John Gibson, Acting Territorial Governor of Indiana

Not the same as John Gibson, of Sugar Creek

Col. John Gibson

• BIRTH 23 May 1740 - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
• DEATH 16 Apr 1822 (aged 81) - Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA
• BURIAL Allegheny Cemetery Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA
• Parents: George Gibson, of Lancaster County and Martha Elizabeth (de Vinez) Gibson
• Spouse: Koonay "Anne" Shikellamy - (killed in 1774) - partner, abt 1762
• Spouse: ? (Uncertain) (1st or 2nd) - mother of Jane b. 1760 (?)
• Spouse: Ann b. 1762 d. 1835, surviving widow

A DOCUMENTED portrait of John Gibson has not been found to date, although numerous attempts have been made to find one. See more at < Indiana Historical Bureau >

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gibson_(soldier)

John Gibson (May 23, 1740 – 10 April 1822) was a veteran of the French and Indian War, Lord Dunmore's War, the American Revolutionary War, Tecumseh's War, and the War of 1812. A delegate to the first Pennsylvania constitutional convention in 1790, and a merchant, he earned a reputation as a frontier leader and had good relations with many Native American in the region. At age sixty he was appointed the Secretary of the Indiana Territory where he was responsible for organization the territorial government. He served twice as acting governor of the territory, including a one year period during the War of 1812 in which he mobilized and led the territorial militia to relieve besieged Fort Harrison.

Early life

John Gibson was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on May 23, 1740, the son of George and Elizabeth de Vinez Gibson. Gibson's father was born in Antrim, Ireland and came to Pennsylvania in 1730. The elder Gibson was a trader, who exchanged goods with the Conestogas who often met near his tavern in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. John Gibson's mother Elizabeth was born in France and left that country because she was a Hugenot.

Most of Gibson's early life was spent along the Allegheny frontier where he was a merchant trader. He held local office in several counties as a judge, clerk, and sheriff. Although there is no record of his schooling, he was reputed to be well educated for his times.

In 1758, at age seventeen, he participated in the Forbes Expedition under General John Forbes against the French at Fort Duquesne as part of the French and Indian War. He remained at Fort Pitt after the war to engage in trade with Native Americans. He was captured by Lenape during Pontiac's Rebellion while trading in the west and was condemned to be burnt, but escaped death when he was adopted by an old Indian woman whose son had died in battle. He remained with the Lenape tribe for some time. Later Gibson was freed as a result of the Boquet Expedition. After this Gibson returned to being an Indian trader. He built a house at Logstown which was described as the "only house there" by David McClure. Gibson married a relative of Mingo leader Logan and also learned to speak the Mingo language. Gibson's wife and several other Mingo were murdered by a group of settlers in May 1774. Gibson's daughter survived this incident, and was put into his care and he saw to her education. In 1774, he participated in Dunmore's War and produced a written translation of Logan's famous speech suing for peace: "I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat. . . . "

Revolutionary War

In 1775 Gibson was made the Indian agent at Pittsburgh to represent the interests of Virginia, acting for John Connolly who in turn acted under Lord Dunmore. With war between the Colonists and England likely to start soon, Dunmore sent a letter to Connolly to contact White Eyes to convince him to join the British cause and fight the colonists. Connolly gave the letter to Gibson to take to White Eyes. However Gibson decided that the local committee of correspondence ought to see the letter, and with their receiving the letter processes were put in place that led to Connolly's arrest on November 13, 1775 close to Hagerstown, Maryland. Gibson was also appointed a magistrate for Fincastle County, Virginia which was at that time considered to include Pittsburgh by Connolly in 1875.

On May 16, 1775 Gibson was elected the colonel over the 6th Virginia.

In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Gibson was active in Indian negotiations. In early negotiations Netawatwees requested that traders be sent to his village for him and his fellow Lenape to sell furs to. He specifically requested that Gibson be included among these men, describing Gibson as a "good man". From October 1778 until January 1779 Gibson served as the agent to the tribes in what is today Ohio for the Continental Congress government.

