1191.John Gibson. Born ca 1601 in England.14 John died in Cambridge, MA or after 1688.14
For details on the family and descendants of John Gibson, see Mehitable Wilson’s book John Gibson of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his Descendants,97 McGill & Wallace, Washington, 1900.
Some excerpts from that book:
John Gibson of Cambridge, Mass., 'ye newe towne” of 1631, Newe Towne or Newtowne of 1632 and name changed to Cambridge May 2, 1638, b. (probably England) about 1601 ; d. Cambridge, 1694 aged 93 years; m. first, Rebecca — (bur. Dec. 1, 1661 in Roxbury burying ground, the burial recorded by Rev. John Eliot, pastor Roxbury First church: “Moneth 10 day 1 — 1661 — The wife of Goodman Gibson of Cambridge"); m. second, July 24, 1662, Joan, widow of Henry Prentice of Cambridge, “planter,” on whose estate in 1663 “his relict widow Joan, and John Gibson, her now husband, administrators.”
Mr. Gibson was in Cambridge in 1634 and made free of the corporation (The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England) “17th of the 3d mo. @ 1637” by Julian calendar in use till 1752, equivalent to May 17, 1637 by Gregorian or present calendar. Whether he settled first in Cambridge and when he came over are not known as the year and name of ship are lost; it is probable, however, that he came neither with the Braintree company in Cambridge Aug. 14, 1632, nor with Rev. Thomas Hooker who followed his people Sept. 4, 1633; he first appears on Cambridge records of Aug. 4, 1634: “To John Gibson 6 Ackrs,” in the list of lots granted in Westend, that part of the town lying between Sparks, Wyeth and Garden streets, Harvard and Brattle squares and Charles river. His house which stood on the east of Sparks street, not far up the hill from the path (Brattle street) to Watertown, was built before “10th October 1635,” the date in The Regesiere Booke of the Lands and Howses in the Newtowne 1635 under which is recorded: “John Gibson. Jn Westend one house with Planting Grounde Aboute Six Ackers Watter Towne Pales south west John Arnould North west Nathaniell Elly North east Edward Elmer south east;” in 1639 he bought of Elmer the 3 acres adjoining on the southeast which extended his house-lot to Garden street. Family tradition says that the Gibsons planted linden trees, and if tradition and boundaries can be made to agree perhaps “the old house by the lindens,” corner Brattle and Sparks streets, familiar by Longfellow’s poem The Open Window, may have stood on land once owned by John Gibson!
Mr. Gibson doubtless belonged to the church formed by Rev. Mr. Hooker on his arrival in 1633; on the removal in 1635 and 1636 of the pastor and most of the families to Hartford (Conn.) he became one of the succeeding society or First church organized Feb. 1, 1636 by Rev. Thomas Shepard and his band of new-comers, and on the earliest list of members (1637) are “John Gibson — Mrs. Rebecca Gibson;” also a church entry of “11th mo. 1658” (Jan. 1659) reads: “John Gibson and Rebecca his wife, both members in f.c. Their children: Rebecca now joyned in full communion with the church at Watertown — Mary — Martha — John — Samuel — baptized in this church.” He continued this membership until his death and during these nearly sixty years worshiped till 1650 in the original building, corner Dunster and Mt. Auburn streets, and afterwards in its successor, southwest corner of the college yard (Harvard); and not only with change of sittings shown by town record of Jan. 19, 1662, “the committee for seating the people in the meetinghouse appoint Jno. Gibson to sit where Mr. Day was wont to sit,' but also under change of pastors, Thomas Shepard 1636-1649, Jonathan Mitchell 1650-1668, Urian Oakes 1671-1681, Nathaniel Gookin 1682-1692.
