictions, her son was often compelled to advocate and defend her opinions. In 1702 he was disowned for accepting his mother's views, as well as at the close of meeting standing up and declaring that John Lea was no gospel minister. Among his other transgressions which induced the society to disown him was because he "declined to take off his hat in time of prayer."
He married Sarah Howard. Their children were John and Rebecca. Rebecca married John Garton on 2 April 1725. The stubborn offender died in 1706, predeceasing his father.
(19) John Gibbons (c1700)He married Sarah Pennell on 18 November 1724. They had a daughter, Mary, who married a Wentworth.
(18) James Gibbons (1683)He was born in Warminster in 1681/3 and died in Chester county, Pennsylvania in about 1732. James married Ann Pierce (Pearce) on 9 March 1707/8 in Chester. Ann had been born in Chester in 1683, the daughter of George Pearce of Thornbury and Ann Gainer. They moved to Westtown township to land given to them as a gift by his father. He was a representative for Chester county to the Pennsylvania Assembly from 1717 to 1719. Ann appears to have had another husband at one time, a William Pim.
| Westtown Township
Westtown was established in 1685, the second township in Chester County. It is located in the eastern part of the county, just northeast of the Brandywine battlefield. |
He was born in 1710/1 on Bethel plantation, Chester, Pennsylvania [not Westtown?]. He married Anne Sheward in 1734. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Sheward. James appears to have been a representative to the colonial assembly in 1737-1744. He died on 1745 in Westtown township, Chester. Ann Sharp indicates that Anne Sheward was actually Jane Sheward and that her mother's name was Jane as well. According to Ann, no father has been accurately identified. The will of James Gibbons, below, bears out his wife's name:
James Gibbons of Westtown, yeoman. Date Signed: November 20, 1744. Date Proved: May 2, 1745. B. 180. Provides for wife Jane, including plantation where I now live until eldest son James is 21. To son James the said plantation which my grandfather John Gibbons by deed, October 4, 1708, conveyed to my father James Gibbons and which he devised to me containing 500 acres, also to said son my part of Goshen Society Mill. To younger sons, William and Thomas my tract of land in Nantmell containing 1200 acres, patented March 4, 1733. To only daughter Jane Gibbons £400 at 18 unless she marries by other means than the rules of the people called Quakers, then she shall have only 10 shillings. Executors: wife Jane and friends Caleb Peirce, Jos. Brinton, Edwd. Brinton and Richard Jones, overseers. Witnesses: David Davis, Jane Davis, John Cheyney.Ann Sharp also provided the following,
"Jane Sheward was born about 1703. A sampler dated 1719 says she was 16 when it was made. She came to Pennsylvania in 1728 with two certificates, one from Stourbridge Monthly Meeting and one from London MM - from "EARLY CHURCH RECORDS OF CHESTER COUNTY." Actually the record shows that the MM was Chiswick MM, which met at the various Preparatory Meeting locations of Chiswick, Bewdley, Bromgrove, Dudley, and Stourbridge. At the Bewdley meeting, 15 4mo 1728, "Jane Sheward desires a Certificate for her daughter." The certificate was duly forthcoming the following month when the PM met at Stourbridge. [Jane Sheward the mother making this request suggests to me that she was a widow.] Jane emigrated to Kennett, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and there married James Gibbons in 1734."
(20) James Gibbons (1736)"News of the abuses reached Washington through the cleverness of Mary Taylor Frazer and Jane Sheward Gibbons, the tall, imperious "Queen of the County," who had called on Howe to demand the return of her cow. Persifor Frazer had been taken prisoner after the battle of Brandywine. The two aggressive women insisted on receiving permission to visit Frazer in the jail, and Howe, anxious to win favor among the Quaker farmers, unsuspectingly allowed them to pass Cunningham's guard. They saw the mistreatment of the prisoners and, noticing the marks of starvation and abuse, suggested that Frazer and his fellow prisoners write a formal letter of protest to Washington. Cunningham and Loring had been careful to prevent leakage of such information. When the women were about to leave the jail, sentries demanded that they submit to search. Mrs. Gibbons stubbornly protested and acted as though she were trying to escape; Mrs. Frazer, who had concealed the note in her petticoat under a strip of braid, seemed acquiescent. Tory women called in to make the search, finding nothing on the angrily struggling Mrs. Gibbons, gave only a cursory glance at Mrs. Frazer. She carried off not only the statement of protest but also a small sample of the bad bread served to the prisoners."
