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Below is a family biography included in The History of Jasper County, Missouri published by Mills & Company in 1883.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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MRS. JANE GIBSON. It is half a century this fall 1883, since Mrs. Gibson first landed within the borders of Jasper county, Mo., where she has lived almost uninterruptedly for fifty years. She is, therefore, almost the first white settler who came to this county, and one of a very few who still survive. Mrs. Gibson was born in St. Charles county, Mo., Oct. 28, 1817, where she was raised until quite a young woman. Mrs. Gibson was married July 23, 1835, to John W. Gibson, who was born in Tennessee, Nov. 10, 1815. Their children are Wesley, Benjamin F., John W., Isaac N., T. W., Rebecca A., Martha J., Eliza M., Mahala E., Mary A., and Sarah E. Mr. John Gibson, her husband, died in December, 1869, and with several of the family is buried near the house he built in an early day, in 1865, in which his widow still resides. Mrs. Gibson survives all her family but three children, and is still smart and enjoys good health. Mr. John Gibson entered nearly a section of land on the banks of Center Creek, and it is unexcelled for fertility and location. The estate has been mostly divided up among the children and heirs. Only a small homestead is reserved by the widow during her life. Her father and father-in-law used to own slaves previous to the war, and they took them to Texas for protection. Mrs. Gibson has experienced the hardships and privations of pioneer settlement. She has planted corn in the sod with an ax, and the only bread the first season was made from corn pounded up into coarse meal. Indians, wild game of all kinds, and distant neighbors were the rule, with Springfield and Boonville their trading points. She has ridden to Sarcoxie horseback, about twenty-five miles, and paid fifty cents a yard for calico, and one dollar a yard for muslin for her wedding dress. Incidents in her life might be given indefinitely, illustrating the joys as well as toils of her early history, were there space. Mrs. Gibson is conceded to be among the oldest living settlers of the county, and its history were incomplete without a sketch of her life. She is a lady of great force of character, decided opinions, she dares to express, whose life is an open book, historic, yet ever new.

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This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in The History of Jasper County, Missouri published in 1883.  For the complete description, click here: Jasper County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Jasper County, Missouri family biographies here: Jasper County, Missouri Biographies

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