Gibson Children: William, Agnes, Sarah, Mary, Anna, Ellen, Margaret. (In front row are Agnes, Mary, and Ellen)
The census shows them living in Iowa (1870, Iowa Co., 1880, Keokuk Co.), and in the 1880 Keokuk county history, Alex Gibson is listed as a farmer on Section 6 of Adams Twp, the same section where Ellen's brother, William Morrison, lived.
In 1887, Alexander Gibson owned adjoining parts of Sections 19 and 31 of Adams Twp, according to an 1887 plat map of Keokuk County.
Alexander had a brother David who also immigrated to the US and came to Keokuk County. David settled in the What Cheer area and raised a family there.
From Iowa, the Alexander and Ellen Gibson family moved to Nebraska. Their descendents contributed several articles about the family for a 1986 history of McPherson Co., Nebraska, which is where much of the information here is taken from.
In about 1883 or 1884, Ellen, Alexander, and family moved to Nebraska. They settled in Fillmore county for two years, and then they moved to Custer County, where they lived eighteen miles south of Broken Bow, Nebraska, on the Loup River. Around 1890 the family moved to McPherson county. (Their biography in the McPherson Co. history says 1890, but a biography of their son William says 1893).
Alexander took out a homestead of 160 acres and they also bought some land. Their land was in the western part of McPherson County which later became Arthur County.
By 1900, Alexander and Ellen and daughter Anna, 21, were living in Mullen (Hooker Co., just to the north of McPherson Co.). Their biography in a 1986 McPherson Co. history continues: After a few years in Mullen, Alexander and Ellen took out a homestead two miles south of their daughter, Sarah and Thomas Haney's. They built a sod house with two rooms in it. One big room was used as a kitchen, dining room and living room. The other room was a bedroom. They raised a nice garden and Aunt Nancy [(Haney) Frost] remembers that her grandmother had planted hop vines all around the porch. She used the hops to make yeast for bread making.''
The 1986 Gibson family history says ``Gibsons lived about five miles from the Morrisons, but they did not know each other. The story handed down by the family was that Ellen and Alexander met on the ship when they came to America, but the census shows that Alexander came in 1855 and Ellen in 1866.''
The same biography says both Alexander and Ellen were born in Belfast. Given that we know the origins of the Morrisons, I would guess Alexander wasn't from Belfast proper, but rather someplace in County Down like Ellen. The article also says Ellen's parents (named there as William and Ellen), ``worked with linen and were lace makers taking their goods to Glasgow, Scotland to sell.''
Sadie (Morrison) Shuger remembered that Ellen was married and lived in a sod shanty in Nebraska somewhere and was about 80 when Sadie's dad (James) died. It was also described as the ``sand hills of Nebraska'' and ``western Nebraska.''
Other than those vague memories, the rest of the Iowa Morrisons lost track of Ellen, her married surname, and her descendents until 1999. Ellen was the last Morrison sibling who we found what happened to. Finally in 1999, we found a World Family Tree (a genealogy collection on CD) entry for an Ellen Morrison, wife of Alexander Gibson who fits very well. That Ellen died in 1913 in McPherson Co., Nebraska. McPherson Co. is part of the ``sand hills'' area of Nebraska. Iowa Morrison records had it that Ellen died about 1915, which is again a pretty good match. Other facts about Ellen Morrison Gibson from the World Family Tree data which match this Ellen include her age (although a cemetery index gives 1833 for her birth year instead of 1835), and her father's name of William. Ellen Morrison Gibson's migration pattern Ireland to Rock Island Co., Illinois to Keokuk Co., Iowa matches that of the other Morrisons.
The Sand Hills area of Nebraska was very sparsely populated through about 1904, and still pretty sparsely populated after that, so finding any Ellen Morrison there is a pretty good bet that it is ours. (After 1904, homesteaders could claim a full section for their homestead there.)
The only differences of note were that the WFT records (and McPherson Co. family records they are derived from) thought that Ellen's mother might be named Ellen (no last name known), and they had Ellen as born in Belfast, Ireland. Belfast isn't really very far from Ballyferis.
Sources for this individual: @S28@ @S71@ @S72@ @S27@ @S73@ @S30@ @S37@ @S74@ @S887@
