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EARLY SETTLERS OF SANGAMON COUNTY - 1876
By John Carroll Power

These biographies were submitted by a researcher and evidently abstracted from the 1876 History of Sangamon County, IL. Errors could occur, so one should always verify the correctness by obtaining copies of vitals and performing all necessary research to document what is contained herein.




GIBSON, WILLIAM, was born about 1780, near Staunton, Va., and was taken by his parents, at six or seven years of age, to Fayette county, Ky. He was married in Boone county, in 1809, to Mary Holman. She was born July 29, 1789, in Woodford county. Her father, Edward Holman, and Jesse Holman--for many years Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana--were brothers. She was consequently a cousin to Hon. Wm. S. Holman, of the Fifth Congressional District of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson had six children, near Lexington, Fayette county, Ky., and moved to Sangamon county, Ill., arriving Nov. 1, 1829, and settled in what is now the northwest corner of Chatham township. Of their children--

DAVID E., born April 16, 1811, in Fayette county, Ky., married in Sangamon county, April 14, 1831, to Mary Greenwood. They had five children: MARY A., born Feb. 12, 1832, married May 12, 1855, to John C. Cresswell, who was born Feb. 21, 1832, in Jersey county. They have four living children, ALICE D., DAVID E., LIZZIE and LAURA, and live five miles south of Loami. WILLIAM M., born Jan. 1, 1834, married May 11, 1854, to Elizabeth Fowler, who was born Dec., 1833, in Lincolnshire, England. They have five children: MARY, JOANNA, DAVID E., THOMAS and WILLIAM M., Jun. JOHN T., born March 5, 1836, married March 7, 1861, to Millicent Jarrett. They have four children, MARGARET L., ARTAMESIA, WILLIAM E. and JOSEPH F., and live five miles south of Loami. AMERICA, born Sept. 6, 1838, married James M. Coley. See his name. ELIZABETH, born Jan. 12, 1841, married Henry A. Weber. They had five children; all of them died under three years, and Mr. W. died Sept. 2, 1872, at White Oak, Montgomery county. Mrs. Weber resides with her father. Mrs. Mary Gibson died March 24, 1842, and David E. Gibson was married June 25, 1851, to to Julia A. Hall. They had five children. JANE died, aged four years. SUSAN, ILLINIA, HARRIET and DAVID E., Jun., reside with their parents, five miles south of Loami. David E. Gibson started to Jacksonville, about twenty-five miles distant, when there was but little improvement on the prairie. A snow storm set in soon after he started, and as night approached and he thought himself almost at the end of his journey, he discovered that he was only one and a half miles from home. He had been riding around a circle all day.

David E. Gibson remembers that in 1832 seed corn was so scarce that his father sent him to St. Clair county for some. He paid $1.00 per bushel, and shelled it himself. Settlements were so far apart that no food could be obtained. With two small scraps of bread--one from corn meal, the other from shorts--a drink of buttermilk and some wild onions, he traveled seventy-five miles, to reach home.

WM. HOLMAN, was born March 16, 1816, in Kentucky, was married March 3, 1841, in Sangamon county to America Forrest. They had one child, ELIZABETH, who died, aged eighteen years. W. H. Gibson died Dec. 26, 1849. His widow married Thomas J. Darneille. See his name.

ABIGAIL, born Jan., 1822, in Kentucky, married James M. Brown, in Sangamon county. They had two living children, and moved to California. He was murdered and robbed there of $3,000 in gold, Oct., 1870. His family moved from California to Nevada, thence to Oswego, Kansas. Of their children--ELIZABETH, married, and JAMES lives with his mother. See name of Joshua Brown and his son, James M.

JAMES E., born May 16, 1823, in Kentucky, married, June 5, 1845, in Sangamon county, to Margaret L. Forrest. He died; Jan. 13, 1873. in Chatham. His widow resides at Pioneer, Williams county, Ohio.

MARY, born in 1825, in Kentucky, married in Sangamon county, Ill., to Charles R. Campbell. See his name. They have two children, WILBUR and ABIGAIL.

JOHN A., born in 1827, in Kentucky, brought up in Sangamon county, went to California, in 1851, last heard from in 1865.

William Gibson died, Oct. 5, 1838, and his widow died, Sept., 1869, both in Sangamon county.




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