John Gibson (1845-1916)

GIBSON, KOPF, PEARSON, YOUNG, KERN, HUTSON, NORTON, SHACKELFORD

Posted By: Gail and Dennis Bell
Date: 6/5/2005 at 10:05:15

THE MAXWELL TRIBUNE, Maxwell, Iowa, Thursday, June 22, 1916, page 1, column 2. "DEATH OF JOHN GIBSON AFTER YEAR'S ILLNESS - Pioneer Resident of Polk and Jasper Counties Passed to His Reward Monday Morning - After a year of affliction with a paralytic disease which has gradually sapped his strength and vitality, John Gibson passed away at the home of his niece and foster daughter, Mrs. A. M. Kopf, last Monday morning at 2:30 o'clock, at the age of seventy-one years, lacking but a few days. Although hope had long since been given up for his recovery, his passing is nevertheless a severe blow to the loved ones and his friends of whom there were many. Mr. Gibson was a man of strong character and integrity, a lover of all things that savored of good; and although our personal acquaintance with him was very slight we knew him to be a good man, loved and respected by all. He is survived by his sorrowing wife, who has been his constant attendant during his affliction; brothers and sister among whom are Sam and Els Gibson, Mrs. Wm. Young and Mrs. Julia Pearson, of Maxwell. The funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Buena Vista church at Farrar, of which the deceased was a member, conducted by Rev. C. J. Nutt, and he was laid to rest in the Peoria cemetery. The deceased was a member of Herald Lodge, No. 455, A. F. & A. M., and the lodge attended in a body, holding ritualistic ceremony at the grave. A more extended account of the life of Mr. Gibson will appear in the next issue of the Tribune, the data for same not being available at this time."

THE MAXWELL TRIBUNE, Maxwell, Iowa, Thursday, June 29, 1916, page 1, column 1. "HUNDREDS AT FUNERAL OF DECEASED PIONEER - Sketch of the Life and Character of John Gibson, Veteran, Churchman and Pioneer - John Gibson was born in Noble county, Indiana, June 22, 1845, and died at the home of his nephew and niece, Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Kopf, at Farrar, Iowa, June 19, 1916. Had he lived three more days he would have been seventy-one years of age. He was the second of a family of eleven children, of whom five only are living, viz: Samuel and Els, Mrs. Juliette Pearson and Mrs. Leureatha Young, all of Maxwell, and Mrs. Eunice Kern, of Ira, Iowa. In 1863, at the age of nineteen, deceased enlisted in the service of the Union army, joining the 12th Indiana Cavalry. In common with his comrades in blue, he rendered valiant service for his country and was mustered out of the service with an honorable discharge at St. Louis, July 28, 1865. His parents having in the meantime located at Peoria, Iowa, upon his discharge from the army, he too joined them at that place, and has resided in Polk county practically ever since. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hutson, of Peoria, Iowa, October 6, 1866. Theirs has been a long, useful and happy life. Had the grim reaper stayed his hand until October next, they could and doubtless would have celebrated their golden wedding - but such was not to be. Our Heavenly Father knows best. "His will be done." No children were born into the home of this happy couple, but Brother and Sister Gibson were the father and mother of the fatherless and motherless, and to those of us who bore no closer relationship by the ties of nature, they were the "Uncle" and "Aunt" of us all. They raised two children, one their niece, Lizzie Norton, now Mrs. Andrew Kopf, from infancy; the other Ray Shackelford, from the age of five to maturity. Deceased was a lover of children - how they loved him, and how they will miss him. He had the child heart of Him who pressed the little ones to His bosom and said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." He was a friend of the friendless, a friend in need, a friend indeed. He was always the pastor's friend, his home the pastor's home. No reasonable favor asked of him was ever turned down. He was the good Samaritan that would go out of his way to render needed assistance to the unfortunate and the needy. To the people of Farrar and vicinity, his life has been an open book. Its pages have been kept clean - neither marred by dishonest, blurred by impurity, nor disgraced by hypocrisy. As a boy he was full of life, the liveliest of the living. As a man he was always in good spirits and cheerful, even through his long sickness, almost to the end until her became irrational and unresponsible.** Just one year after his marriage to the sweet Christian girl of his choice he himself was converted and united with the Methodist Protestant church, being one of the charter members of this (Buena Vista) class. His faithful companion who survives him and Grandma (Mrs. Helen) Eatwell, are the only remaining charter members of the class. Brother Gibson was a lover of music, and he was the choir leader of the church here for more than twenty years. He represented his church as a delegate to the annual conference nine times. If in his later years he was not so intimately associated with church activities as formerly, yet this can be said truthfully, no member of the church or community had the welfare of the church at heart more than he. Her prosperity was his joy - her reverses his grief. He was an honored member of Herald Lodge, No. 455, A. F. & A. M., of Maxwell, Iowa, for more than thirty years. Not these words of kindness spoken in love, but his life among you is its own best eulogy. To his faithful companion of nearly a half century, To his few remaining comrades who wore the blue, and the boyhood chums of his youth, to his brothers and sisters in blood and his brothers of the Masonic fraternity, to his many nephews and nieces - young and old - to the community in which he lived so long and loved so well, to the church of his choice, to the children to whom he was so fondly attached, to his pastor, for whom there was the Father's love, and reciprocally the Son's admiration He bids us all "Good Night." Shall we meet him again in the morning? The funeral service was conducted by the pastor, Rev. C. J. Nutt, under the uspices** of the Masonic order, and was attended by a multitude of relatives and friends from the community. All the neighboring towns were well represented by those who wished to pay their last respects to the departed brother. The pall bearers were six nephews of the deceased: Bert Hutson, J. T. Dunlap, Harry Gibson, Fred Young, Dave Pearson and Cash Norton. The remains were laid to rest in the pretty Peoria cemetery among a profusion of beautiful flowers contributed by relatives and friends. Among the relatives from a distance were: Mr. and Mrs. George Hutson, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Wohlwend, Mrs. Melissa Gibson, Mrs. Lou Kern, C. F. Cowgill, Mrs. Emma Welsh and Mrs. Jesse Kelley, of Des Moines; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Zilm and Mr. and Mrs. Emery Nason, of State Center; Mrs. Maude Rodgers, of El Paso, Tex.; the Wm. Kern family, of Newton; the Bert Kern family of Collins; Mrs. John Kern, of Ira; Mrs. Lily Sheaer and Eva Tilton, of Collins. C. J. N. Card of Thanks - We wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the friends and neighbors who so in kindly sympathy, did all they could to lighten our sorrow, in the loss of our dear one. Also the donors of those beautiful flowers, and the choir, who with their own hearts throbbing an echo to ours, sang so sweetly, the songs that he loved. May God bless and sustain you all when such hours come to you. Mrs. Mary Gibson and the Relatives." **Editorial note - spelling, punctuation and grammar is from the original newspaper articles.

BURIAL: Iowa Historical Library, Des Moines, Iowa, POLK COUNTY, IOWA CEMETERIES, INCLUDING WASHINGTON TWP., page 6, Peoria Cemetery, GIBSON, John, born 6 22 1845, died 6 19 1916, Sec. WS, Tier 1, Row 6, misc. inf. CO B 12 IND CAV GAR MKR, GIBSON, Mary born 1 4 1848, died 3 4 1920, Sec. WS, Tier 1, Row 6, misc. inf. W/O John.