Biography of Andrew Vinson Gibbons, (1849-1932) Part 1—Childhood

A.V. Gibbons, in his Prime

Biography of Andrew Vinson Gibbons (1849-1932)

Part 1—Childhood

Part 2—Santa Clara
Part 3--St. George and the Muddy Mission
Part 4--Glendale and Marriage
Part 5--Arizona
Part 6--St. Johns

By Andrew Smith Gibbons, III, Ph.D.

Andrew Vinson Gibbons was the second child and the oldest con of Andrew Smith Gibbons, the pioneer of 1847 and Indian missionary. The absorbing story of Andrew Smith and Rizpah Knight Gibbons and their family is well told in the biography of Andrew Smith Gibbons, Saint and Savage, by Helen Bay Gibbons. The lives of this remarkable couple and their children spanned some of the most important and exciting events of the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Together they watched and took part in the rise and fall of Nauvoo, Illinois, the trials of the church at the hands of persecutors, the movement of the church across the heart of the continent under Brigham Young, and the settlement of Salt Lake and colonization of the Great Basin. The life of A.V. Gibbons was lived against this backdrop of epochal events. He took part in the conquering of a wilderness, but to him it was his daily life. He knew no other life than that of a pioneer, and he played his role in the history faithfully. This biography will attempt to describe the historical events of his life and reveal his character to what is hoped will be an interested and grateful ancestry.

CHILDHOOD

A.V.'s parents, Rizpah Knight and Andrew Smith Gibbons

A.V. Gibbons' childhood family was started on January 5, 1846, when A.S. Gibbons and Rizpah Knight were sealed together in the Nauvoo Temple. By the end of one month the new family, of which A.V. was not yet a part, was faced with the prospect of leaving the city of Nauvoo and crossing the Mississippi River to Iowa Territory with an angry mob closing the door behind them. The family of two travelled across the territory toCouncil Bluffs, Iowa, and settled there. It was there on December 26, 1846 that the first child they would have was born and named Martha Sarah Gibbons. 

On April 5 ofthe next year, A.S. Gibbons left his family to join the first company of Mormon pioneers leaving for the west. The company arrived in the Salt Lake valley on July 24, 1847. After only a short stay, Gibbons returned beginning on August 26, 1847 to his home, By the time he returned his daughter was nearly a year old. The Gibbons family stayed in Council Bluffs long enough to assemble finances to return West, but before that happened, two more members were added to the family: Andrew Vinson Gibbons, and William Hoover Gibbons. 

Andrew Vinson Gibbons was born on April 3, 1849 as his sister Sarah was two years and just a few months old. William was born twenty-two months later on January 23, 1851. One and one-half years later, in July, 1852, the family of five was on its way to Salt Lake, where it settled briefly in September before relocating to Sessions Settlement, later renamed Bountiful.

The separation of A.S. Gibbons from his family during the 1847 trek was a hardship on his family, but it turned out to be only the first of numerous separations. Looking at the family's history over a period of years, in fact, it can be seen that separation was almost more frequent than reunion. 

Once the family was settled in Sessions Settlement, A.S. Gibbons separated from them for the purpose of employment. Saint and Savage places him in Lehi working as a mason. This separation and those that followed must have had an effect upon A.V. as he grew up. When his father was away from home he was the man of the house and wasprobably often tasked with the physical and mental labor required of a man. This requirement, laid upon him from his young years was no doubt responsible for the very practical, work-oriented frame of mind A.V. carried with him into his mature years.

The responsibilities of acting father fell upon A.V., as well as the opportunity of watching the family grow. During 1853 a second daughter, Eliza Gibbons, was born. A.S. Gibbons may or may not have been present for the event. It is highly likely that he was, since his travels during this time were mostly local. But during this period when his father was not home, A.V. must have realized that he was in charge of a growing family. 

At April conference in 1855, A.S. Gibbons was called to be a missionary to the newly-formed Iron Mission. This call was to take him away from his home, his wife of about 25, and his four children: Martha, 8; A.V., 6; William, 4; and Eliza, somewhere around two. At this age, A.V. was probably ready to understand that he was being left "in charge of things," and that he was capable of a good deal of work. While it was possible for A.S. Gibbons to return occasionally to Sessions Settlement to be with his family, the Iron Mission kept him busy for over a year, until July 1856. On a short trip home in the fallof 1855, A.S. Gibbons was present for the birth of his third daughter, Almira, who soon died. Young A.V.,by then seven years old, was probably given cause for reflection on deep questions by this serious occurrence in a family where hehad been assuming an important role. 

July of 1856 brought a call to A.S. Gibbons to the Santa Clara Indian Mission, which promised to reunite the family, but in new surroundings and a much different climate. Santa Clara was in what is now the southern portion of Utah near St. George. A.S. Gibbons responded to the call in July and expected to bring his family to be with him soon, but Rizpah's illness at the time and later a pregnancy prevented that. In this pregnancy, as in the previous one, the birth was followed quickly by death of the newborn. The child, Armintha, born October 4, 1857, died soon. Once again the young family, including A.V. witnessed the solemn ceremonies surrounding a personal family sorrow, and 8-year old A.V. surely must have been changed by the experience.

To be continued . . .