Son of John Gibson:
JOHN GIBSON
ORIGIN: Unknown.
MIGRATION: 1634.
FIRST RESIDENCE: Cambridge.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Cambridge church prior to 17 May 1637 implied by freemanship. In the list of Cambridge church members compiled in January 1658/9 are "John Gibson & Rebecca his wife both members in full communion. Their children: Rebeccah, now joined in full communion with the church at Watertowne, Mary, Martha, John, Samuel," the last four listed as "baptized in this church" [CaChR 14].
FREEMAN: 17 May 1637 [MBCR 1:373].
OFFICES: Cambridge fenceviewer, 9 March 1662/3, 26 March 1666 [CaTR 143, 161]. Field driver, 15 March 1676/7, 11 March 1677/8 [CaTR 233, 239].
EDUCATION: Signed his deeds.
ESTATE: On 4 August 1634, "John Gibson" was granted six acres in the West End in Cambridge [CaTR 9]. Received a proportional share of one in the undivided meadow, 20 August 1635 [CaTR 13]. In the 8 February 1635/6 list of "those men who have houses in the town at this present, " "John Gibson" is credited with one house in the West End [CaTR 19].
In the Cambridge land inventory on 10 October 1635, "John Gibson" held one parcel: "in West End one house with planting ground about six acres" [CaBOP 35]. In the 1639 land inventory, "John Gibson" held one parcel: "in the new lots next Manotomie three acres of planting ground," and had bought of Edward Elmer "in the West End three acres of land" [CaBOP 55, 62]. In the 6 September 1642 land inventory, "John Gibson" held two parcels: "in West End one dwelling house with nine acres land"; and "in the Fresh Pond Meadow five acres" [CaBOP 95].
By 1642, John Gibson had sold to Nathaniel Sparrowhawk five acres in the Fresh Pond Meadow [CaBOP 124].
In 1648, "Jno. Gibson" was granted sixty acres "on the rocks on the north side the river," and, by 9 October 1648, had sold this land to Thomas Danforth [CaBOP 135, 138]. In the Shawsheen grant of 4 June 1652, "John Gibson" received Lot #52, eighty acres [CaTR 98].
On 30 November 1668, "John Gibson Senior of Cambridge" deeded to "John Gibson Junior his son the westerly end of or part of his now dwelling house with the chimney thereto appertaining ..., also three acres of land being part of the lot adjoining thereto," provided the father and son work in equal partnership all the land of the father, "and at the decease of the said John Gibson Senior all the said lands with all the houses & buildings thereon to be & remain to the said John Gibson Junior," with further provisions for maintenance if the grantor's wife outlives him [MLR 3:330].
On 26 May 1679, "John Gibson Senior of Cambridge ..., yeoman," sold to "Edm[ond] Angier of the same place, woollendraper, ... one parcel of land" in Cambridge "on the south side of Charles River, & containeth by estimation three acres"; acknowledged by "Joanna my wife" [MLR 7:352]. On 15 April 1687, "John Gibson of Cambridge" sold to "Deacon Walter Hastin of the aforesaid town ..., tanner, ... a small parcel of land containing one acre & a half ... in Cambridge West Field in the Great Swamp" [MLR 10:68].
BIRTH: about 1601 (deposed in 1688 "aged about 87" [Hutchinson 1:312]).
DEATH: In or after 1688 [Hutchinson 1:312]. (Secondary sources say he died in 1694, but the evidence for this has not been found.)
MARRIAGE: (1) By about 1634 Rebecca _____. She died at Roxbury on 1 December 1661 [RChR 177].
(2) Cambridge 24 July 1662 Joanna (_____) Prentice, widow of Henry Prentice [Wyman 773].
CHILDREN:
With first wife
i REBECCA GIBSON, b. say 1634; m. Cambridge 22 June 1654 Charles Stearns.
ii MARY GIBSON, b. Cambridge [blank] March 1637 [NEHGR 4:56]; m. Roxbury 3 April 1655 John Ruggles.
iii MARTHA GIBSON, b. Cambridge [blank] April 1639 [NEHGR 4:56]; m. Roxbury 3 November 1657 Jacob Newell.
iv JOHN GIBSON, b. about 1641 (d. Cambridge 15 October 1679 aged 48 years) [sic]; m. Cambridge 9 December 1668 Rebecca Errington.
v SAMUEL GIBSON, b. 28 October 1644; m. (1) Cambridge 30 October 1668 Sarah Pemberton; m. (2) Cambridge 14 June 1679 Elizabeth Stedman.
COMMENTS: On 8 May 1637, it was "agreed with John Gibson to keep 100 cows at our direction all this summer" [CaTR 28]. On 11 December 1648, it was "granted by the townsmen to John Gibson the use and profit of the weir and weir land for two years ensuing, upon condition, that he serve the town with fish, at ninepence per thousand, and if he afford help for loading them to be allowed ten pence per 1000" [CaTR 78].
The year of birth of son John would be about 1631 based on the age at death on his tombstone as published, but this must be incorrect. The list of church members of January 1658/9, when describing a family, enters the children in birth order, and for this family John is placed between Martha and Samuel, strongly suggesting that the age at death has been misread, and should be 38 rather than 48. This is consistent with his date of marriage.
In 1659 various members of the family of John Gibson accused Winifred and Mary Holman, wife and daughter of WILLIAM HOLMAN , of witchcraft, but there is no record of a trial resulting from these charges. Early in 1660, Winifred and Mary charged John Gibson Senior and his wife, Rebecca (Gibson) Stearns, and John Gibson Junior with defamation. Winifred was unsuccessful in her suits against the first three, but Mary Holman won her suit against John Gibson Junior. This defamation suit generated many documents, some of them long and detailed, which are very revealing about the characters involved and about daily life in Cambridge at the time [Parker-Ruggles 237-54; Witchhunting 134-46].
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1900 Mehitable Calef Coppenhagen Wilson compiled a genealogy of John Gibson and his descendants [Gibson Gen 1-11, 19-23].