Gibson commanded a regiment during the battles in New York and stayed in the theater until after the retreat through the Jerseys. He was then reassigned to command the army on the western front and left in command of forces at Fort Laurens during the harsh winter of 1778–1779, during which the fort was subjected to a siege by British and native forces. In the summer of 1779 Gibson was made the second in command to Daniel Brodhead. For a few months after Broadhead was removed in May 1781 Gibson was the commanding officer at Fort Pitt. Gibson had intended to send troops to support George Rogers Clark but the negative effects of Broadhead's actions prevented Gibson from doing so.

In August 1781 Broadhead returned to claim control at Fort Pitt. He arrested Gibson accusing him of having usurped his authority. George Washington sent orders to Braodhead to step down from his command, and so he released Gibson and let him take over command again. Civilian authorities in the area then arrested Broadhead. In November 1781 David Williamson brought in some Moravian Lenapes captured in Salem, Schoenbrunn and Gnadenhutten, Ohio to Fort Pitt. It is unclear if Gibson or William Irvine was in command when these Lenapes were released, but it seems that Gibson was at least blamed for this release. The problem was that after the release there were attacks on western Pennsylvania settlements. The fact that these were probably done by Half-King and his fellow Wyandots and not by the released Lenape was not factored into account by those who felt to denounce Gibson for this occurrence.

In January 1782 Irvine went to Philadelphia to meet with congress and left Gibson in charge. The enlisted men at Fort Pitt then threatened to mutiny, which may have contributed to the conditions that led to the Gnadenhutten Massacre, although it was only one of many factors involved in the situation.

Life in Pennsylvania

After the war Gibson returned to being a merchant but he went bankrupt, partly due to debts he had incurred in supporting the campaign of George Rogers Clark.

Gibson was a judge in Allegheny County from 1791-1800. He was also major-general and commanding officer of the militia for Allegheny County, and a member of Pennsylvania's constitutional convention in 1790.[19][20] Gibson was also involved with the purchase of the area of the Erie Triangle from the Iroquois for the state of Pennsylvania.

Indiana Territory

U.S. President John Adams appointed Gibson to be secretary of the Indiana Territory in 1800, despite him being sixty years old. Gibson arrived in the territory in July of that year and took up his duties. For nearly a year he was the only government official in the territory and began organizing the government by appointing officers for the territorial militia. Governor William Henry Harrison did not arrive in the territory until January 1801 in which time Gibson served as acting-governor. One of his first acts as secretary was to conduct a census of the territory. It took him a full year of investigation to find that the population was slightly less than five thousand. After Harrison arrived in the territory, Gibson took on several more positions after being appointed justice of the peace, Knox County recorder, and a judge of the low court that tried misdemeanors and petty crimes. Gibson's relationship with the local tribes proved invaluable to Harrison during the numerous treaty negotiations in the early part of his term. Gibson, who spoke several of the native languages, was the first to become aware of Tecumseh's attempt to massacre the citizens of Vincennes in 1810 and was able to quickly and secretly gather together soldiers to prevent the situation from escalating.

He became acting-governor again in the summer of 1811 while Harrison was out of the territory. The American Indian Confederacy led by Tecumseh began to make aggressive movements and attacked Fort Harrison. Gibson called up the territorial militia and the Indiana Rangers, and organized several regiments to go to its aid. He was also instrumental in negotiating treaties with the Lenape and other tribes and preventing them from entering the war against the United States. Gibson remained acting governor once war was officially declared while Harrison led the army against the British and their native allies in the War of 1812. His final act as acting-governor was to oversee the move of the territorial capitol from Vincennes to Corydon following the reorganization of the territory by Congress. He returned to his secretary's position in May 1813 when Thomas Posey arrived in the territory to assume the governorship. Gibson continued in the office of secretary until Indiana achieved statehood in 1816.

