Gideon Gibson, the Regulator

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Gideon Gibson, Jr.

Also Known As: "Gideon Gibson of Mars Bluff", "of Hickory Grove"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Gibson's Ferry Landing, South Carolina, Colonial America
Death: February 1781 (49-64)
Hickory Grove, York County, South Carolina, United States (“shot dead by his nephew, Colonel Maurice Murphy”)
Immediate Family:

Son of Gideon Gibson, of the Pee Dee River and Mary Gibson
Husband of Martha Gibson
Father of Stephen Gibson; Roger Gibson and Jordan Gibson
Brother of Daniel Gibson; John Gibson; Mary Holland / Riddle; Mary Jane or Ann Long; Luke Gibson and 4 others

Managed by: Mary Elizabeth O'Connor
Last Updated:

About Gideon Gibson, the Regulator

Not the same as Gibeon ‘Gibb’ Gibson. Do not confuse with https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gibson-173


Update

1 February 2034

Neither Gideon Gibson died in Louisa Co Va., and yes there were two living on Pee Dee at the same time. One was shot and killed by Maurice Murfee in 1781 and the other with sons Randle, Tobias and David moved to Natchez Mississippi where he died in 1792, his son John m. Agnes Adair, he was killed by Indians in Nashville and the family from Natchez went to Nashville to move Agnes and children to Natchez. From family letters.


http://tobiasgibson.blogspot.com/

“Of the Gibsons, Gideon and Jordan (Jr.) were brothers. The latter went to the West as a companion of Daniel Boone. Gideon came with his father from Virginia to Pedee. There is a public record of a grant to him for 550 acres of land as early as April, 1736. He settled at a place called Hickory Grove, five miles from Sandy Bluff, on a large and fertile body of land, long after noted as the most valuable in that region." (History of the Old Cheraws, p. 73)


Gideon Gibson, Jr. was primarily a carpenter, but established himself as a farmer, builder, landowner and community leader. When local government failed to protect settlers against outlaws, he became a militia captain in the "Regulator" development. The goal was to protect settlers' property from the criminal activity, and passing out justice to those who were caught. The Regulators' actions led to the building of courthouses, prisons and an establishment of law enforcement in the South Carolina backcountry.

Family

Wife?

Children

  1. Jordan
  2. Stephen
  3. Samuel
  4. (perhaps) James
  5. Roger

Biography

Wikipedia contributors, "Gideon Gibson Jr.," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,< link (accessed February 1, 2024).

Gideon Gibson Jr., (1721–1792) was a free man of color in the colony of South Carolina. He became a slaveholder and "regulator" in the back country. He supported their vigilantism to oppose British taxation policy.

In May 2011, he was discussed in the New York Times as a paternal great-grandfather of Randall Lee Gibson, a planter who served as a Confederate general from Louisiana. The senior Gibson was an example of mixed-race people who succeeded economically and over several generations moved into white society.[1]

Genealogy

1695: Gideon Gibson Sr. is born in Boston [??] as a free man of color. He later marries a white woman, and they have children. His profession is carpenter. Their son, Gideon Gibson Jr. is born around 1721.

1730s: Gideon Gibson and his family, along with other settlers, leave Boston and travel south to settle in parts of the frontier. They eventually settle in the area that would become North Carolina.[2]

The American Revolution

The principal opposition to the Stamp Act proposed by the British colonial authorities in 1764 and later repealed began in Massachusetts colony,[4] which called on the other colonies to convene a convention of deputies in New York.

South Carolina became the first colony to second that motion, and the first to advance toward a continental union, long before the other colonies.[5] This shift in popular opinion was of considerable influence to the other colonies, who were divided in their opinions of the propriety of such a cause. The war of the Regulation in North Carolina and Gibson's rebellion in South Carolina were the results of ordinary people defending what was seen as a just cause. They were against taxation without representation.[6] When the colonial government in Charlestown rejected the petitions for redress of their courts by the bush country landowners, the seeds of the American Revolution were planted. By 1771 the tax skirmishes and imprisonment of various patriots had hardened into a rejection of British rule.[7][8]

Despite his stature in South Carolina and his role as a colonel in the militia, Gideon Gibson Jr. met a tragic end when he was shot and killed by his nephew, Colonel Maurice Murphy, during an argument over Murphy's mistreatment of an elderly Tory during the Revolutionary War.[2]

Legacy

1832: Gideon Gibson's Great grandson Randall Gibson, is born. Randall would go on to become a prominent lawyer and politician in Louisiana, eventually serving as a Confederate general during the Civil War.

1880s: Randall Gibson becomes involved in the founding of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The university was named after benefactor Paul Tulane and was established as a public-private partnership to provide education to students regardless of race or gender.

1890s: The legacy of the Gibson family continues to live on, with Randall Gibson's descendants playing important roles in Louisiana politics and society. The family's unique history as free people of color who played active roles in shaping colonial America is remembered as an important part of American history.


