RECOLLECTIONS OF W. S. GIBBS
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William Smith Gibbs, known by everybody in Morgan county as
Squire Gibbs, because he was for
so many years justice of the peace at Proctor, lives in Versailles
at the present time and makes his home with
his son John F. Gibbs who is a lawyer. Squire Gibbs is in good
health and sprits and is one of the most
highly esteemed citizens in the county. Tuesday, June 25, 1907
he came into the Statesman office and made
the following statement for publication in this history: --
“I was born in Morristown, East Tenn., April 24, 1835.
My father’s name was Thomas Jefferson
Gibbs and my mother’s maiden name was Margaret McFarland. Both
were born in Virginia but I do not
know in what years. I came to Morgan county with my parents in
1829 and settled on the Osage river, the
south side, in what was then known as Kinderhook. A tree fell
on my father in 1840 and killed him. We
soon thereafter moved to Johnson county where we lived three years
and them came back to south Morgan
and settled at the same place, Proctor, on this side of the river.
I have lived in that section and in Versailles
all the time except when we lived in Johnson county. Father is
buried at the Willson burying ground on the
Osage and mother is buried at Otterville. She was married the
second time. The last time she married W. C.
Reed of Otterville. She died in 1872. I have two half sisters.
They are Mrs. John A. Willson, mother of our
sheriff, C. E. Willson, and Mrs. W. A. Taylor, of Big Buffalo.
I had two brothers, Prof. A. M. Gibbs who
died in 1901, and John M., killed in the war and buried at Warsaw in
1861. Brother A. M. Gibbs is buried at
Otterville.
My father was a farmer all of his life. He was an old time
Whig. I got my education in subscription
schools, there were no public schools in those days. I have been
a member of the Methodist church 58
years. When born, I was christened in that church by old Brother
William G. Barlow, the well known
eminent southern divine whose good works history will always tell about.
My wife died January 27, 1902,
and is buried at Versailles. I raised a family of nine children,
six are dead and three are living. The living are
Dr. T. J. Gibbs of Proctor, John F. Gibbs, lawyer of Versailles, and
Fannie, wife of Rev. J. W. Bond of
Brock, Texas. I was in the union army nearly four years and was
one of the first volunteers from Morgan
county. I was justice of the peace in the south part of the county
many years and was postmaster in
Versailles from 1865 to 1872. I have had my part of the family
sickness, hard luck and much to discourage
a man but I am happy in founding out my life that it has been no worse
with me than it has. I have not done
as much as I should have done, but I am proud of my record as a citizen,
am proud that I a man American
citizen; am proud that I am a veteran union soldier and that I am drawing
a pension as a testimony of my
worth to my country as a soldier. I am proud of my record as
a church member, although I want your book
to say that I regard myself as one of the weakest in the church.
I am proud that I am a Mason. In short, I
feel satisfied with my effort and have few regrets.
Probably a dozen families from Tennessee came to Morgan county
about the same time as my
parents did. They were all related or acquainted and settled
along the Osage river in a sort of Tennessee
colony and lived and brought up large good families in that section
of the county. These old families were:
The Willsons, the Earnests, Snyders, Ivy, Kauffman, Cables, Bollingers
and Appletons. At that time the
country was all unfenced and was all government land. These families
all entered land from the government.
The old ones are all dead and the second generation are nearly all
dead. I think I am the oldest member
living. Nobody was permanently settled in that part of the county
when we moved here. There were some
hunters and trappers camped around
there but they had entered no land and were not permanently located.
Ours was the first permanent
settlement made in the south part of the county.
Possibly the first church in the county was the old Methodist
church built at Proctor in 1844.
Robert J. Willson preached there then. He was the local preacher.
The circuit riders that I remember were:
John Monroe and a Mr. Headly. The Baptists held services whenever
a wandering Baptist preacher came
through the country but this was not often. The Baptists had
no organization there then. Everybody in the
whole country patronized Josiah Walton’s grist mill. He was the
grandfather of our J. S. Thruston. I
remember the first steamboat that ever went up the river past Proctor.
Its captain was Burgis who died after
years at Warsaw. The boat was called the Canoy and was afterwards
wrecked two miles below Proctor and
was never repaired. this was in 1842.
The people did not raise much in those times. They consumed
at home all they raised. There was
no marked for anything much and there was not much to stimulate the
people to greater action and
production. All of the clothing was made at home. About
all we bought was coffee and salt’ we raised the
rest. We paid for what we bought with furs, deer skins, and venison
hams. Versailles was just a village.
The first store I was ever in was in Versailles. W P. Tooley
and W. W. Crook were the proprietors under
the firm name of Crook & Tooley.”
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I had intended to add to these statements one from J. S. Thruston,
known among us as Syd
Thruston. Mr. Thruston was born just north of Versailles about
65 or 66 years ago and has a memory that
any man should be proud of. He can talk entertainingly about
the early history of Morgan county for hours.
He is not in Versailles at this time, but is temporarily located in
St. Louis where he is a drug clerk. But aside
from some personal recollections I feel sure that what he might say
concerning the leading facts concerning
Versailles and the people doing business here and in the country ‘round
would corroborate what has been
said by Judge Salmon, Mr. Tooley and Squire Gibbs. By reading
closely one will be struck with the
similarity and agreement of their statements. It is like reading
an old romance to hear them talk over the
misty past and the conditions of those days. James E. Keown,
now of Jefferson City, lived in Versailles as
early as 1840
and I would have liked very much to have had his statement but could
not see him at the proper time. In
addition to these statements I add here a few names which I have added
much to the greatness of the county
and its worth as a place to live. That man is a benefactor who
lives such a live that he is missed when he is
gone.
Section 15
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