Family of John + GIBSON and Rebecca + THOMPSON

Husband:	John + GIBSON (1601-1694)
Wife:	Rebecca + THOMPSON (1610-1661)
Children:	Rebecca GIBSON (1635-1681)
	Mary GIBSON (1637-1674)
	Martha GIBSON (1639- )
	John + GIBSON (1641-1679)
	Samuel GIBSON (1644-1709)
Marriage	1635	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US1

Husband: John + GIBSON

Name:	John + GIBSON
Sex:	Male
Father:	George + GIBSON (1570-1601)
Mother:	Sarah + STRAITON (1582-1602)
Birth	1 Dec 1601	Cambridge,Cambridgeshire, England
Immigration	1634 (age 32-33)2
Residence	17 May 1637 (age 35)
	Applied for Freemen Status
Residence	1688 (age 86-87)3
	Newton, Middlesex, MA, US
Death	2 Dec 1694 (age 93)	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US4
Burial		Old Burying Grounds
	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US

Wife: Rebecca + THOMPSON

Name:	Rebecca + THOMPSON
Sex:	Female
Father:	William + THOMPSON (1585-1691)
Mother:	-
Birth	1610	Cambridge,Cambridgeshire, England
Death	1 Dec 1661 (age 50-51)	Roxbury, Suffolk, MA, US
Burial	1 Dec 1661	Eliot Burying Ground
	Roxbury, MA, US

Child 1: Rebecca GIBSON

Name:	Rebecca GIBSON
Sex:	Female
Birth	4 Oct 1635	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US
Death	1681 (age 45-46)	Watertown, Middlesex, MA, US

Child 2: Mary GIBSON

Name:	Mary GIBSON
Sex:	Female
Birth	29 Mar 1637	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US
Death	6 Dec 1674 (age 37)	Roxbury, Suffolk, MA, US

Child 3: Martha GIBSON

Name:	Martha GIBSON
Sex:	Female
Birth	29 Apr 1639	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US

Child 4: John + GIBSON

Child 5: Samuel GIBSON

Name:	Samuel GIBSON
Sex:	Male
Birth	28 Oct 1644	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US
Death	20 Mar 1709 (age 64)	Cambridge, Middlesex, MA, US

Note on Husband: John + GIBSON

John Gibson of Cambridge, Mass., born about 1601, England and died, Cambridge, 1694 aged 93 years. Married, first, Rebecca—(buried Dec 1, 1661 in Roxbury burying ground, the burial recorded by Rev. John Eliot, pastor Roxbury First church. Second wife, Joan, widow of Henry Prentice of Cambridge married July 24, 1662.

 

His house, which stood on the east of Sparks street, not far up the hill from the path (Brattle street) to Watertown, was built before October 10, 1635. (Lat & Lon: 42.377925,-71.130155).

 

John Gibson, his wife, son John Jr. and daughter Mary were sued for defamation 9 months after accusing the widow of Winifred Holman and her daughter of witchcraft (over 30 years before the Salem Witch Trials). Warrants were placed for John, his son John Jr., his wife, and dau. Mary Stearns March 28, 1660 and Gibson was ordered to pay a fine.

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JOHN GIBSON was born in England around 1601 and emigrated to Massachusetts around 1633 with his wife REBECCA, the first of our ancestors to come to Cambridge. He first shows up in the records of Cambridge in 1635 as owning a house lot of 6 acres on the east side of Sparks St. He bought an additional 3 acres, so his land stretched from Sparks St. to Garden St. Since this is in the West End, it is safe to assume that he did not come with the original 1632 ship, but was likely on the 1633 ship or later. (Unfortunately, there is no passenger list for the 1633 voyage of the Griffin, although there is one for its 1634 voyage.) When Rev Thomas Hooker left, the Gibson family was one of the 11 families that remained. The Gibsons lived a rather quiet life in Cambridge.for 60 years. They had 5 children, all born in Cambridge before 1644, including JOHN GIBSON JR., born in 1641. The father is listed several times in the official records of Cambridge for acquiring new allotments of land or selling lots to others. These included 3 acres in the New Lots joining Menotomy Plain in 1638 (south of Rindge Ave), 5 acres in the fresh pond meadows on west side of Menotmy R. (north of Fresh Pond), and 60 acres upon the rocks near alewife meadow (in Arlington). In 1636 he was hired by the town to take care of 100 cows, part of an effort by the town to ease the transition when Hooker's group left. Several times he was granted permission to cut trees to fence his yard. In 1637 both JOHN and REBECCA are listed as members of the First Church of Cambridge. In 1662 the seating of people in the meeting house was changed and he is listed as moving to "where Mr Day was wont to sit". Later in life he was in charge of looking after some of the town fences. His wife died in 1661 and was buried in the Roxbury burying ground. The following year he married a widow, Joan Prentice. In 1659 there was legal action involving the Gibsons and their neighbors, Winifred Holman and her unmarried daughter, Mary (born 1630). After Gibson's married daughter, Rebecca Gibson Stearns, experienced unexplained fits of barking and screaming, JOHN GIBSON and his wife REBECCA accused Mary of being a witch. Evidence was submitted to a grand jury claiming that Mary Holmans gave herbs and tried helping, but only made their daughter worse. No indictment was made, and Cambridge was spared the hysteria that affected Salem in 1692. Nine months later, the Holmans sued JOHN, REBECCA, and their children Rebecca and JOHN. for slander and defamation. A rather lengthy deposition was made by JOHN GIBSON SR. The end result of the suit was that only JOHN GIBSON JR. was found guilty. His penalty was to either pay 5 pounds or apologize (he apologized).