Gideon's son, Gideon Gibson (II) was living on the south side of the PeeDee River at a place called Duck Pond. On July 25, 1767 as a leader of the Regulators, Gideon was involved in a skirmish with a constable's party near Marr's Bluff on the Pee Dee River. The South Carolina Gazette reported in 15 Aug 1768 that Gibson's band of Regulator's was composed of;

"gang of banditi, a numerous collection of outcast Mulattos, Mustees, Free Negroes, etc. all horse theives from the borders of Virginia and other northern Colonies...headed by one Gideon Gibson..."

Colonel Gabriel Powell, sent to arrest Gideon, arrived with 300 men, but to his utter humiliation, his men sided with Gideon saying he was "one of them" [Hooker, The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution, 177]. Powell resigned his commission and made a racist attack on Gideon Gibson in a discussion of the incident on the floor of Commons. Apparently, he fared little better amongst his colleagues of the Commons than he had in the back country.


Family

Gideon Gibson and His Black Father: Gideon Gibson the Progenitor The following information about Gideon Gibson and his black father (Gideon1 Gibson) is taken from the Ratliff-Smith Genealogy Web site, accessed Dec. 5, 2004. See: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monticue/Gibson_Notes.htm. According to professor Lloyd Johnson (personal communication, Jan. 3, 2005), the parents of Gideon1 Gibson emigrated from England to Virginia in the early 1690s.

Gideon2 Gibson, born say 1721 {1731?}, had been a resident of South Carolina for fifteen years on 12 December 1746 when he was granted a warrant for 50 acres at a place called Duck Pond on the south side of the Pee Dee River where he was then residing. He called himself Gideon Gibson, Jr., on the same day when he petitioned the South Carolina Council for 200 acres at Duck Pond for himself, his wife and two children [Holcomb, Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals, I:266].

He and his wife Martha were the parents of Sarah Gibson whose birth (on 29 July 1745) and baptism were registered in the parish of Prince Frederick Winyaw [NSCDA, Parish Register of Prince Frederick Winyaw, 15, 20]. [NO - those were the children of GIBEON Gibson.]

On 2 September 1755 he recorded a plat for 200 acres on the southwest side of the Pee Dee River adjoining Jordan Gibson [Colonial Plats 6:45].


… I do not know the names of Gideon Gibsons sons except Stephen and Roger …
Source: The Atlanta Constitution, December 1, 1901, Page 18. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution/19759571/ : accessed February 1, 2024),


Regulator and Rev and Patriot Gideon was hallogenically very much Cheraw from his dad's line and running back and forth from Gibson's Ferry up to Louisa Co, Va as his forebearers did; but, he was on record as a legal free person of color and had to defend that a lot, even to the Gov. His downline married into the Adair's who wrote about him. His mother had to be white. Richardson/Parson/Smith recorded as the community of the church group that Rev Gadi Gibson founded before he left to Louisa Co to go sign up for the Rev War service under the Hooe militia. Rev Patriot Gadi Gibson, Jr was tithable per the status of his mother as a FPOC, a daughter of Thomas William Browne whose mother was Mary Browne who married a Joyner. The reason we know he was Congaree Cheraw is because of where he resided and we know where he resided due to his being mentioned in the Southwest Virginia History Book.

Congaree Cheraw Native American, lived at one time at Mars Bluff and traded with the Chickasaws and Cherokees. His brother, Jordan Gibson, later moved to western North Carolina and teamed up with Daniel Boone to explore Tennessee.


Gideon Gibson, born c 1721, had been a resident of South Carolina for fifteen years on 12 December 1746 when he was granted a warrant for 50 acres at a place called Duck Pond on the south side of the Pee Dee River where he was then residing. He called himself Gideon Gibson, Jr., on the same day when he petitioned the South Carolina Council for 200 acres at Duck Pond for himself, his wife and two children [Holcomb, Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals, I:266].

He and his wife Martha were the parents of Sarah Gibson whose birth (on 29 July 1745) and baptism were registered in the parish of Prince Frederick Winyaw [NSCDA, Parish Register of Prince Frederick Winyaw, 15, 20]. [NO - these were children of GIBEON Gibson.]

On 2 September 1755 he recorded a plat for 200 acres on the southwest side of the Pee Dee River adjoining Jordan Gibson [Colonial Plats 6:45]. On 15 January 1760 he was paid 343 pounds by the Public Treasurer for supplying the militia in the campaign against the Cherokees [Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, 936]. On 15 February 1765 he was granted administration on the estate of John Herring and appointed guardian to John, Peter, Mary, and Hester G___eys of Prince George's Parish [Record of Court Proceedings, 97]. On 25 July 1767 as a leader of the Regulators, Gideon was involved in a skirmish with a constable's party near Marrs Bluff on the Pee Dee River. The incident brought matters between the Governor and the Regulators to a head. The South Carolina Gazette, which like the government was far removed from the location, reported in the 15 August 1768 edition that there were two parties of Regulators. One was made up of people of good principle and property, and the other made up of a gang of banditi, a numerous collection of outcast Mulattos, Mustees, Free Negroes, etc. all horse thieves from the borders of Virginia and other Northern Colonies...headed by one Gideon Gibson...