"Once past the sentries, the women rode to the Middle ferry, passed the guards as though on their way to the Brandywine, but then wheeled their horses northward toward the American camp. Under the escort of an American colonel found with a roistering group at Swedes' Ford tavern, the women spurred onward to Washington's headquarters. Their information was immediately used as the basis for an official protest sent to General Howe, Conditions thereafter were improved for prisoners." >br>- from "VALLEY FORGE," by Henry Emerson Wildes, 1938
He was born on 7 July 1736 in Westtown, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He married Eleanor Peters on 1 December 1756 in Westtown. She was the daughter of William Peters and Eleanor Kerlin. He died on 17 September 1823 in Birmingham.
(21) James Gibbons (1762)He was born on 25 February 1760 in Westtown.
(21) John Gibbons (1764)He was born in 1764. He married Sarah Cope on 15 October 1801.
(21) Thomas Gibbons (1768)He was born in 1768.
(21) Joshua Gibbons (1776)He was born in 1776.
(20) William Gibbons (c1740)He was born in 1737 in Westtown. He married Susanna Ashbridge in 1761. He died on 30 October 1803 in Thornbury, Pennsylvania.
(20) Thomas Gibbons (c1740)He was born on 23 February 1742/3 in Westtown. He married Mary Brinton. He died on 27 October 1823.
(21) James GibbonsHe married Sarah Peirce in 1802. They had a daughter, Hannah, who married John Edwards.
(21) Joseph Gibbons(21) William Gibbons
He married Sarah Ann Brinton on 27 December 1827 [see above however for another Brinton]. He died on 18 October 1832.
(21) Thomas Gibbons(19) Joseph Gibbons Sr. (1712)
He was born on 24 August [or October] 1712 is Westtown, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He married Hannah Marshall on 23 March [or May] 1734. Hannah was born on 7 November 1715, the daughter of Abraham Marshall. Joseph was a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1748-1763, taking over the position his elder brother James had held until his death in 1745. His Will:
Gibbons, Joseph. Westtown. 9-10-1780. June 11, 1782. Died 9-15-1780 about dusk. To son John 5 shillings being advanced heretofore. To son Joseph all my right, etc. to Goshen Society Mills, lands, etc. being the 3/16 part thereof, also £135. To son Abraham 2 acres of my lands in Lancaster Co. being already advanced. To son Jacob all remainder of lands in Leacock Township, Lancaster Co. containing about 123 acres, also a part of my mansion place containing 10 acres. To son James all remainder of my plantation in Westtown containing 280 acres, paying following legacies in gold or silver. To son Jacob £380. To Mary, wife of John Hill, £355. To Ann, wife of Isaac Lloyd, £355. To Hannah, wife of Norris Jones, £405. To Rachel, wife of John Hunt, £405. Executor: Son James.(20) James Gibbons (a1731)
The eldest son, he was born in about 1731 in Chester county. He married Deborah Hoopes on 6 May 1756 in Goshenville, Chester county. He died on 18 July 1810.
James was educated by his parents and became an accomplished scholar, linguist, and mathematician. He was treasurer of Chester County and a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania for the three years immediately preceding the Declaration of Independence, 1773-1775. As a member of the Society of Friends and a non-combatant, he retired from all public service at the outbreak of the Revolution.
He conducted a successful private school at his country home and afterward in Philadelphia. In 1795 he sold his farm of 600 acres to the Friends, and there they established their well-known "Westtown School." The remainder of his life was spent in retirement upon his farm in Chester County.
(21) Daniel GibbonsHe married Hannah Wierman.
(22) Joseph GibbonsHe married Phebe Earle.
(21) William Gibbons (1781)William was a physician, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 10 [17] August, 1781. He died in Wilmington, Delaware, on 25 July 1845. He married Rebecca Donaldson on 14 May 1806 in Chester. She was the daughter of David Donaldson and Sarah Sloan.
William was educated by his father, was graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1805, and practiced in Wilmington, Delaware. He was first president of the Delaware academy of natural sciences, of the Peace society, and of the Delaware Temperance society, and was an active member of the Society for Preventing the Kidnapping of Negroes. Dr. Gibbons established and conducted in 1824-1828, at his own expense, a religious periodical entitled the "Berean," devoted to the principles of the Society of Friends, and took a prominent part in the religious controversy that resulted in the separation of the society in 1827 into the divisions since known as "Friends " and "Orthodox Friends." He also wrote about 1821, under the signature of "Vindex," a series of letters replying to an attack on the Friends made by a Presbyterian clergyman, which is one of the clearest expositions of Quaker doctrines published in modern times, and was the author of a pamphlet entitled "Exposition of Modern Scepticism," assailing the doctrines of the social reformers led by Fanny Wright.
(22) James Henry Gibbons (1807)He was born on 3 April 1807 in Wilmington, Delaware.
(22) Henry Gibbons (1808)He was born on 20 September 1808 in Wilmington, Delaware. He married Martha Poole on 9 May 1833. He died on 5 November 1884 in Wilmington.