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John Gibson of Cambridge, Mass., " y* newe towne " of 1631, Newe Towne or Newtowneof 1632 and name changed to Cambridge May 2, 1638, b. (probably England) about 1601 ; d. Cambridge, 1694 aged 93 years ; m. first, Rebecca—(bur. Dec. 1, 1661 in Roxbury burying ground, the burial recorded by Rev. John Eliot, pastor Roxbury First church : " Moneth 10 day 1 — 1661 — The wife of Goodman Gibson of Cambridge"); m. second, July 24, 1662, Joan, widow of Henry Prentice of Cambridge, " planter," on whose estate in 1663 " his relict widow Joan, and John Gibson, her now husband, administrators."

 

Mr. Gibson was in Cambridge in 1634 and made free of the corporation (The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England) " 17th of the 3d mo. @ 1637" by Jul1an calendar 1n use t1ll 1752, equivalent to May 17, 1637 by Gregorian or present calendar. Whether he settled first in Cambridge and when he came over are not known as the year and name of ship are lost; it is probable, however, that he came neither with the Braintree company in Cambridge Aug. 14, 1632, nor with Rev. Thomas Hooker who followed his people Sept. 4, 1633 ; ^e ^rsl appears on Cambridge records of Aug. 4, 1634: "To John Gibfon 6 Ackrs," in the list of lots granted in Westend, that part of the town lying between Sparks, Wyeth and Garden streets, Harvard and Brattle squares and Charles river. His house which stood on the east of Sparks street, not far up the hill from the path (Brattle street) to Watertown, was built before " 10th October 1635," the date in The Regestcre Booke of the Lands and Howfes in /he Newtozvne 16jj under which is recorded : "John Gibfon. Jn Weftend one houfe with Planting Grounde Aboute Six Ackers Watter Towne Pales fouth weft John Arnould North weft Nathaniell Elly North eaft Edward Elmer fouth eaft; " in 1639 he bought of Elmer the 3 acres adjoining on the southeast which extended his house-lot to Garden street. Family tradition says that the Gibsons planted linden trees, and if tradition and boundaries can be made to agree perhaps " the old house by the lindens," corner Brattle and Sparks streets, familiar by Longfellow's poem The Open Window^ may have stood on land once owned by John Gibson !

 

Mr. Gibson doubtless belonged to the church formed by Rev. Mr. Hooker on his arrival in 1633 ; on the removal in 1635 and 1636 of the pastor and most of the families to Hartford (Conn.) he became one of the succeeding society or First church organized Feb. 1, 1636 by Rev. Thomas Shepard and his band of new-comers, and on the earliest list of members (1637) are "John Gibson—Mrs. Rebecca Gibson;" also a church entry of "11th mo. 1658" [Jan. 1659] reads: "John Gibson and Rebecca his wife, both members in f. c. Their children : Rebecca now joyned in full communion with the church at Watertown—Mary—Martha—John —Samuel—baptized in this church." He continued this membership until his death and during these nearly sixty years worshiped till 1650 in the original building, corner Dunster and Mt. Auburn streets, and afterwards in its successor, southwest corner of the college yard (Harvard); and not only with change of sittings shown by town record of Jan. 19, 1662, "the committee for seating the people in the meetinghouse appoint Jno. Gibson to sit where Mr. Day was wont to sit," but also under change of pastors, Thomas Shepard 1636-1649, Jonathan Mitchell 16501668, Urian Oakes 1671-1681, Nathaniel Gookin 1682-1692.

