Charles DeWitt Gibson

1800—1876

Pioneer | Farmer | Merchant | Supervisor | Justice | 1st County Treasurer

Charles DeWitt Gibson was born in 1800 in Palatine, Montgomery County, NY. He moved to East Avon, NY, and married Artemisia Frost of Lima, NY, in 1831. In 1833, he purchased his first tract of land in the Michigan Territory, known as Grand Blanc, from Mr. George Dibble. He, his wife, and their young son, Thornton Wasson Gibson, settled in an area that would soon bear their name—Gibsonville (later known as Whigville). In the years that followed, he built a hotel and tavern, and his landholdings grew to encompass 400 acres. He remained there until his death in 1876,  survived by his wife and ten of their eleven children.

"Mr. Gibson was universally respected in the community where he was known. He was particularly noted for his quiet, unassuming demeanor and amiability of character, a man of integrity, upright and honest, one of God's noblemen, whose word was as good as his bond; a man of quiet energy, but of indomitable perseverance and industry, and consequently was one of those men that the world calls fortunate."