GEORGE W. GIBSON.
George W. Gibson, farmer, of Kapioma township, Atchison county, was born May 16, 1855, in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania. He is a son of Jacob and Leah (High) Gibson, who were the parents of eleven children, eight of whom are living. The father was born in Maryland, and the mother in Pennsylvania. They came to Kansas in 1871 and settled in Kapioma township, Atchison county. Here the father bought 160 acres of land and erected a small house on it. In the early days when he was just getting on his feet financially, he had to economize at every point and to begin with built a straw barn. Later, he improved the farm until it was a modernly equipped place. Mr. Gibson lived on this farm until his death in 1900, at the age of seventy-six years. The mother died the following year at the age of seventy.
George Gibson, the subject of this sketch, attended the district schools in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kansas. At the age of twenty-one years he started out to farm for himself. He rented land for a year when he engaged in teaching at Larkinburg, Jackson county, Kansas. Later he taught at Arrington, Atchison county, and, altogether, Mr. Gibson taught school for three years. He then bought eighty acres of unimproved prairie land, which he broke and improved. Mr. Gibson used good judgment in his investments and was successful in every venture. He now owns 840 acres of land in Kansas and Texas. The farm on which he lives, is modern in every respect and he has built an especially fine barn on it.
In 1880 Mr. Gibson was married to Elizabeth Miller, who was born May 9, 1860, in Atchison county, Kansas. She is a daughter of James and Eliza (Russell) Miller. The father was born in Clay county, Missouri, August 3, 1831, and was a son of Moses Miller, a Kentuckian. James Miller spent his early days in the West, working for the Government. Later he became a large cattle breeder in Atchison county and came to be known as the “Cattle King” because of his extensive activities in the cattle business. He died at Mscotah, Kan., September 12, 1913, and the mother of Mrs. Gibson died in 1879. She was a native of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have nine children: Daisy M. Anderson, of Muskogee, Okla., who was graduated from the Kansas Western Business College, and later taught school in Kansas and Colorado; Dr. Frank C. Gibson, a graduate of the Physicians’ and Surgeons’ School of Chicago, now practicing in Bovill, Idaho, where he is surgeon for a railroad company and has charge of a hospital; Charles R., farmer, Kapioma township, Atchison county; Lucy M. Irwin, Dallas, Texas; Harry L., farmer on the home place; Ruth, attending Kansas University, Lawrence; George W., Jr., John and William, living at home. Mr. Gibson is an independent progressive Republican. He has held the township offices of clerk, treasurer and trustee.