McDonough County Genealogical Society
Born in 1823 in Frederick County, Maryland, John Gibbs entered the world in one of the state’s wealthiest and most productive agricultural regions. His early years were shaped by a young nation filled with optimism following the War of 1812. While Maryland remained a slave state, much of Frederick County was made up of prosperous farms, mills, and small trades, where farmers and craftsmen formed the backbone of the community.
In 1836, the Gibbs family moved west to Ohio, joining the steady stream of Americans seeking new opportunities on the frontier. Six years later, at the age of nineteen, John made a raft trip down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. According to family tradition, he returned to Cincinnati before the family continued westward, settling in McDonough County, Illinois, in 1845.
Only scattered records survive to document John’s early years in Illinois. A personal biography states that he first settled on the farm of Samuel Cowperthwaite after arriving in the county. McDonough County records show that on August 24, 1848, he married Margaret Reed Snapp. The following year, John purchased his own farm in Mound Township for $1.50 per acre, laying the foundation for what would become the family homestead.
Happiness, however, was short-lived. Their only child died shortly after birth, and in January 1850, Margaret died just eighteen months after their wedding, leaving John a widower. A decade later, John married Margaret’s younger sister, Mary Snapp. Together they raised a large family of eight children:
• Marion Gibbs
• Laura Belle Gibbs, who married Francis Joseph “Frank” Byrne
• Lawrence Alonzo Gibbs
• William Sherman Gibbs
• Elmer Elsworth Gibbs
• Zulu Gibbs, who married Mr. Anderson
• Grace Gibbs, who married Mr. Helms
• Cora Ellen Gibbs, who married John D. Boozel and later George Earl DeWitt John lived long enough to witness dramatic changes in McDonough County. In The History of Bardolph, Illinois, he recalled standing at his kitchen door and counting as many as 75 deer crossing what was then Joe Melvin’s farm, a quarter mile away. He also remembered working for 25 cents a day to pay a $50 doctor’s bill, a reminder of the hardships faced by early settlers.
John’s farm was located on the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 16, Mound Township, near Kepple Creek.
Today, the area remains a picturesque and sparsely populated corner of McDonough County. While the prairie has long since given way to cultivated fields, it is easy to imagine the deer still following the creek bottoms, much as they did when John Gibbs watched them from his kitchen door more than a century and a half ago.
This Pioneers of the Past is furnished by Julie Terstriep of the McDonough County Genealogical Society, facebook.com/mcdcgs. For more Pioneers of the Past, go to www.mcdcgs.com/pioneersof- the-past/