After completing his term in government, at age seventy-six Gibson and his wife Ann returned to private life, briefly remaining in Vincennes. He returned to live with his daughter and son-in-law, George Wallace, in Braddock's Field near Pittsburg, where he died on April 10, 1822 at age eighty-two, having suffered two years from an "incurable cataract". Gibson County, Indiana was named his honor.

GEDCOM Note

Some relatives have John as "John Jacob". I haven't found any references that give a middle name.

Family

According to the Enclyclopedia of American Biographies, John Gibson was was captured in 1763. While some of his fellow captives were put to death, he was said to have been saved, and acquired an Indian wife. A son, Nicholas, was said to have been born in 1765.

Comment: this is likely a mixup with Nicholas Gibson, Revolutionary War Veteran. His son Nicholas who was kidnapped about 1780. This John Gibson's wife was killed in 1774.

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Supposedly his “Indian daughter Polly” survived the 1774 massacre of Indians, including her mother, by “white savages” - an incident that helped spark Fort Dunmore’s war.

His daughter Jane was the wife of George Wallace.

Unreliable source

Shawnee Heritage
By Don Greene, Noel Schutz Page 107

Gibson, John (I) aka Horsehead - adopted-white- (Kishpoko-Seneca) born 1740 PA-died 1822­
adopted 1763-returned to whites 1764, son of George GibsonJ04 & Elizabeth de Vinez. adopted son of Widow Shawnee, translator/scout/spy-with U.S. Army-Revolution, trader, Indian Agent, Gen, of PA Militia. delegate to PA Constitutional Convention, Commander Ft. Pitt 81-81, Acting Governor ofI ndiana Territory/1800-13, namesake of Gibson Co. IN, AlleghenyC<>, PA Judge.

husband 1st by 1770 OH of Kooney Shikellimus /50-Seneca-(sister of Chief Logan), 2nd 1775 PA of Mary Brent/60-1/2 Pekowi-Metis, 3rd about 1780 PA of Ann Mingo/65-Kishpoko.
father with Shikellimus of Ann Grayson Gibson/73 & Joseph Gibson/74-1/2 Sencca-Metis,with Brent of John Gibson (2)/76, James Gibson178 & Hugh Gibson/80-alI l/4Ih Pekowi-Metis, with Ann of Thomas Gibsoni80, Mary Gibson/82, Eleazer Gibsoo/84, Esther Gibson/86 & Elsie Gibson/88·1/2 Kishpoko­Metis

Notes

PAPERS RELATING TO WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE WHISKEY INSURRECTION IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, 1794.

Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, Vol. IV.
Reprinted under direction of Charles Warren Stone,
Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Edited by John B. Linn and Wm. H. Egle, M. D.
Harrisburg: E. K. Meyers, State Printer, 1890

John Gibson was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 23, 1740. He received a classical education. At the age of eighteen he accompanied Gen. Forbes' expedition, which took Fort Duquesne. Settling at Fort Pitt as an Indian trader at the peace, he was subsequently taken prisoner by the Indians, and was saved from burning at the stake by an aged squaw, who adopted him in place of her son who had been slain in battle. He remained with the Indians a number of years. At the close of hostilities he again settled at Fort Pitt. In 1774 he assisted in negotiating the peace which followed Dunmore's expedition to the Shawnee towns. At the outset of the Revolution he was appointed to the command of a Continental regiment, where he served with the army in New York, and in the retreat through the Jerseys. During the latter years of the war he was in command of the western frontier. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1790, and subsequently a judge of the court of common pleas, of Allegheny county. He was Major General of the militia during the insurrection. In 1800 he was appointed by President Jefferson, Secretary of Indiana, which office he held until it became a State, and was acting governor in 1811-13. He died at Braddock's Field, near Pittsburgh, April 10, 1822.

