On This Day in Family History -- May 23

Colonel John Gibson was born 23 May 1740

There are as many different stories of John Gibson's life as there are writers to tell them. Sorting out fact from fiction would be nigh onto impossible. He is the father of Nicholas Gibson, the great-great-grandfather of my great-grandmother Lora Gibson Burford. John Gibson was married to the daughter of Chief Shikellamy of the Oneida tribe of native Americans. Her Indian name was Koonay, and she was called Anne. She was killed in the Yellow Creek massacre in 1774. John and Anne had at least three children, one of whom was Nicholas. There are many conflicting stories of what happened to Nicholas and the other children in the massacre. 

Here are some of the more well-documented facts about John Gibson (from his FindAGrave memorial):

He was the Indiana Territorial Governor. Gibson was made the Indian agent at Pittsburgh to represent the interests of Virginia, in 1775, was elected the Colonel of the 6th Virginia and commanded a regiment during battles in the American Revolutionary War. After the war, he was a merchant, a member of Pennsylvania's constitutional convention in 1790, a judge in Allegheny County, (1791-1800) and Major General in command of the State Militia. In 1800, President John Adams appointed him Secretary of the Indiana Territory, serving until 1816. During that time, he was also appointed acting Indiana Territorial Governor, serving (1812-13) and then he returned to his position as Secretary of the Indiana Territory and continued in office until Indiana achieved statehood. After completing his term in Indiana government, he retired to private life in Pennsylvania, until his death at age 81.

John Gibson died 16 April 1822. His second wife, also named Ann, is buried beside him in Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had a daughter named Jane, who, with her husband, is also buried near them. 

On the FamilySearch website, the LDS family tree traces the lineage of the Gibson family all the way back to Adam's daddy -- GOD. (I kid you not.) Well, from what I have heard about those Gibsons, I'm not really too surprised about that. It's the Gibson/Burford branch of the family tree that contains both bipolar disorder and psychic abilities. The few of their descendants that I've personally met give me a pretty clear picture of the larger-than-life character traits that run through the Gibson lineage.

We have a distant cousin -- a descendant of Stephen Gibson -- who has written a couple of self-published books about the Gibson family history. His name is Henry Cummings, aka Captain Hank. (He is a riverboat captain.) 

Here are his books: