Marshall-Smith County KS Archives Biographies.....Gibson, Abel W. 1841 - 
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Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

ABEL W. GIBSON.

    Abel W. Gibson, one of Wells township's well-known and substantial farmers
and stockmen, a pioneer of Marshall county and the proprietor of a well-kept
farm of one hundred and forty-three acres in Wells township, is a native of the
Hoosier state, an honored veteran of the Civil War from that state, but has been
a resident of this county since 1881. He was born on a pioneer farm in Putnam
county, Indiana, not far from the city of Greencastle, October 11, 1841, a son
of Castleton and Lucy (Wilson) Gibson, natives of Kentucky and early settlers in
Indiana.

    Castleton Gibson was born in 1820 and was little more than an infant when
his parents, Louis Gibson and wife, moved from Kentucky up into Indiana in 1823
and settled in the then wilds of Putnam county. Louis Gibson, a Virginian and a
member of an old Colonial family, the Gibsons having settled in New York in
Colonial days, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and received a land warrant for
his services during that war. Alexander Wilson, father of Lucy Wilson, also was
a soldier during that war and received a land warrant, he and Louis Gibson
exercising their warrant rights by taking land side by side in Putnam county,
Indiana, where they established their homes and where they spent the remainder
of their lives. Alexander Wilson's father, Michael Wilson, carried all kinds of
seeds into Putnam county and set out the first apple orchard in that section of
the Hoosier state. A few years ago Abel W. Gibson took a trip back to his old
home in Indiana and he found some of those original trees still standing on the
old home place and still bearing excellent fruit. On those two pioneer farms,
side by side, Castleton Gibson and Lucy Wilson grew up and were married and
there spent their lives, Castleton Gibson's death occurring in 1883. He was a
cousin of General Gibson, of Civil War fame.

    On that pioneer farm in Putnam county, Indiana, Abel W. Gibson grew to
manhood, receiving his schooling in the local schools and proving a valuable aid
to his father in the labors of the farm. He was not twenty years of age when the
Civil War broke out, but in September of 1861, the first year of the war, he
enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and went to the front as a member
of Company B, Forty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and with that
command served for three years and ten months, during which time he participated
in many stirring engagements and suffered imprisonment at the hands of the
Rebels for ten months. The Forty-third Indiana was commanded by Col. William E.
McLain, of Terre Haute, and Company B of that regiment was headed, successively,
by Capt. Marion Darnell, Capt. Marmaduke Darnell and Capt. William Yelton.
During his service with that command Mr. Gibson was in many skirmishes on the
Mississippi river, and participated in the battles at New Madrid, Island No. 10,
Ft. Pillow, the capture of Memphis, Helena, Arkansas, and Marks' Mills,
Arkansas, April 25, 1864. It was in the latter engagement that the Forty-third
Indiana was "smashed" and Mr. Gibson was there taken prisoner by the enemy,
being sent to Tyler, Texas, where he was held for ten months. He got out,
however, before the war was closed, but upon seeking to rejoin his regiment
found it disbanded or destroyed and he was at Indianapolis when the war ended,
and there received his honorable discharge on June 15, 1865.

    Upon the completion of his military service, Abel W. Gibson decided to try
his fortunes in the then rapidly developing Northwest and in the fall of 1865
went to Iowa, settling in Decatur county, that state, where he took a homestead
and prepared to establish a home, after awhile returning to his old home in
Indiana for a bride and after his marriage there in January, 1868, settled down
on his homestead farm in Iowa, where he remained until 1881, when he disposed of
his holdings there to advantage and came to Kansas. Upon coming to this state
Mr. Gibson located in Smith county, but his experience there that year with the
burning winds, which destroyed all crops in that section of the state,
discouraged him and he moved over into Marshall county in 1882 and bought his
present farm in Wells township, where he established his home and where he since
has resided. Mr. Gibson has an excellent farm of one hundred and forty-three
acres and for for the past twenty-five years has given considerable attention to
stock raising, in addition to his general farming, and has done very well.
During the past ten years his attention has been particularly directed to the
raising of Herefords and he has been a successful producer along that line. He
has a fine herd of registered Herefords, the same now being headed by "Woodrow,"
from the Drennen herd. Mr. Gibson disposes of his calves each year at good
prices, in 1916 selling more than six hundred dollars worth of such stock. He is
a member of the American Hereford Association and takes a warm interest in the
affairs of that association.

    On January 22, 1868, in Putnam county, Indiana, Abel W. Gibson was united in
marriage to Sarah C. Ellis, who was born in that county on May 9, 1845, a
daughter of Adam and Caroline (Call) Ellis, natives of Kentucky, who moved to
Mississippi and thence to Indiana, in which latter state they established their
home not far from the Gibson and the Wilson homesteads. Mrs. Gibson died at her
home in this county on May 30, 1894, leaving two children, Alice, who is now
housekeeper for her father, and Burt, now living at Peyton, Colorado, who
married Bessie Greenleaf and has three children, Lucy, John and Joseph. Mr.
Gibson is an independent Republican and has rendered public service as a member
of the school board in his home district. He is an active member of Robert Hayes
Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Blue Rapids, and m the affairs of that
patriotic organization has long taken a warm interest. He also is an active
member of the local Anti-Horsethief Association and is the only member of that
association that ever stole a horse; Mr. Gibson often recalling with a chuckle
that during his days of soldiering he took a horse that did not belong to him
and stole away from the "Johnnies," but he salves his conscience by the
declaration that as soon as he had reached a point of safety from the pursuing
enemy he turned the animal loose. Despite the fact of his advancing years, Mr.
Gibson is a hale and hearty old gentleman, vigorous and well preserved, and
retains the heartiest zest in living and a keen interest in current affairs.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)



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