Biographical Sketch of W. T. Gibson, Johnson County, Missouri, Jefferson Township >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** W. T. Gibson, a prominent and successful farmer and stockman of Jeffer- son township, is one of Johnson county's most prosperous and respected pioneers. He was born in 1847, the only child of James, Jr. and Margaret Gibson, of Boone county, Kentucky. James Gibson, Jr. was a son of James Gibson, Sr., who was a well known and highly esteemed farmer in Kentucky, of Scotch Irish descent. Margaret (Current) Gibson was of German descent. James Gibson, Jr. moved with his family from Kentucky to Missouri in 1853 and settled on a large farm in Saline county, a place which Mr. Gibson entered from the government. In 1857 he purchased four hundred acres of land in Jefferson township, Johnson county from Thomas Owsley and two years later the Gibson family moved there. At that time, the Owsley home was considered the finest in this part of the state. It is a well constructed house of two stories, with spacious rooms, large, airy hallways, and open fireplaces. The lumber for its construction was obtained at Boonville and hauled from there, a distance of sixty miles. This residence bore the distinction in those early days of being the last house on the road from Windsor to Warsaw in Benton county. The completion and opening of the house was celebra- ted with a magnificent ball, when all the elite from the entire country side were present, the gentlemen most elegantly clothed in homespun broadcloth, hightop boots with spurs, with long hair and well developed beards, while the costumes of the maidens beggar all description. The almost empty rooms, 18 x 18 feet in dimensions, furnished an abundance of room in which to "trip the light fantastic toe" and it was certainly tripped. The first teacher of W. T. Gibson was Joe Goodwin. Another instructor, whom he had in his boyhood days, was Palmer Smith. Among his schoolmates he recalls the Goodwin, Patrick, McDonald, and Cooper children. He completed his education at McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois and after leaving college, returned to his father's farm and engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He vividly recalls the period of the destructive grasshoppers in 1874 and 1875 and the too frequent prairie fires, which he helped fight until ready to drop from exhaust- ion. In 1873, W. T. Gibson was united in marriage with Elizabeth Ford, the daughter of George W. Ford, of Kentucky. To W. T. and Elizabeth (Ford) Gibson have been born six children: Alice Georgia, wife of Pem- berton Cooper; James, who is deceased; Perrin, a farmer, Jefferson township; Mary; and Jessie, wife of Howard Hart, Windsor, Missouri, a former teacher, a graduate of Warrensburg State Normal School, of Pratt Institute, who completed a course in art and taught art among the wealthy people of New York City for years. Mr. Gibson is the owner of more than a thousand acres of land and is extensively engaged in stock raising, having most of his splendid stock farm in grass land and pas- ture. He has, at the time of this writing, sixty head of Shorthorn cattle and seventy head of hogs. The place is well improved and equip- ped to care for stock, on a large scale. Mrs. Gibson has had remarkable success in raising chickens and she has complete charge of the poultry industry on the Gibson farm. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gibson well merit all the success they have attained. When Mr. Gibson came to Johnson county, the country was new and most of the land was open prairie and virgin sod. Driving a yoke of oxen, he has often broken the sod on his father's farm. Wild game was in abundance. The wild geese frequently destroyed entire cornfields. In spite of the hardships, the young people enjoyed themselves immensely, for there were parties and dances to attend the whole year round. Everyone, who possibly could, attended church, many coming from a great distance on horseback. Mr. Gibson remembers several of the pioneer preachers, among them, Reverends B. F. Lawler, Caldwell, B. F. Goodwin, McCary, and Robert Harris. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: <> Penny Harrell ====================================================================