*Photo credit to David Melton, it's much better than my photograph of John's tombstone*
"Find a popular first name on a grave."
For this one - I've got to go with my 4x Great-Grandfather, John Gregory Gibson. John is about as popular of a first name as you can get.
First and foremost, I'd like to give credit to our wonderful member David Melton for his photograph of John's tombstone. It's MUCH better than the one I took of John's grave in 2010, so I'm sharing it here with y'all. John's tombstone is one I plan to get out to and work with some D/2. As y'all can tell, it needs it.
So let me tell you about John.
John Gregory Gibson was born on December 18th, 1816, in Corydon, Henderson County, KY. He was the son of Berryman "Berry" Gibson and Susan A. Duncan. He was one of at least eleven children.
On November 1st, 1841, here in Henderson County, he wed Mahala Caroline Busby. They lived in the "Cairo" area on census but the area would have actually been between Corydon and Cairo, very rural area.
Mahala preceded John in death in 1868 and he remarried to Elizabeth (unknown maiden name) Young on March 16th, 1871, in this county.
John, for a number of years, ran the county poor farm that his son, Fagan, would later run as well. It's very possible that when John died, on November 6th, 1890, that it was within the county poor farm. I haven't found an obituary for John, so I can't say for sure.
John and his first wife, Mahala, were the parents of at least thirteen children. There might be more that were born and died between census years that are "lost to history," so to speak. Their children are:
1) William James Gibson, 11-21-1842 / 4-22-1843. Buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
2) Robert Benjamin Gibson, 1-14-1844 / 1-15-1913. Married first to Sibbie Denton, then to Susan "Sudia" Pritchett. He is buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
3) Susan E. Gibson, 6-1-1846 / 7-17-1865. Married James Frederick Denton. Likely dying so young, she may have died in childbirth. She's buried in the Denton Cemetery.
4) James Fagan Gibson, 11-14-1848 / 5-11-1911. Married his cousin, Nancy Jane "Nannie" Gibson. They raised their niece, Minnie Lee (Gibson) Hoy like she was their own. He is buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
5) Martha Caroline Gibson, 7-1-1849 / 12-6-1855. Buried in the Gibson Cemetery. (Her birth date is up for a bit of debate as it's only 8 months after Fagan's birth. Some reports give her birth year as 1852, but this is impossible as she's listed in the 1850 census as being 1 years old.
6) Neosha Jane "Noty" Gibson/Gipson, 3-10-1852 / 1-7-1930. Married William Hollis Culver Jr. She's buried in Fernwood Cemetery.
7) Lucilla E. Gibson, 10-10-1853 / 9-27-1878. Never married, to the best of my knowledge. She had a daughter, Minnie Lee (Gibson) Hoy who was born out of wedlock. Her brother, Fagan, raised Minnie like his own. She's buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
8 ) John Beverly Gibson, 2-13-1855 / 6-29-1936. Married Sarah Jane Koonce, then married Martha "Mattie" Walker. He's buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
9) Vandalia Delia "Vannie" Gibson, 12-21-1856 / 7-5-1949. Married Henry Oliver Nally. They are my 3x Great-Grandparents. They are buried in the Gibson Cemetery. I've never seen a picture of them, even though Henry died in 1925 and Vannie in 1949. I feel like photos of them *have* to exist... if anyone has a picture of them, I'd be so, so, so appreciative. I've always wanted to put faces with their names. Especially Vandalia.
10) William K. Gibson, 1858/1904. Married Margaret Ellen "Maggie" Pritchett. I have not been able to hone in on William's birth date, or his exact death date. I know in the 1900 census, he and his family are living in the Spottsville area of Henderson Co. I've called myself looking through the Newspapers and GenealogyBank databases for mentions of his passing and have come up empty. He's buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
11) Mary J. Gibson, 12-27-1859 / 4-27-1860. Buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
12) Infant (female) Gibson, born and died on March 27th, 1861. Buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
13) George Harrell Gibson, 12-20-1862 / 9-9-1940. Married Cora Francis Young. He's buried in the Gibson Cemetery.
I think we've all probably got a direct ancestor named John. Some of us might have a few more John's than others.
John Gregory isn't my only one. My 2x Grandfather was John Rowan Thompson. My 4x Grandfather was John Hardison. My 6x Grandfather was John Mefford. 5x Grandfather was John Goff. 3x Grandfather, John Randolf Jones. 5x Grandfather, John Jeffords. 6x Grandfather John Tucker. 6x Grandfather, John Bowers Sr. 5x Grandfathers, John Baptist Blandford, John Basil Raley Jr, and John Martin. 6x Grandfather, John Baptist Blandford, John "Jack" Medley, John Basil Raley Sr, John Hinton, and John Bowles. 5x Grandfather, John Lawrey/Lowery, John Hill. 6x Grandfather, John Lowry. 3x Grandfather John Byrd, 4x Grandfather John Byrd, 5x Grandfather John Byrd, and you guessed it, 6x Grandfather, John Byrd (yeah, they really liked the name John), 5x Grandfather John Jarrett, 6x Grandfather John Bilbo, 4x Grandfather John M. Thompson (y'all might recall him.. he's the one who had 29 kids between 3 wives), 6x Grandfather John Barton Thompson...and finally, that's all my immediate 'John' ancestors! 😂😂
As usual - thank you for reading my ramblings. Please tell me about your John ancestors in the comments, or your Gibson ancestors, or just any ancestor you have with a super popular first name like Mary, Elizabeth, James, Samuel, etc.
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