Cowlitz County WA Archives Biographies.....Gibbs, Albion Lincoln June 26, 1868 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com  May 16, 2009, 5:38 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     ALBION LINCOLN GIBBS, who is serving his third consecutive term as mayor 
of Longview, is one of Cowlitz county's best known citizens, having been 
actively and prominently identified with the land and timber interests of this 
section of the state for a number of years. Mr. Gibbs was born near St. Paris, 
Champaign county, Ohio, on the 26th of June, 1868, and is a son of Nathan F. 
and Rebecca E. (Swimley) Gibbs. His father was born at Urbana, Ohio, in 1821, 
and died about 1900. He was of Welsh and English ancestry, and the southern 
branch of the family, to which he belonged, settled in Virginia and North 
Carolina. They were connected with the Randolph family of Virginia and one 
Gibbs was a member of General Washington's staff. Rebecca E. Swimley was born 
in Washington, D. C., in February, 1829, and died about 1900. She was of 
German descent and her father, Jacob Swimley, was a noted architect, having 
designed several large public buildings in Washington.

     Albion L. Gibbs attended the public schools and graduated from the high 
school at Conover, Ohio. He completed his education at Ohio Wesleyan 
University, at Delaware, after which he taught in the country schools of Ohio, 
mostly in Champaign county, for twelve years. For awhile after that he was 
engaged in the insurance business, but eventually turned his attention to the 
land business, in which he achieved large success. He was active in promoting 
immigration to Oklahoma and Texas, where he sold a large amount of land, after 
which he located in De Ridder, Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, where he was 
engaged in the land business for several years, having charge of operations, 
as field manager, for the Long-Bell Lumber Company. He did a large amount of 
town development work, building the towns of Long acre and Tulla, Louisiana, 
selling about one hundred thousand acres of farm land. In 1921 Mr. Gibbs came 
to Cowlitz county, Washington, as land agent for the Long-Bell Lumber Company, 
for whom he bought fourteen thousand acres of land, including a townsite and 
seven miles of water frontage on the Columbia river. In this connection was 
built the Longview, Portland & Northern Railroad, a logging road, thirty miles 
long, touching great timber tracts. Mr. Gibbs is a director of the Lumberman's 
Bank and Trust Company, of Longview, and is president of the Surety Finance 
Company.

     In his political views Mr. Gibbs is a stanch republican and hag been 
active in political affairs, being chairman of the county committee and a 
member of the republican state committee. In 1924 he was elected the first 
mayor of Longview, to which position he has twice been reelected, and is 
rendering a high type of service to his community. He is a member of the 
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Order 
of Moose, the Longview Country Club and the Cowlitz Valley Country Club.

     On August 18, 1892, at Sidney, Ohio, Mr. Gibbs was united in marriage to 
Miss Laura D. DeWeese, who was born in that city July 19, 1872, and is a 
daughter of Leonida and Margaret (Thompson) DeWeese, both of whom were born in 
Shelby county, Ohio, and are now deceased. In the paternal line she is of 
French ancestry and in the maternal line of English descent. Mrs. Gibbs 
graduated from Oberlin University, Ohio, and taught school for seven years 
prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs are the parents of a daughter, 
Margarite, born July 22, 1914, and now attending high school. Mr. Gibbs is a 
man of marked business ability, sterling integrity and progressive ideas, and 
since coming to this county has gained a high place in the confidence and 
respect of his fellowmen.

Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 695-696

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