- DAVID ALEXANDER GIBSON: David Alexander Gibson, commander of T. O. Howe Post, No. 124, I r. A. R., at Green Bay, Wisconsin, is exemplifying in his conduct of the affairs of that organization not only his well proved loyalty and patriotism but also a spirit of fellowship and good cheer which make him popular with his comrades. He was born March 4, 1841, in a house located on the present site of the old county office building in Green Bay and is the son of Robert and Esther (Mahon) Gibson, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of England. The grandfather of our subject on the paternal side was David Gibson, who followed farming through life and died in Scotland. His son, Robert Gibson, was born in Berwickshire, Scotland, October 10, 1817, and was educated in the public schools there. When he was twenty years old he came to America and located near the Green Bay settlement, in what is now Scott township, Brown county. On landing in New York he proceeded up the Hudson river and by the Erie canal and the great lakes to this locality, the journey being entirely made by water. For a time he lived with an uncle, Robert T. Gibson, who had preceded him to Brown county. In early life he served an apprenticeship to the wagon-maker's trade and followed the same for seven years in his native land, but during the greater part of his life he devoted his time and energies to farming. In 1840 he married Miss Esther Mahon, a native of England, who came to America with her parents, John and Esther Mahon, the family first locating in Menominee, Michigan, and later removing to Green Bay. Mr. Gibson lived to the ripe old age of ninety-two years and passed away on the 12th of January, 1910. His wife had died February 5, 1884, when past sixty-six years of age. To them were born eleven children, of whom six survive, namely : David Alexander, of this review ; Robert E., who lives on the old home farm in Scott township; Anderson P., whose home is in the same locality; James H, who is a practicing physician of Green Bay; Thomas R., a resident of Scott township ; and William H., of Green Bay. David A. Gibson was educated in the public schools of this county and made wise use of every opportunity in this direction. Later he taught school in Brown county for four or rive years. When the country became involved in civil war he enlisted October 1, 1864, in Company B, Forty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, under command of William Rousch, and served for eleven months in the Army of the Cumberland under General Thomas, as a member of the Fourth Army Corps. He participated in the battle of Nashville and from there went to Paducah, Kentucky. At the close of the war he was mustered out at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, in September, 1865, and returned to Green Bay. He then resumed his education, attending Ripon College for a year, and during the following year filled various positions. In 1871 he left home to go to Kewaunee county, Wisconsin, to accept a position as bookkeeper for Schofield & Company, who were engaged in the lumber business and also conducted a general store. He remained with them for seventeen years, two months and twenty days, being a man of general utility, running a sawmill, acting as bookkeeper, etc. He was an expert bookkeeper and accountant. For a short time following the year 1888 he engaged in farming in partnership with his brother but abandoned that field of activitv to resume his bookkeeping in the employ of the Menominee River Shingle Company, where for eighteen years he did his usual work in business accounting. Mr. Gibson has a record of thirty-five years as a bookkeeper and during that time was in the service of one man. He retired from active life in 1909 and is now making his home in Green Bay, where he has many warm personal friends. On November 25, 1879, Mr. Gibson was united in marriage to Miss Fannie M. Campbell, a native of Scott township and a daughter of John and Mary (Smith) Campbell. By this union were born two children, one of whom died in infancy. The other, Ward A. Gibson, is now living with his father being by profession an engineer. Mr. Gibson's first wife died August 5, 1888, when she was thirty-five years of age, and some time afterward he was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Magdalena Woelz, a daughter of Anton and Barbara (Bauer) Goetzman, both natives of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Goetzman came to America, settling first in West Bend, Wisconsin, where the father followed the trade of a locksmith, and later removing to Scott township, this county. In his political views Mr. Gibson is a consistent republican. For nine years he filled the position of assistant postmaster at Red River. Kewaunee county, and later became postmaster, an office which he creditably filled for many years. He was reared in the Presbyterian religion, while his wife affiliates with the Lutheran church, holding membership in the Ladies Aid Society of that denomination. He has held membership in T. O. Howe Post, No. 124, G. A. R., for many years and is now serving his second term as its commander. He is one of the constantly les-, sening band of men who are representing in the present day the great Federal army of 1861-1865. Still hale and hearty, he continues to superintend his farm in Scott township. He is now in his seventy-second year and his patriotism and loyalty are as firm now as they were fifty years ago and he seeks no greater title than that of an honored veteran of the Civil war.
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1841 - 1916 (75 years)
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Military Service
