Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs II (abt. 1821 - 1874)

Born about 28 Sep 1821 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Died 14 Aug 1874 at about age 52 in Tallahassee, Leon, Florida, United States

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Biography

Jonathan Gibbs II is Notable.

Abolitionist orator Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs was a Presbyterian minister who served as Florida's Secretary of State from 1868-1873, and was one of the most powerful politicians in Florida during Reconstruction.

Jonathan Gibbs, namesake of his father, was born free in Philadelphia in 1821, the oldest of four children born to Reverend Jonanthan Clarkson Gibbs, a Methodist minister, and Maria Jackson, who was Baptist. He was raised in Philadelphia during a violent period of anti-abolitionist and anti-Black discussion, and as a result, was well versed in abolition. He was not yet ten years old when his father died; he and his younger brother, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, had to leave school to help support the family. During his apprenticeship to become a carpenter, both he and his brother converted to Presbyterianism, and so impressed his church that it sponsored his education.^[1]

He attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1852, and afterwards attended Princeton Theological Seminary.^[2]

He married Anna Amelia Harris c.1853, with whom he had three children:^[3]

1. Julia Pennington Gibbs (1854)
2. Thomas Van Rensselaer Gibbs (1855)
3. Josephine Haywood Gibbs (c.1857)

In 1855 Jonathan, Anna and their 2-year old daughter Julia, who was born in Connecticut, were in Troy, New York, where Jonathan was a clergyman.^[4]

In 1857, a friend and fellow abolitionist, Thomas Van Rensselaer, died. In his will, he left property and possessions to Jonathan as well as to Jonathan's son, Thomas Van Rensselaer Gibbs.^{[citation needed]}

His work often causing them to be apart, Jonathan and Anna's marriage ended, and they separated while she was still pregnant with their third child, Josephine, in 1857. They were divorced by 1862, with Anna retaining custody of the two girls, while Jonathan had custody of their son.^[5]

He married again, to Elizabeth F. after he moved South, in 1866. They had one child,

• Anne (1866).^[5]

He wrote a friend in 1869 from Tallahassee, reporting that he had a farm on the St John's River and a "pretty little wife and one baby by my second wife." He also reported having a "boy by my first marriage that I expect to send to Dart. Coll. one of these days."^[3] In 1870 Jonathan was listed in the U.S. Census living in Tallahassee with Elizabeth and two children, Thomas and Anne. ^[6]

He served as Florida's Secretary of State from 1868–1873.^[7] Alongside Josiah Thomas Walls, a U.S. Congressman from Florida, he was among the most powerful politicians in the state during the Reconstruction era. He was appointed as the Superintendent of Public Instruction on January 23, 1873, a position he held until his death the following year.^[8]

At age fifty-three, Jonathan Gibbs died suddenly of a stroke on 14 August 1874 in Tallahassee, Florida. Due to a number of ongoing death threats from the KKK, there was unsubstantiated speculation that he was poisoned.^[5] He died without a will, and his son Thomas filed to be appointed estate administrator in 1878, with permission of Jonathan's wife Elizabeth. ^[9]

A biographer of his life, Learotha Williams, notes he was the subject of a failed assassination plot in 1870. ^{[citation needed]}

Research Notes

His burial location is unknown. It is not likely he is buried with his ex-wife in Connecticut, and it is thought that he is buried alongside his son. His FindAGrave memorial expresses the lack of knowledge of his exact burial location. ^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jonathan_Clarkson_Gibbs&oldid=1122112182 (accessed April 23, 2023).
2. ↑ Learotha Williams, Jr, A Wider Field of Usefulness: The Life and Times of Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs c.1828–1874, (Florida State University, Ph.D. dissertation, 2003).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Jonathan C.Gibbs (1826-1874), Letter, 7 June 1869, "Synopsis of My Doings since I left Dartmouth College in 1852," (2018), Correspondence, 84, https://dh.howard.edu/og_corres/84
4. ↑ 1855 Census: "New York, U.S., State Census, 1855"
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7181 #1655130842 (accessed 3 May 2022)
   Jonathan C Gibbs (30) head of household in Troy City, Ward 2, Rensselaer, New York, USA.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Glenda M. Alvin, [https://www.encyclopedia.com/african-american-focus/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/gibbs-jonathan-clarkson "Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs (1828–1874) Minister, politician, educator,"] Encyclopedia.com.
6. ↑ 1870 Census: "1870 United States Federal Census"
   Year: 1870; Census Place: Tallahassee, Leon, Florida; Roll: M593_131; Page: 679A
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7163 #394804 (accessed 3 May 2022)
   Jonathan C Gibbs (62), Secy Of State Of Fla, in Tallahassee, Leon, Florida. Born in Pennsylvania.
7. ↑ Joe M. Richardson, "Jonathan C. Gibbs: Florida's Only Negro Cabinet Member," Florida Historical Quarterly, XLII (April 1964).
8. ↑ "This Date In History, January 23, 1873," Florida Historical Society, https://myfloridahistory.org/date-in-history/january-23-1873/jonathan-clarkson-gibbs-became-superintendent-public-instruction
9. ↑ Probate: "Florida, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1827-1950"
   Probate Records, 1839-1935; Author: Florida. County Judge's Court (Leon County); Probate Place: Leon, Florida
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8993 #623935 (accessed 3 May 2022)
   Jonathan C Gibbs probate on 28 Jun 1878.
10. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #197617393

• "The Gibbs Family," The Negro History Bulletin, 1947-10: Vol 11 Issue 1, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, pages 2-12
• Richardson, Joe E. The Negro in the reconstruction of Florida, 1865-1877, (E.O. Painter Printing: DeLand, Florida, 1965), accessible online via Florida Agricultural Mechanical University, https://famu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/famu%3A6627#page/Front+cover/mode/2up, pages 86, 89, 93, 118, 153,, 184-187(including his death)
• Listing of State officers, reported by Jonathan Gibbs, in Tallahassee Sentinel, (Tallahassee, Fla) September 14, 1872, http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00048626/00153
• Gibbs, Rev. Jonathan C. (2007, January 28). (1863) Rev. Jonathan C. Gibbs, “Freedom’s Joyful Day”. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1863-rev-jonathan-c-gibbs-freedoms-joyful-day/, Republished from original in Christian Recorder, January 17, 1863.
• Dinnella-Borrego, Luis-Alejandro, At freedom's gate: Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs and the story of reconstruction Florida, 2007, Senior honors thesis, Dartmouth College, Department of History. On file at the Rainer Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College. Permalink: https://search.library.dartmouth.edu/permalink/01DCL_INST/16rgcn8/alma991007603309705706
• Gibbs, Jonathan C. (1856). Sermon. Black Abolitonist Archives, 1-19. http://research.udmercy.edu/digital_collections/baa/Gibbs_18062spe.pdf
• 1840 Census: "1840 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1840; Census Place: Concord, Delaware, Pennsylvania; Roll: 457; Page: 53; Family History Library Film: 0020544
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8057 #2799869 (accessed 3 May 2022)
  Jonathan Gibbs.

See also (secondary, tertiary, and compiled sources):

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Clarkson_Gibbs
• Wikidata: Item Q3809911, en:Wikipedia
• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 26 October 2021, 13:18), entry for Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KCC3-JV2 ); contributed by various users.