Cumberland County ME Archives Biographies.....Gibson, Rev. Richard  
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Author: Sprague's Journal of Maine History 

Rev. Richard Gibson Sprague Journal of Maine History Vol. VIII
Aug., Sept., Oct., 1920 No. 2 page 112-116


Rev. Richard Gibson

(By R. F. WORMWOOD, Editor of the Biddeford (Maine) Journal)

SKETCH OF ONE OF MAINE'S PIONEER CLERGYMEN.

In "A Visit to an Historical Island," printed in the November-
December-January number of Sprague's journal of Maine His-
tory, the writer thereof, referring to Rev. Richard Gibson,
says: "Tradition has it that Cape Elizabeth might now be
peopled largely with Gibsons instead of Jordans if the Rev.
Richard would have consented to marry Winter's only daughter.
Apparently he refused to accept her hand and fortune, which
was a large one for those days, and returned to England heart
free."

As a matter of fact, Rev. Air. Gibson did not return to
England "heart free." In the interest of historical accuracy
the following necessarily incomplete sketch of this pioneer
Maine clergyman is submitted.

When John Winter returned to New England in 1636 as agent for
Robert Trelawny at Richmond's Island, he was accompanied by an
Episcopal clergyman, Rev. Richard Gibson, who was, so far as
the records show, the first clergyman in this vicinity. The
Corning of Rev. Mr. Gibson is supposed to have been due to an
appeal made by Edward Trelawny, a brother of Robert, who was
at Richmond's Island in 1635. In a letter written by him to
his brother not long after his arrival, he refers to an
earlier request for a religious, able minister." He says it is
" most pitiful to behold what a most heathen life we live,"
and he contrasts condi-tions at Richmond's Island with those
with which he was made familiar during a visit to Boston,
mentioning in particular "those sweet means which draws a
blessing on all things, even those holy ordinances and
heavenly manna of our souls, which in other parts of this land
flows abundantly even to the great rejoicing and com-forting
of the people of God."

Rev. Mr. Gibson came under a three-years' contract with Tre-
lawny and remained at Richmond's Island until his contract
expired. Concerning him, Winter wrote to his employer: "Our
minister is a very fair condition man, and one that doth keep
him-self in very good order, and instructs our people well, if
it please God to give us grace to follow his instruction."
Later Winter',, attitude changed, however, and Mr. Gibson's
ministry on the island and the nearby mainland was not
thereafter a  happy one. Slan-derous reports concerning him
soon reached Trelawny in England, and Gibson refers to them in
a letter to Trelawny, dated June 11, 1638. The source of those
reports is not stated, but may be readily inferred. The
minister, in his letter, mentions the willing-ness of the
people of Richmond's Island and vicinity to contribute twenty-
five pounds a year to the fifty pounds he received from
Trelawny and he says that Winter opposed the movement to
increase his salary " because he was not sought unto." It
appears from this that Mr. Winter, who evidently considered
himself the foremost man in the community, took offense
because he was not consulted in this matter. It was in this
connection that Mr. Gib-son referred to the defamatory
reports. He affirms that no such reports have been in
circulation on the island, and continues:

"It is not in my power what other men think or speak of me,
yet it is in my power by God's grace so to live as an honest
man and a minister and so as no man shall speak evil of me but
by slandering, nor think amiss but by too much credulity, nor
yet aggrieve me much by any abuse."

There is internal evidence, however, that Trelawny was influ-
enced by these reports, and Rev. Mr. Gibson appealed to him to
seek other testimony than that he bad furnished, adding: "You
may, if you please, hear of them that have been here, or come
from hence, if they have known or heard of any such drinking
as you talk of. I had rather be under ground than discredit
either your people or plantation, as you, believing idle
people, suppose I do. If you have any jealousy this way (so
doubtfully you write) I think it is best you hold off and
proceed no further with me either in land or service."

There is a suggestion of another reason why Mr. Winter was
opposed to giving Rev. Mr. Gibson an increase of salary. Mr.
Gibson had married a daughter of Thomas Lewis of Saco, while
Winter had a marriageable daughter, an only child, who subse-
quently married Rev. Robert Jordan, who came from England
about 164o, and who, in 1648, was administrator of Winter's
estate. In a letter to, Governor Winthrop, dated Jan. 14,
16391 Mr. Gibson mentions his marriage, referring to it as " a
fit means for closing of differences and setting in order both
for religion and government in these plantations."

It did not have precisely that effect, but at length the way
was opened f or Rev. Mr. Gibson to go to the Piscataqua,
whither, in the summer of 1636, he had been preceded by some
of the men in the employ of Winter who had become so
dissatisfied with him that they " fell into a mutiny," and
left Richmond's Island for a place where they might be at
liberty " to fish for themselves." One of these men, mentioned
by Winter at the time of the the mutiny " as "'the leader of
them all," was a moving spirit among the parishioners who "
founded and built " at Piscataqua the parsonage house, chapel,
with the appurtenances at their own proper costs and charges,"
and made choice of Rev. Mr. Gibson to be " the first parson of
said parsonage."

