James Hugh Kibbey

A Portrait and Biographical Record of Boone Clinton and Hendricks Counties, Ind., page 361:

JAMES H. KIBBEY, leading farmer and one of the old settlers of Jackson township, Boone county, Ind., was born in Carter county, Ky. , September 8, 1825.

His grandfather, Ephraim, and his father, Moses, were born in New Jersey-, came to Ohio where Cincinnati now stands, and Moses was reared in Ohio. Moses Kibbey, when a young man, emigrated from Cincinnati to Carter county, Ky. , where he engaged in the manufacture of salt, and where he married Sallie Everman, daughter of Michael Everman, a well-to-do farmer. To this marriage were born Jacob, Clarinda, David, Delilah, Jacinthia, Moses, William, Perry, Ephraim and James H. — the last named the only one now living.

Moses Kibbey accumulated considerable property and was the owner of a large number of slaves. He and wife were members of the Christian church, in which he was an elder, and their house was often the place of worship in those early days. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was a very prominent citizen of his county.

James H. Kibbey was instructed in the rudiments of an English education in an old-fashioned log school-house in Carter county. December 4, 1849, he married Martha Ann Gill, daughter of Samuel C. and Sallie (Malone) Gill, of Bath county, Ky., and to an interesting sketch of the Gill family, further on, the attention of the reader is invited. After his marriage, Mr. Kibbey purchased a 300-acre farm and engaged in farming and saw-milling, but this he sold and bought another tract, containing 500 acres, on which, also, was a saw-mill, grist-mill and carding factory. This land he sold in due course of time, and came to Boone county, Ind., arriving November 20, 1853, and here settled on an unimproved tract of 225 acres, which his wife's father had entered some years previously. This was an utter wildwood when Mr. Kibbey took possession, but is now one of the best improved farms in the county.

Here were reared the children born to James H. and Martha Ann Kibbey; they are named as follows: Sarah T., Mary G., Ephraim, Ann Eliza, Moses, Emila E. (the last named three deceased), William P., Clara H. and George. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kibbey have for many years been devout christians, and Mr. Kibbey is the oldest living member of the old Union church. In politics Mr. Kibbey is a democrat, and was formerly very active in his support of the party. He has served as township trustee three terms, and has filled the position of justice of the peace. Fraternally, he is a member of Luther lodge, No. 227, I. O. O. P., at Jamestown, and is the oldest in membership, having been a charter member in 1862; he passed all the chairs, united with the grand lodge, and then became a member of the encampment at Jamestown. The standing of the Kibbey family in the township and county in which they have so long lived is a most enviable one, both socially and financially, and their walk through life well worthy of emulation* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 26 2021, 0:38:43 UTC