(22) James Sloan Gibbons (1810)He was born on 1 July 1810 in Wilmington, Delaware. He married Abigail Hopper. He died on 17 October 1892 in New York.
(22) William Peters Gibbons (1812)The son of William Gibbons and Rebecca Donaldson, he was born on 19 April 1812 in Wilmington, New Castle county, Delaware. He married Mary Robinson on 5 March 1835 in Philadelphia.
In the 1860 census of Tuolomne county, California as Wm. P. Gibbons, a 48 year old Physician. Living with him were his wife, Mary R., 50, and children, Robinson, 24, Alfred, 17, and William, 15.
In the 1870 census of Alameda, California as W.P. Gibbons, a 59 year old Physician, of Delaware. Living with him were his wife, Mary R., 60, and his children, Robbert [sic, Robinson], a 24 year old [shouldn't that be 34?] in the Surgeon General's office, and his family, Mary A., Alice, Willie H., and Alfred R., and Alfred, a 27 year old bookeeper, and William, a 25 year old attorney, and his wife, Jennie H., 23.
In the 1880 census of Alameda, California as William P. Gibbons, 69. Living with him were his wife, Mary R., 70, and son Robinson, 43, and his family, wife, Mary A., and children, Alice, 14, and William H., 12. William's son Alfred, 37, was also living with them.
He died on 17 May 1897 in Alameda, California. His children were William, Robinson, and Alfred.
He may have a son, William T. Gibbons, who married Elizabeth Wood in 1871. Their son was William Wood Gibbons. In the 1880 census of Alameda, California as William Gibbons, a 35 year old lawyer. Living with him were his wife, Elizabeth M., 31, and children, John W., 2, and Mary A., 4.
(22) Charles Gibbons (1814)He was born on 30 March 1814 in Wilmington, Delaware. He died on 14 August 1885.
(22) Edward Gibbons (1817)He was born on 7 December 1817 in Wilmington, Delaware. He died on 30 May 1886.
(22) Rodmond Gibbons (1827)He was born on 1 August 1827 in Wilmington, Delaware. He died on 9 May 1900 in Mt. Wilson, Baltimore county, Maryland.
(20) John Gibbons (c1735)Clearly an unloved, and perhaps undeserving, son. Note that all he got in his father's will, above, was the abolition of a 5 shilling debt.
(20) Jacob Gibbons (c1735)He inherited the "remainder of lands in Leacock Township, Lancaster Co. containing about 123 acres, also a part of my mansion place containing 10 acres . . . £380."
(20) Abraham Gibbons (1741)Another less-loved son. He was born on 15 September 1741. He married Lydia Garrett on 13 April 1763 in Willistown, Chester county, Pennsylvania. Second he married Mary Canby on 27 May 1790 in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the daughter of Oliver Canby and Elizabeth Shipley. He inherited just 2 acres of lands in Lancaster county from his father.
(21) William Gibbons (1764)Son of Lydia Garrett. He was born in 1764. He married Hannah Pusey. Second he married Jane massey on 18 Janaury 1787.
(22) Abraham GibbonsA child of Hannah Pusey. He died in Coatesville, Chester county, Pennsylvania.
(21) Abraham Gibbons (1791)Son of Mary Canby. He was born on 8 July 1791. He died on 12 October 1858 in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
(20) Joseph Gibbons Jr. (1738)Joseph Jr. was born on 30 September 1738 in Springfield township, Chester county, Pennsylanvia. He married Margery Hannum on 9 May 1759 at the Concord Meeting. She was born at Concord township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of John Hannum, a wealthy landowner, Colonel of the Chester county Milita during the American Revolution and a leading citizen of the community. The Gibbons and Hannum families were close and intermarried several times.
Joseph was a farmer and settled in Springfield township where he kept a tavern. He was commissioned Coroner on 4 October 1768-70. He was a member of the Committee of Observation for Chester county [this refers to the groups that ensured compliance with the non-importation of British goods during the run-up to the American Revolution] and represented Delaware county in the State House of Representatives in 1792 and 1793. These accomplishments imply a greater stature than we might assume of an inn keeper. I'll guess that the inn was just one aspect of Joseph's commercial interests. Certainly he was wealthy enough to send his son John Hannum to Edinburgh, Scotland for his medical education..
Joseph inherited all of his father's rights to the "Goshen Society Mills, lands, etc. being the 3/16 part thereof, also £135."
Joseph and Margery had thirteen children. He also appears to have owned a slave, Phebe, aged 8 years, in 1780.