In a letter written at Richmond's Island, July 8, 1639, and
addressed to Trelawny, Stephen Sargent, who was an employee of
Trelawny under Winter, says that Mr. Gibson " is going to
Piscat-aqua to live, the which we are all sorry, and should be
glad if that we might enjoy his company longer."

Winter, however, did not seem to share this sorrow. In a
letter written to Trelawny, dated two days later than the one
written by Sargent, his only reference to the matter was: "
Mr. Gibson is going from us; be is to go to Piscataway to be
their minister, and they give him sixty pounds per year and
build him a house and clear him some grounds and prepare it
for him against he come."

Mr. Gibson, writing to Trelawny, the letter bearing the same
date as that of Mr. Sargent, gives the reason for his removal
as follows: " For the continuance of my service at the island,
it is that which I have much desired, and upon your consent
thereunto I have settled myself into the country, and expended
my estate in dependence thereon; and now I see Mr. Winter doth
not desire it, nor hath he ever desired it, but * * * hath
enter-tained me very coarsely and with much discourtesy, so
that I am forced to remove to Piscataway for maintenance to my
great hin-drance. * * * I shall not go from these parts till
Michaelmas, till which time I have offered my service to Mr.
Winter as form-erly, if he please, which whether he will
accept or no I know not; he maketh difficulty and suspendeth
his consent thereto as yet."

At least one early historian has fixed the date of Mr.
Gibson's removal to Piscataqua "at the close of 1640, or early
the follow-ing year," but it is a matter of record that he was
paid by Winter for six weeks' service after his three-years'
contract with Tre-lawny expired, and as he came here with
Winter, landing at Rich-mond's Island, May 24, 1636, it would
seem that his departure from that place may have been in the
latter part of the summer of 1639. Between that time and
Michaelmas he may have lived in Saco, the home of his wife's
father.

The successor of Rev. Mr. Gibson at Richmond's Island, Rev.
Robert Jordan, was a graduate of Oxford University and a
clergy-man of the Church of England. For two years he had been
liv-ing with his kinsman, Thomas Purchase, at Pejepscot, where
he had probably held religious services. In a letter to Robert
Tre-lawny, dated Aug. 2, 1641, Winter speaks of Mr. Jordan as
fol-lows: " Here is one, Mr. Robert Jordan, a minister, who
has been with us this three months, which is a very honest
religious man by anything as yet I can find in him. I have not
yet agreed with him for staying here, but did defer it till I
did hear some word from you. We were long without minister,
and were in but a bad way, and so we -shall be still if we
have not the word of God taught unto us sometimes."

This reference is believed to be the negotiations which had
already been commenced with settlers al Pemaquid, who
expressed a desire to secure Mr. Jordan's services half the
year and allow Richmond's Island to have him the other half.
An agreement upon this proposal was not reached, and Mr.
Jordan remained at Richmond's Island, where, soon after his
arrival he married Winter's daughter, Sarah, and, by reason of
his natural ability, education and deep interest in provincial
affairs, long occupied a place of considerable influence in
the region. The church of which lie was a member and for which
he labored did not find the New England soil congenial,
however, and he soon gave up the ministry and devoted himself
to private business affairs.

The life of the pioneer preacher of the gospel in the
territory now included within the limits of the state of
Maine, who felt upon his conscience the burden of precious
souls to, be saved, was not an easy one, either mentally or
physically, for only too often was he called upon to fight
with the weapons of the flesh as well as with those of the
spirit. He was usually the best educated man of the community
and his position gave his opinions a weight greater than that
of the average citizen in the adjustment of minor differ-ences
between neighbors and in the settlement of matters of more
Public moment. It was a country of magnificent distances, and
the parishes of the early preachers were broad ones. This
involved long journeys, by horseback if they could not be made
by boat, and, as there were no improved highways, this meant
following a path or more often a mere trail of spotted trees.
Even in times of peace this was bad enough, but it was much
worse when fear of hostile Indians was added to the natural
and ever-present fear of prowling wild animals. Much of the
seed then sown fell upon stony ground; some fell to the share
of the birds of the air, and some fell in spots where the soil
was neither deep nor fertile, but these pioneer preachers had
in no small measure that faith calcu-lated to remove
mountains, and they were not easily discourage They found some
fertile soil, and they planted, and cultivated and prayed
without ceasing. Some went to a reward all the more deserved
because they had missed an earthly recompense; others lived to
see the fields ripe for the harvest, and passed on, hopeful to
the end. And their successors sit in the shade of the tree
they planted in the soil of a new world, a tree whose branches
spread far and wide and whose leaves are for the healing of
the nations.

In a broad review of the religious history of the last three
hundred years, as it has, directly and indirectly, affected
the development of the state of Maine, it should be easy to
forget the bigotry, the intolerance, the self-seeking, the
schisms originating in differences over minor points of faith,
the persecutions, the evil speaking, the lack of the spirit of
the Master, of the few, and remember only the courage, the
honesty, the energy, the personal sacrifices, the prayerful
seeking for the light and for the right, of the many. The
settlement of New England marked the begin-ning of a new era
of religious tolerance, and the, pioneer clergy-men of this
our good state of Maine had no small share in estab-lishing on
these shores the faith that makes men free.

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(c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society

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