In addition to his “nyne acr” house-lot in the West-end Mr. Gibson had other real estate in Cambridge, namely: 5 acres in the great swamp or Fresh pond meadows, entered in the Proprietors’ Records “Aprill. 4. 1636,” under “A record of the names of the men who were purchasers & haue proprieties in the freshe pond meadow and their quantitie of Acers — John Gibsone 5 Acers” which 5 acres he sold in 1643 to Nathaniel Sparhawk; — again, “Septemb 21th: 1639 — three Acres of planteing grounde in the New Lotts next Manotomie” (Menotomy or the Second parish in 1732, West Cambridge in 1807, Arlington since 1867); — granted by the town in 1645 “lott to John Gipson — 07 — 1/2 aks” this side Metonomy; — in 1646 “John Gipson — 07 aks+ 00 roods” among wood lots, “ye land to ly in comon for ye townes ufe;” — 60 acres on “the Rocks” near Metonomy river (Alewife brook) meadow, “layd out” to him in 1648 and which he sold the same year to Edward Danforth; — lot no. 52 of 80 acres granted by vote of the church June 9, 1652, in Shawshine (Shawshin), the large tract awarded 1644/ 5 to Cambridge and May 29, 1655 set off as the original town of Billerica; — 3 acres in the fifth Division of “lands layd out on the South Side Charles River” in 1662, the territory including both Cambridge Village or New Cambridge set off as Newton in 1691 and Little Cambridge or the Third parish set off as Brighton in 1807; — “twenty ace's & three comons” at the drawing of lots and interests in the cow commons (Cambridge common) under entry of “feb 27tn 1664 And march the 27th 1665;” — finally, under date of “Novembr 29th 1689.” lot no. 103 of 12 acres in the first Division and lot no. 64 of 12 acres in the second Division, “the land that was formerly Comon called by the Name of Cambridge Rocks.”
That he was a husbandman and not an artisan is indicated by the “planteing grounde” and a record that John Gibson agreed with the town May 8, 1637, to summer 100 cows for £20. There is no evidence that he ever held any church office and of town offices only minor ones — appointed Mar. 15, 1676 to view fences and in 1678 to drive West-field, the arable land west of West-end often called West-end-field, bounded north by Garden street, east by Wyeth street, south by Vassall lane and west by Fresh pond meadows. His name occurs only once in lawsuits on Middlesex county court records, the suit in 1660 of “Winifred Holman Plt, against John Gibson Senr and his wife et al.,” brought as the result of the defendants having accused Mary Holman, daughter of widow Winifred, of being a witch; and at the hearing “3 day of Aprill,” several months after the accusation, the finding for John Gibson was “costs of Court, fifteen shillings and ten pence.”
He led most likely a quiet life in the small community of his friends, the Dana, Hastings and other families whose homes were within sight of his own, such a life of quiet content that he signed “John Gibson” as nineteenth name on the list of one hundred and seven “inhabitants and householders of the towne,” in an address “To the Honoured Generall Court of Massachusetts Colonie,” dated “Cambridg the 17th of the 8. 1664” and whose purport is told in the clerk’s entry of Oct. 19, 1664, two days later :
“The Court being mett together & informed that seuerall persons inhabitants of Cambridge were at the doore desiring liberty to make knowne theire errand were called in & Mr Edward Jackson Mr Rich Jackson M'r Edw Oakes & Deacon Ston: coming before the Court presented a peticon from the inhabitants of Cambridge wth was subscribed by very many hands in wch they testified & declared their good content & sattisfaction they tooke & had in the present goument in church & comwealth with their resolution to be assisting to & encouraging the same & humbly desiring all meanes might be vsed for the continuance & preservation theirof & at the same time & the next day seuerall peticons of like nature from Woborne Dorchester Redding Chelmsford Concord Billirrikey Boston Dedham & Meadfield & also one from seuerall inhabitants of Roxbury all which are on file.”
The days of peaceful prosperity came to an end under the oppressive rule of the tyrant Governor Sir Edmund Andros, and early in 1688 a petition asking redress was sent to James II, signed by John Gibson and George Willow representing their neighborhood and giving their respective ages “about 87 and 86 yrs.” Despite the forcible statement that “our title is now questioned to our lands, by us quietly possessed for near sixty years, and without which we cannot subsist” — the touching plea that “we are a poor people and have no way to procure money to defend our cause in the law, nor know we of friends at Court, and therefore unto your royal Majesty, as the public Father of all your subjects, do we make this our humble address for relief” — the pathetic closing words, “If we perish we perish” — despite these appeals for redress none came from the king, due perhaps to his abdication, and John Gibson died a poor man.
See also The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, volume 3, pages 49-52.
Noble ancestries for John and his wives appear to be complete fabrications.
Ca 1634 John first married Rebecca. Rebecca died in Roxbury, MA in Dec 1661. Buried on 1 Dec 1661 in Roxbury, MA.97