Nicholas Gibbon (1702 - 1758)

Born 1702 in Gravesend, Kent, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anne (Grant) Gibbon — married 1731 in Salem, New Jersey

Descendants

Died 2 Feb 1758 at about age 56 in Salem, New Jersey

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Biography

Nicholas Gibbon was born in Gravesend, Kent, England.

Nicholas was born about 1702 to Arthur Gibbon and Jane Sheppard in Gravesend, Kent. He was baptised in Milton, St Peter and St Paul on 27 December 1702 ^[1]

Nicholas was apprenticed to Richard Nokes, of Gravesend, Kent, wheelwright, the duty being paid on his indenture on 8 January 1717. ^[2]

Some years later he and his brother Leonard emigrated to Salem, New Jersey, America, where they had inherited 6000 acres on the condition they left England to take it up.

By Permission of Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Comission

In 1677 Edmund Gibbon, an English merchant living in New York, was paid an owed debt by two brothers, Edward and Thomas Duke. The payment consisted of 6,000 acres of land in West Jersey. While today we often refer to New Jersey as either South Jersey or North Jersey, from 1674 until 1702 when New Jersey becomes an official royal colony, the region consisted of two distinct divisions known as East Jersey and West Jersey. The land paid to Edmund Gibbon included what is today Roadstown and other parts of Stow Creek Township and much of Greenwich, including what is today Pine Mount and the Head of Greenwich, but which back then was named “Mount Gibbon.” This land passed down in the Gibbon family until in 1728 brothers Nicholas and Leonard Gibbon inherited it with the stipulation that they leave England and settle on the property in West Jersey.

When the brothers arrived in West Jersey they split the land into two halves. Nicholas took possession of the southern portion, which included a grist mill and about 2,000 acres. Leonard took the northern portion and built a house about two miles northwest of Greenwich.

In 1729, Nicholas purchased a 16-acre building lot in the village of Greenwich where he built his house in 1730. Nicholas was a merchant and was in partnership with Samuel Fenwick Hedge and Captain James Gould. James Gould was headquartered in New York while Nicholas kept a store in Greenwich, shipping furs, hides, cedar shingles, barrel staves, and hoops to New York and the West Indies.

In 1731, Nicholas’ business partner, Samuel Fenwick Hedge died, leaving his wife, Anne Grant and two children. Stories speak of Anne Grant being one of the most beautiful women of Greenwich, and Nicholas wasted no time in courting and marrying her. Nicholas and his new wife lived in the house until 1740, when they moved to Salem. Although they lived in Greenwich for only ten years, while here they lived well. Three of their five children were born in the house – Nicholas, who died at the young age of sixteen; Grant, who was an ardent supporter of American independence and was elected to the State Assembly in 1772; and their first daughter, Jane, who was born in 1736.

Nicholas Gibbon died in 1758 and his son, Grant, sold the house to Richard Wood, a member of the New Jersey Assembly.

Copyright Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Comission © 2020

Death and Legacy

Nicholas died on 2 February 1758 and is buried in Saint John's Episcopal Churchyard, Salem, Salem County, New Jersey^[3]

Nicholas' former home is now a museum run by the Cumberland County Historical Society.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Cityark Image page 33
2. ↑ Ancestry UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, 1710-1811 [1]
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138538918/nicholas-gibbon : accessed 12 July 2022), memorial page for Nicholas Gibbon (1702–2 Feb 1758), Find a Grave Memorial ID 138538918, citing Saint John's Episcopal Churchyard, Salem, Salem County, New Jersey, USA ; Maintained by Dawn D. (contributor 29679040) .
4. ↑ https://cchistsoc.org/museums-hours/the-gibbon-house/

See Also

• https://books.google.com.au/books?id=m_MxMezHe7IC&lpg=PA475&ots=AV3F6_xd7c&dq=Nicholas%20Gibbon%201702&pg=PA475#v=onepage&q=Nicholas%20Gibbon%201702&f=false

Gibbon Nicholas — 1718 Britain, Country Apprentices 1710-1808 Kent, England https://www.findmypast.co.uk/