John Gibbs

  General Notes:

John5 Gibbs (Silvanus,4 Benjamin,3 John,2 Thomas1) was born 16 April 1735; he died before 21 Aug. 1787.

He married 11 Jan. 1763 Jerusha Thacher, daughter of the Rev. Rowland5 Thacher and Abigail (Crocker) Thacher of Wareham, born in Wareham 3 April 1743, died in Sandwich after 25 Feb. 1817 and before 2 Jan. 1819.

This John Gibbs is named in the will, dated 1757, of his grand­father Benjamin3 Gibbs (q.v.). It is of interest to note that the step­mother of his wife was Hannah (Swift) (Fearing) Thacher. The latter's first husband had been Israel4 Fearing and the two children she had by him also are named in Benjamin Gibbs' will because he was their grandfather also.

As eldest son of Silvanus4 Gibbs, John probably received a major share of his deceased father's property in Sandwich, and very likely also a share of the real estate there left to him and his siblings under his grandfather Gibbs' will. In view of this likelihood, it seems strange that neither the births nor the baptisms of his many children are of record at Sandwich, In fact the only clue to his occupation comes about through the unusual fact that in a suit brought before the Supreme Court at Boston, he is called John Gibbs of Sandwich, "Innholder" (Docket 89,893-Suffolk Court House Annex, Boston).

It is possible that he may have accompanied his mother to Con­necticut if, as we believe, she became the second wife of Amasa West of Tolland. Possibly his children were recorded somewhere in that province.

However, this John Gibbs died intestate in Sandwich, and his real estate was set off 21 August 1787 to his widow and administratrix, Jerusha Gibbs. The Court appointed Thomas Burges, Silvanus Gibbs, his brother (#31 below), and Thomas Foster to distribute the estate (Barnstable County Probates, 24:325 & 27:101-4). A deed dated 30 June 1788 shows that "Jerusha Gibbs of Sandwich … widow of John Gibbs … yeoman, deceased", sold some of her late husband's lands in Plymouth (PLCD, 68:197-8). In the Census of 1790 the widow Jerusha Gibbs of Sandwich appears as head of a family con­sisting of 3 males under 16 and 5 females. But in the following year "Jerusha Gibbs of Sandwich" married, secondly, 13 Aug. 1791 Eleazer Ellis "of Plymouth" (Plymouth Vital Records, May. Desc., 30:75), a widower and father of nine children by his first wife, Deborah (Gibbs) (The Register, vol. 120, p. 272, Oct. 1966). He died in Sandwich 4 Aug. 1806 leaving a will in which he names his wife Jerusha. She survived him by more than a decade. Her own will, dated 25 Feb. 1817, proved 2 Jan. 1819, reads: "Jerusha Ellis of Sandwich … To my daughter Abigail Perry my gold beads. To my daughter Lucy one bed, three teaspoons & 3 chairs and the looms & tackling belonging thereunto. To my four daughters: Abigail, Elizabeth, Lucy and Salome, all my wearing apparrell also one share to the heirs of my daughter Haskell, deceased ... to my son Heman, $5 ... To my son John $5 ... To my sons Caleb and Henry" [all the residue]. Henry to be sole executor (Barnstable County Probates, 41:168-9). [Thomas1 Gibbs of Sandwich, Mass. (ca. 1615-1693) by Lydia B. (Phinney) Brownson and Maclean W. McLean, NEHGR 123, 1969]

John married Jerusha Thatcher, daughter of Rev. Rowland Thatcher and Abigail Crocker, on 11 Jan 1763. (Jerusha Thatcher was born on 3 Apr 1743 in Wareham, Plymouth, MA ^5,65,314,956 and died in 1818 in Sandwich, Barnstable, MA ^5,65.)