Perhaps in a move to divide the two parties Governor Bull pardoned all those involved except those persons concerned with the outrages and daring violences committed by Gideon Gibson and others upon George Thompson, a lawful constable, and his party, in the actual execution of a legal warrant, at or near Mars Bluff, in Craven County, upon the 25th day of July last....6 August 1768 [Council Journal, no. 34, 208-211].

Colonel Gabriel Powell, sent to arrest Gideon, arrived with 300 men, but to his utter humiliation, his men sided with Gideon saying he was "one of them" [Hooker, The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution, 177]. Powell resigned his commission and made a racist attack on Gideon Gibson in a discussion of the incident on the floor of Commons. Apparently, he fared little better amongst his colleagues of the Commons than he had in the back country. There are no minutes of the session, but a prominent Charleston merchant, Henry Laurens, was present and described the discussion years later in a letter to England:

Reasoning from the colour carries no conviction...Gideon Gibson escaped the penalties of the negro law by producing upon comparison more red and white in his face than could be discovered in the faces of half the descendants of the French refugees in our House of Assembly... [Wallace, David Duncan, The Life of Henry Laurens, (N.Y. and London, 1915) by Jordan, White over Black].

Gideon was described by Gregg as a man of very marked character, of commanding influence, and prominently connected with the leading events of the region in which he lived.

He was shot dead by Colonel Maurice Murphy, during an argument over Murphy's mistreatment of an elderly Tory during the Revolutionary War [Gregg, History of the Old Cheraws, 354].


Paul Heinegg: Rev. and Patriot Gideon Gibson left the Carolina area and went to VR to fight in the Rev War. He had a Gibson's Church and was Congoree (said James Adair in his book Expansion of South Carolina). He was ethnic Congoree who were part of the Eastern Siouan Saponi Confederation---the Saponi Upper Catawba branch. He had many issues with his church communicants requesting a separate congregation based on race. He left and went to fight for the American cause and the Parsons wife and maybe had passed away by then.


Gideon Gibson III - Disjoined with the Harmon Family, et.al for too dark of skin in church started by Rev & Patriot Gideon Gibson. Harmon to Herrin name derivation found among the GA Cherokee with communal ties to this group.


Florence Historical Society Commission Mural https://www.postandcourier.com/news/mixed-race-freedman-revolutiona...

Do not confuse with [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gibson-173]

Source for ethnicity: http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Gibson_Gowen.htm

Rev Patriot Gadi Gibson, Jr was tithable per the status of his mother as a FPOC, a daughter of Thomas William Browne whose mother was Mary Browne who married a Joyner. The reason we know he was Congaree Cheraw is because of where he resided and we know where he resided due to his being mentioned in the Southwest Virginia History Book.

Congaree Cheraw Native American, lived at one time at Mars Bluff and traded with the Chickasaws and Cherokees. His brother, Jordan Gibson, later moved to western North Carolina and teamed up with Daniel Boone to explore Tennessee.

Source on ethnicity: https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA399&lpg=PA399&d...

Source: Great article that ties the PeeDee Gibson 14 gens back to the Melungeon Gibson. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/.../gibs... from the
Manager at the
GIBSON FAMILY OF PEE DEE, (CRAVEN → LIBERTY → MARION CO
FREEPAGES.GENEALOGY.ROOTSWEB.ANCESTRY.COM

Rev. and Patriot Gideon Gibson left the Carolina area and went to VR to fight in the Rev War. He had a Gibson's Church and was Congoree (said James Adair in his book Expansion of South Carolina). He was ethnic Congoree who were part of the Eastern Siouan Saponi Confederation---the Saponi Upper Catawba branch. He had many issues with his church communicants requesting a separate congregation based on race. He left and went to fight for the American cause and the Parsons wife and maybe had passed away by then.

Gideon Gibson III - Disjoined with the Harmon Family, et.al for too dark of skin in church started by Rev & Patriot Gideon Gibson. Harmon to Herrin name derivation found among the GA Cherokee with communal ties to this group.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19759571/the_atlanta_constitution/

MyHeritage Family Trees
thrasher Family Tree in thrasher Web Site, managed by ottie thrasher
Birth: Mar 12 1750 - Craven, South Carolina, Brit AM Colony
Death: 1825 - Warren, Mississippi, USA
Wife: Lydia Gibson (born Godbold)
Children: Jennie Harmon, Elizabeth Gibson, Sarah Naish Harmon (born Gibson), Edna Gibson, Mary Gibson, Cynthia Gibson, David Gibson, David Gibson, Randle Gibson, Reuben Gibson, Emily Gibson, Charity Gibson


References

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Gideon Gibson, the Regulator's Timeline

1721
1721
Gibson's Ferry Landing, South Carolina, Colonial America
1781
February 1781
Age 60
Hickory Grove, York County, South Carolina, United States
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