Joseph died in 1795 in Springfield township. His will, from Delaware county Wills, 1789-1834:
Gibbons, Joseph, Springfield Twp. Date Signed: November 8, 1795. Date Proved: August 18, 1796. Provides for wife (not named), to grandson John Haysham [sic] Gibbons of Philadelphia [John Hannum Gibbons having predeceased], when of age, grandson Mifflin by name, to sons James Mifflin Gibbons, Jos. and George W. and to daughters Jane wife of Robert Malcom, Mary wife of Matthew Ash, Hannah wife of Enock Harlon, Ann, Elizabeth, Sarah and Rebecca Gibbons. Exrs: Sons James M. & Joseph and son in law Matthew Ash. Wits: John Hibberd, Isaac Hibberd and Nathaniel Smith. #100.Margery did not die until 30 November 1814 in Springfield township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. His children were,
He was bron on 13 July 1767. He married Margaret Garrett.
(21) Joseph Gibbons (1769)He was born on 2 November 1769. He married Lydia Dicks. He died on 21 June 1853.
(21) George W. Gibbons (1781)He was born on 9 March 1781. He married Elizabeth Gladden. He died on 29 August 1860.
(21) William Gibbons (1761)He was born on 8 September 1761. He died unmarried.
(21) Dr. John Hannum Gibbons (1759)
John Hannum Gibbons was born on 31 August 1759 in Springfield township, Chester [now Delaware] county where his parents had their inn, and probably other properties as well. 'Of' Chester county, Pennsylvania, though this area is now part of Delaware county. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and attended the medical school at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland.
"Edinburgh UniversityHe was the first American doctor in a line that was to include five more doctors, one of which was the inventor of the heart-lung bypass machine - from a biography of John Heysham Gibbon Jr. by Harris B. Schumacker.
Joseph Black
Letter from Dr John Shore, Petersburg, Va. introducing Dr Gibbons of Philadelphia, a medical student and concerning a species of plant as an antidote to spider venom, 1784." - from "Scotus Americanus: A Survey of the Sources for Links between Scotland and America in the Eighteenth Century" by William R. Brock, 1982.
He was a Quaker. The 1790 Federal census lists a John Gibbons, Dr. P [of physic, i.e. a physician?], in Philadelphia. There are four people living at the residence [0-2-1-1-0], a young men, one old man, and a young woman. As early as 1791 a Dr. John Gibbons was living at number 326 Arch Street in Philadelphia. This was just two doors down from Captain Heysham, who lived at number 323.
John Hannum Gibbons married Mary Heysham in 1794, but died soon after, on 4 October 1795, predeceasing his father by 4 years. This would have been just 8 months after the birth of his son, John Heysham Gibbons. There is no indication of how, or from what, he died, but as a Doctor he frequently came in contact with infectious diseases. He was buried at Christ Church Burying Ground, southeast corner of 5th and Arch streets. His tombstone, in the Christ Church burial ground, reads:
"J. H. Gibbons M.D.John's brother-in-law, Francis Bowes Sayre, was buried nearby. Francis was an associate of Benjamin Rush, one of America's most famous doctors who had just finished writing his treatise on the Yellow Fever that had ravished Philadelphia. Rush exchanged medical data with numerous doctors, including a John Gibbons of Delaware. John H. Gibbons was from Delaware county. Could this be the same man? Could Ann and Mary Heysham's husbands have met through their mutual acquaintance with Rush?
Obit. October 4th 1795
Aged 36 years"
Some histories show that it was his son, John Heysham Gibbon, who dropped the final s from the family name, but according to "Genealogy of the Hannum Family" it was Joseph who did so to spite his uncles who did not pay him his lawful share under his father's will when he came of age at 21. His only child was John Heysham Gibbon.
Wiltshire is situated in the southwest of England, near Wales. It is steeped in history right through the ages. Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone circle, dating from about 3000 BC is located there as are the huge White Horses carved into the chalk hillsides. It is still intensely rural and well visited by crop circles.
Bethel Township was one of the original townships in the original Chester County, which was one of the first of the three original counties of Pennsylvania. It is now in Delaware county. It is a fertile plain, gently sloping down to the Delaware river, to the east. The name "Bethel" comes from the Bible and means "the house of God," reflecting the deep religiosity of its first settlers. Almost all of these were Quakers.
A British divine, Keith was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in about 1639 and was educated for the Presbyterian ministry. In 1662 he became a Quaker. After being imprisoned for preaching in 1676 he went to Holland and Germany on an evangelistic tour with George Fox and William Penn. Two further terms of imprisonment in England induced him to emigrate to America in 1684, where he was surveyor-general in East Jersey and then a schoolmaster at Philadelphia. He travelled in New England defending Quakerism against the attacks of Increase and Cotton Mather, but after a time, perhaps in consequence of the strong case made by those ministers, fell out with his own folk on the subject of the atonement, accusing them of deistic views, and started a community of his own called " Christian Quakers " or " Keithians."