Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Gibson, Thomas Ballard 1861 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 8, 2005, 1:21 am

Author: Tom Gregory

THOMAS BALLARD GIBSON

    It would be difficult to name any important enterprise associated with the
material upbuilding of Woodland which has lacked the generous co-operation and
enthusiastic support of Mr. Gibson, who indeed stands second to no citizen in
his progressive spirit and devoted loyalty to civic development. Having spent
his entire life in Woodland and Yolo county, he has been familiar from earliest
recollections with movements for the common welfare and has acquired a thorough
knowledge of local possibilities. His faith in future advancement is surpassed
only by his knowledge of past achievements. Whether commercial affairs are
projected or educational progress is demanded, whether modern improvements are
instituted in the city's public works or fraternal organizations seek adequate
quarters for their meetings, he interests himself in all and has demonstrated
the possession of a broad, rounded citizenship that holds itself aloof from any
narrow partisanship.

    The boyhood years of Thomas B. Gibson were passed uneventfully in the home
of his father, William B. Gibson, and in attendance upon the public schools and
Hesperian College. Born October 2, 1861, he was twenty years of age when he was
graduated from Heald's, Business College in San Francisco. Afterward he assisted
his father in farming until 1885, when he established a hardware store at
Woodland under the firm name of T. B. Gibson & Co., his partner being Thomas M.
Prior. For ten years they occupied their own building and continued in
partnership. At the expiration of that time he purchased his partner's interest,
and until January 17, 1903, he continued alone in the Gibson block, at the
corner of Main and Elm streets, a building two stories high, with a frontage of
one hundred and seventy feet and a depth of from eighty to one hundred and
eighty feet, the corner, 60x180 feet, being devoted to the hardware business,
while the balance is arranged for five stores. On the day of 1903 previously
mentioned the hardware business was sold to C. Sieber & Co., the present
proprietors.

    As the first president of the Woodland Milling Company, Mr. Gibson had been
interested in the building of the Woodland Flour Mills, with a capacity of one
hundred barrels per day. After the plant burned to the ground in 1903, Mr.
Gibson sold his stock to the Globe Milling Company. With his brother, R. J., he
purchased the Union warehouse, comprising two buildings, 50x300 feet, and 80x150
feet, respectively. During 1903 he bought sixty acres under the Yolo County
Consolidated ditch and this he put under cultivation to alfalfa. As a promoter
of the Woodland Creamery Company he assisted in establishing a concern that has
been most helpful to the dairy interests of the county, and after a time lie was
honored with the office of president, which he now fills, his executive ability
being indispensable in the rapid development of the plant.

    At Blacks, Yolo county, August 4, 1885, Mr. Gibson married Miss Virginia Lee
Root, who was born near Linneus, Linn county, Mo., and is a daughter of James
and Nancy E. Root, a pioneer family of Yolo county. The only child of Mr. and
Mrs. Gibson is a daughter, Zellah Lee, now Mrs. Dr. H. M. Elberg of San Luis
Obispo. For about fourteen years the family resided in a cottage on Elm street,
but in 1905 they removed to their new and elegant residence, at the south end of
College street. By virtue of his birth in California, Mr. Gibson is a member of
the Native Sons of the Golden West, and with others he erected the Native Sons'
Hall in Woodland, which was opened in March of 1905. Fraternally he is connected
with Woodland Lodge No. 156, F. & A. M.; Woodland Chapter No. 46, B. A. M.;
Woodland Commandery No. 21, K. T.; and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San
Francisco, being also, with his wife, a member of the Eastern Star, in which he
ranks as past worthy patron. Since 1884 he has been connected with the Knights
of Pythias, and in the local lodge he has served as chancellor.

    While engaged in the hardware business Mr. Gibson assisted in organizing the
Pacific Coast Retail Hardware Association, the first of its kind in the west.
The first meeting was held in Marysville, Yuba county, in 1899, when John C.
White was elected president and Mr. Gibson was made a member of the executive
board. In addition he was a prominent member of the California State Retail
Hardware Dealers' Association. On the organization of the Sacramento Valley
Development Association he became a charter member and assisted in promoting its
progress, and now represents Yolo county upon its board of trustees. He is also
a member of the California Development Board of San Francisco and serving as a
member of its board of directors. He was one of the organizers of the California
Live Stock Breeders' Association and a member of the board of directors. He is
also president of the Central Irrigation Ditch Company that supplies Woodland
farms on the south and east with water for irrigation.

    In politics Mr. Gibson votes with the Democratic party. With E. P. Huston
and W. P. Craig he organized the Woodland Chamber of Commerce and aided its
early enterprises through his service upon its executive board. As a member of
the board of trustees, he favored civic improvements. As chairman of the fire
and water committee, he secured two new wells and the installation of an
electric pumping plant of large capacity. The all-night lighting of the city by
electricity and the closing of the saloons at midnight were two movements that
he favored with intense zeal, and he was also an important factor in the
substitution of cement pavements for board, which always had been in use for the
cross streets. Any other movements indispensable to the permanent welfare of
city and county have received his stalwart championship and owe much to his
intelligent advocacy.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]

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