 

In addition to his " nyne acr" house-lot in the West-end Mr. Gibson had other real estate in Cambridge, namely : 5 acres in the great swamp or Fresh pond meadows, entered in the Proprietors' Records " Aprill. 4. 1636," under " A record of the names of the men who were purchafers & haue proprieties in the frefhe pond meadow and their quantitie of Acers

 

Acers"

 

—John Gibfone 5 which 5 acres he sold in 1643 to Nathaniel Sparhawk;—again, " Septemb 21th: 1639— three Acres of planteing grounde in the New Lotts next Manotomie" [Menotomy or the Second parish in 1732, West Cambridge in 1807, Arlington since 1867] ;—granted by the town in 1645 " lott 10 John

 

aks

 

Gipsou—07—o\ " this side Metonomy ;—in 1646

 

aks roods"

 

"John Gipfon—07+00 among wood lots, " y* land to ly in comon for y* townes ufe ; "—60 acres on "the Rocks " near Metonomy river (Alewife brook) meadow, " layd out" to him in 1648 and which he sold the same year' to Edward Danforth ;—lot no. 52 of 80 acres granted by vote of the church June 9, 1652, in Shawshine (Shawshin), the large tract awarded 1644/ 5 to Cambridge and May 29, 1655 set off as the original town of Billerica ;—3 acres in the fifth Division of "land's layd out on the South Side Charles River" in 1662, the territory including both Cambridge Village or New Cambridge set off as Newton in 1691 and Little Cambridge or the Third parish set off as Brighton in 1807 ; — " twenty ace's & three comons " at the drawing of lots and interests in the cow commons (Cambridge common) under entry of " feb 27th 1664 And march the 27th 1665;" —finally, under date of " Novemb' 29"' 1689," lot no. 103 of 12 acres in the first Division and lot no. 64 of 12 acres in the second Division, " the land that was formerly Coinon called by the Name of Cambridge Rocks."

 

That he was a husbandman and not an artisan is indicated by the " planteing grounde " and a record that John Gibson agreed with the town May 8, 1637, to summer 100 cows for £20. There is no evidence that he ever held any church office and of town offices only minor ones—appointed Mar. 15, 1676 to view fences and in 1678 to drive West-field, the arable land west of West-end often called West-end-field, bounded north by Garden street, east by Wyeth street, south by Vassall lane and west by Fresh pond meadows. His name occurs only once in lawsuits on Middlesex county court records, the suit in 1660 of "Winifred IIolman Plt. against John Gibson Senr and his wife et al.," brought as the result of the defendants having accused Mary Holmau, daughter of widow Winifred, of being a witch; and at the hearing "3 day of Aprill," several months after the accusation, the finding for John Gibson was " costs of Court, fifteen shillings and ten pence."

 

He led most likely a quiet life in the small community of his friends, the Dana, Hastings and other families whose homes were within sight of his own, such a life of quiet content that he signed "John Gibson " as nineteenth name on the list of one hundred and seven "inhabitants and householders of the towne,"in an address " To the Honoured General l Court of Massachusetts Colonie," dated " Cambridg the 17th of the 8. 1664" and whose purport is told in the clerk's entry of Oct. 19, 1664, two days later :

 

"The Court being mett together & informed that seuerall persons inhabitants of Cambridge were at the doore desiring liberty to make knowne theire errand were called in & Mr Edward Jackson M' Rich Jackson Mr Edw Oakes & Deacon Ston : coming before the Court presented a peticon from the inhabitants of Cambridge wcb was subscribed by very many hands in wcl' they testified & declared their good content & sattisfaction they tooke & had in the present goument in church & comwealth with their resolution to be assisting to & encouraging the same & humbly desiring all meanes might be vsed for the continuance & preservation theirof & at the same time & the next day seuerall peticons of like nature from Woborne Dorchester Redding Chelmsford Concord Billirrikey Boston Dedham & Meadfield & also one from seuerall inhabitants of Roxbury all which are on file."

 

The days of peaceful prosperity came to an end under the oppressive rule of the tyrant Governor Sir Edmund Andros, and early in 1688 a petition asking redress was sent to James II, signed by John Gibson and George Willow representing their neighborhood and giving their respective ages "about 87 and 86 yrs." Despite the forcible statement that " our title is now questioned to our lands, by us quietly possessed for near sixty years, and without which we cannot subsist"—the touching plea that " we are a poor people and have no way to procure money to defend our cause in the law, nor know we of friends at Court, and therefore unto your royal Majesty, as the public Father of all your subjects, do we make this our humble address for relief"—the pathetic closing words, "If we perish we perish"—despite these appeals for redress none came from the king, due perhaps to his abdication, and John Gibson died a poor man.^7,8

Sources

1	"US New England Marriages prior to 1700".

2	"Passenger and Immigrations Lists Index 1500-1900".

3	"MA Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Indes, 17990-1890 Record".

4	"MA Town Records 1620-1988".

5	"MA Town Birth Records" (on-line, Provo, UT).

6	Institute of Family Research, "Millennium File".

7	"The Gibson and Errington Families 1633-1713".

8	Mehitable Calef Coppenhagen Wilson, "John Gibson of Cambridge, MA and his Descendents, 1634-1899".