Notes on Charles Gibson
Information on Charles Gibson is very scarce. I believe he died unexpectedly, and he didn't have his affairs in order. As far as I know he did not leave a Will, which at this time, would be of a tremendous help.
There have been some previous attempts to assemble the Charles Gibson Family. There is also an attempt at a written family history, that associates Charles Gibson with Samuel Allison Gibson. Only one source mentions such a connection: “Recollections of the Past 80 years”, by Stephens. This is about the extent of the notation from his statement: “ . . . Charles and his brother Samuel . . .”. a connection should not be made solely on that simple statement. Too many families would be affected, to make Charles and “my” Samuel brothers.
There is once source, that shows all of Charles Gibson’s children - the census records of 1790 and 1800. In the 1790 Census there is this: males +16, 1: males - 16, 6; all females 3. This is Charles, Esther, their 6 sons, and their 2 daughters.
I will try to "create" this family slowly. For the purpose of explaination, assigned dates of birth must be given to some of the children. From some facts given to me, there is: Charles Jr., born abt 1774; Rebecca, born abt 1780; and Ann, born abt 1784.
Here is Charles’ family in 1790:
Charles Gibson, Sr. (born abt.1750), age 40
Esther - wife (born abt. 1750), age 40
Charles Jr. - son #1 (born abt. 1774), age 16
? - son #2 (born abt. 1777), age 13
Rebecca, -dau #1 (born abt. 1780), age 10
? - son #3 (born abt.1782), age 8
Ann, - dau #2 (born abt.1784), age 6
? - son #4 (born abt. 1786), age 4
? - son #5 (born abt. 1788), age 2
? - son #6 (born abt. 1789), age 1
Samuel A. Gibson, if he were to be placed in this family group, would be son #3, for Samuel was born in 1782. However, it is a very well known fact, that Samuel had a sister, Margaret. This is well documented in the “History of Indiana Co.”, and other sources. Samuel A. Gibson married Mary Stewart. Margaret Gibson married James Stewart, Mary’s brother. So, if I have to place Samuel in that family group, I must also place his sister, Margaret, there too. Margaret was born about 1791, so she would not have shown up on the 1790 Census. So, for the moment everything looks fine.
Let me move on to the 1800 Census. For Charles Gibson, 212 in Westmoreland Co., PA, there is: males, 1 3 2 0 1; and for females, 0 0 1 0 1. The age groups are as follows, going left to right, youngest to oldest: 0-9; 10-15; 16-25; 26-45; 46-+. ( I had to recognize which age groups the children were in, in the 1800 Census, to help assign dates of birth.)
Before I "create" the family again for the 1800 Census, I must first note a few things:
(1) There is only one daughter listed in the 1800 Census, she is in the 16-25 age group. This must be Ann. She was about 6 in the 1790 Census, and now she is 16.
(2) Rebecca is now 20, and has moved out of Charles’ house, and is married to William Fowler.
(3) Charles Jr. is not in his father’s household . Charles Jr. has his own household, and is listed in the census with his family (Charles 82).
(4) There is a new son listed for Charles and Esther - son #7.
Here is Charles Gibson, Sr. family in 1800:
Charles Gibson, Sr. (born abt. 1750), age 50, (45 + group)
Esther - wife 1750, 50, 45 +
? - son #2 1777, 23, 16 - 25
? - son #3 1782, 18, 16 - 25
Ann -dau #2 1784, 16, 16 - 25
? - son #4 1786, 14, 10 - 15
? - son #5 1788, 12, 10 - 15
? - son #6 1789, 11, 10 - 15
? - son #7 1792, 8, 0 - 9
If I were to place Samuel A. Gibson into this family group again, he would still be the #3 son, born 1782. ( It’s purely coincidence, that Samuel’s real date of birth, coincides with the assigned date of birth of son #3.) However, if I were to place Samuel into this family, I must also place his sister, Margaret. Remember, Margaret was born after 1790, abt 1791. But there isn’t a place for Margaret in the Census!! There is only one child born to Charles and Esther after 1790, and that child was a boy.
This is where the whole connection, between Charles and Samuel, falls apart! There cannot be a Samuel without his sister, Margaret. If Margaret cannot be placed into Charles’ family, neither can Samuel. It is as simple as that!
Now as to why in “Recollections of the Past 80 years”, the comment is made about “Charles and his brother Samuel”, I don’t know. Do I dare suggest that maybe Stephens made a mistake. Just because the man wrote his book in 1888, walked the backwoods when he was a boy, knew that Samuel lived in a small house in a line between George Coy and George Brown, does not mean that everything that he wrote is correct. I have come across many people, who think, that if you have the same last names, you must be related. And probably, if you have the same last names and lived close to one another you must be of the same family. I think that Stephens believed that Charles Gibson, Jr. and Samuel A. Gibson were brothers. I believe that he was mistaken.
Let me continue these thoughts. It is also said that Charles Jr. and Samuel lived close to one another. If I take a bit of Margaret Gibson’s life for a moment - According to sources, it states that Margaret married James Stewart, and then moved to Indiana Co., PA, by 1813. These same sources mention Samuel and Margaret: “ Samuel and his sister, Margaret, were of the Manor Settlement”. Since Samuel’s first son, William, was born in 1814, may I assume that maybe Samuel married Mary Stewart also by 1813. If so, then that is probably when he started his own household. Samuel A. Gibson first shows up in the 1820 Census, and not before. So if Charles Jr. lived near Samuel, it would have only been for a very short time, for Charles Jr. Gibson died abt 1814. I wonder who Stephens talked to, for as Charles Jr. died abt 1813, Samuel died in 1857. Stephens was doing his recollections in 1888.
So, I started doing this with a new attitude, trying to keep an open mind. I was going to see if I could prove that Charles Jr. and Samuel A. Gibson were brothers, by using the Census records. I could not prove it. I could only disprove it (again).
In conclusion, there is one thing that I didn’t think of, maybe the 1800 Census is wrong!! Maybe the census taker made a mistake in recording the youngest child born to Charles and Esther. Maybe he marked male, when he should have marked female. That would allow Margaret to fit very nicely into Charles’ family, and all the problems are solved. But then there's the 1820 census where both Samuel Gibson and his sister, in their own separate records, list that they are "unnaturalized foreigners".There are also many censuses that have Samuel's sons stating that their father was born in Ireland.