Dates of his capture and adoption by the Indians varies, approximately 1762 63.

May 7, 1914 Rev. War Section ((Archives)) "Mrs. W. E. Jones, R.D.#2,
Finleyville, PA.

Madam: In response to your communication of the third instant, you are advised that the papers on film in claim Bur. File No. 41,578, show that John Gibson was allowed a pension on his application executed July 8, 1818, at which time he was seventy-eight years of age and a resident of Pitt Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

In the month of November 1776, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 13th Virginia Regiment; subsequently promoted Colonel, and served at Valley Forge under General Washington; he was ordered to Pittsburgh to join General McIntosh's expedition against Detroit, but proceeded only as afar as Tuscurawas where his provisions gave out and he was beseiged for three months by Indians; he also commanded the 7th Virginia regiment, and continued to serve as Colonel until the close of the War in 1783

Dates of commission and discharge not stated. In 1820, he stated that he was an Indian trader but was blind, and had no family residing with him except his wife (name not stated) who was 57 years of age.

For the location of his bounty land, apply to the commisioner of the General Land Office, Washington, D.C., giving the following information.

Warrant #865, issued October 24, 1789, for 500 acres of bounty land for the services of John Gibson as Colonel of the Virginia troops.

Very respectfully, G. M. Saltzgaber Commissioner

From This letter We know John's second (3rd?) wife Ann was approx 23 years younger than him.

GEDCOM Note

HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS. 149 Of these fragments, the first was an incidental contribution made by Mr. Wm. Darlington, whose early years were connected with the First Church**, arid whose notes on its earliest history, as given in the Memorial (Centenary) Volume of Western Presbyterianism, are of such value. Alluding to a certain ·charge concerning the first pastor's*** irregular administration of baptism, which was prominent in the trial before Presbytery,' Mr. Darlington says: "General Gibson's child, referred to therein, I believe was his Indian child-Polly Gibson, well known in Pittsburgh. Her father had her well taken care of and respectably reared. The late General William Robinson told me that he 'knew her very well. It is interesting to remember the fact that this child was,the only survivor of the infamous massacre of the celebrated Chief Logan's family, in April, 1774, on the Ohio, near Yellow Creek, (below Wellsville.) Gibson's Indian wife was Logan's sister, who was shot through the head by a white savage, at a few feet's distance. The child at her bosom fell, and was the only one rescued in the canoe. This murder was the main cause of the bloody Indian war, known .as Dunmore's or Cresap's war. The celebrated speech of Logan, about which there has been so much controversy as to its genuineness, ·was delivered to this same General John Gibson. He had lived for many years among the Indians, as a trader, was Colonel of a regiment during the Revolution, after its close resided in Pittsburgh, was an' Associate Judge of the Courts of this county, and died at the house of his son-in-law, Geo. Wallace, at Braddock's Fields, in 1824 .. He was uncle to the late Chief Justice Gibson.

• John Gibson
• United States Obituary Index from OldNews.com™
• Text: ... Today's Events Today's Anniversaries. 1740 JohnGibson, first and third territorial governor of Indiana, born. at Lancaster, Pa. Died in...
• Birth: 1740 - Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
• Death: Apr 10 1822 - Pittsburgh
• Obituary publication: May 23 1922 - Brattleboro, Windham, Vermont, United States
• Newspaper: The Brattleboro Daily Reformer

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References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gibson_(American_soldier)
2. https://www.in.gov/history/about-indiana-history-and-trivia/governo...
3. GEDCOM Source Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania Name: Chicago : H.R. Cornell Co., 1898;
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11199/john-gibson
5. WikiTree contributors, "John Gibson (1740-1822)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gibson-167 : accessed 16 November 2024).
6. Charles W. Hanko. The Life of John Gibson: Soldier, Patriot, Statesman (Dayton Beach, Florida: College Publishing Company, 1955) < GoogleBooks preview >
7. https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:John_Gibson_%2886%29