Oral Interviews of Francis M. Gibbons (1921-2016)—Part 2

(Interview of Francis Marion Gibbons conducted by Daniel Bay Gibbons September 19, 2001 in Salt Lake City, Utah)

The Extended Gibbons Family

The children of Rizpah Knight and the Pioneer, Andrew Smith Gibbons (born 1825)
These are the aunts and uncles of Judge Andrew Smith Gibbons (born 1880)
Standing: Uncles Bill, Dick, Josh and Roy
Seated: Aunt Martha, AV and Eliza

Relative Influence of the Udall and Gibbons Families in St. John

It’s interesting.  As I grew up the Udall family pretty well dominated St. Johns.  D.K. had been the first bishop, the first Stake President, and combining those two offices he had served for thirty, forty years.  And then when he was released as Stake President, his son Levi was called as the Stake President.  And by the time I came along, all of the Gibbonses, except Uncle Roy1 and my father, had either died or moved away.  You mentioned the prominent part the Gibbons family played in the early years in the development of that City.  For a long time the Gibbons family really dominated.  But by reason of death or moving, by the time I came along there was just Uncle Roy of the original family.  It’s interesting the perceptions you get.  Until I became an adult and began to study the history of that town on my own, I never realized that the Gibbons family was really the predominant family there.  Here was the old Pioneer2 who was looked up to by everybody because he was one of the originals.  He was Brigham Young.  And I’ve noticed in reading accounts by different members of the St. Johns community, whenever they mention the Pioneer, they mention he was an original 1847 Pioneer.  I mean that was a distinction.  So that had all gone by the boards by the time I came along.  

David King Udall and Levi Stewart Udall
Father and Son who dominated St. Johns religious, political and economic life for 7 decades
DK was the old patriarch of the Udall clan, serving as stake president from 1887 to 1922.
Levi succeeded his father as stake president, serving from 1922 to 1945
Andrew Smith Gibbons coached Levi through the bar, then was defeated by him in the 1930 election.

DBG:    Dad, in the geography of the town, do you know where the earlier members of the family lived, such as the Pioneer, William Hoover,3 Joshua Smith?4  Do you know where their homes were located?

Other Gibbons Family Members in St. Johns

FMG:    I really don’t, except for Joshua. Joshua had a home that would have been north and east of the square.  My recollection is that Uncle Bill had a home that was southwest of town.  Uncle Dick,5 of course, had his home across the street from Jim Overson’s service station and across the street from Grandma6 and Grandpa Christensen, a nice two story brick home that Dick built.  He was very successful.  And so that’s where Dick lived and he sold that place to Uncle Roy.  That’s where Uncle Roy lived when I was born.  Let’s see, there was A.V., then Bill, then Dick, then Joshua and then Roy.  Five boys.  So that’s generally where they lived.  But I don’t know where the Pioneer’s home was.

DBG:    Were there any sisters or any daughters of the Pioneer and Rizpah who lived in St. Johns?

FMG:    Oh yeah.  There was Eliza.7

DBG:    Eliza Holgate?

FMG:    Eliza Holgate.  She lived there.  And I think that Aunt Martha8 lived there for a time. She married a Carter.  Martha Gibbons Carter and Eliza Gibbons Holgate.  Now Eliza Holgate had about ten or eleven kids.  It was a big, big family.  But I don’t know where the Holgates lived.  They lived there in St. Johns.

DBG:    Tell me about your grandfather’s house.

The Home of Grandpa and Grandma Gibbons

AV Gibbons with Wives and Family, about 1910
Back row: Elizabeth, AV, Ella, Andrew (the Judge), Marion

FMG:    My grandfather’s house was a red brick home. It really started out as a two room home.  There was a large living room with a fireplace and then the other room in the main home was a bedroom.  And then he had built a lean to at the back of the home where the kitchen was located and where there was another bedroom.  I think it was just a two bedroom home.  The memories I have of that home are short – in a sense unpleasant because my grandmother had set grandpa up in the living room.  That’s where his bed was and he was bedridden.  He couldn’t walk at all.  He had lost his ability to talk.  She took care of him essentially, and she did it uncomplainingly, very well.  They didn’t have any subsidies to help them along.  They had to live on what surpluses they had gathered over the years, or I’m sure my father helped substantially after he went on the bench.  My grandfather apparently was a very good husbandman.  He was a good rancher, a good farmer.  He had a farm north of town and that’s where he kept his cattle.  He always had horses.  My father grew up with horses and cattle.  It was a good prosperous home for that time and that place.  But after he went down, then, of course, it was tough.  As you think about that grandmother of mine, bearing most of the responsibility of taking care of him.  Of course my Dad helped a lot.  He would go up and help bathe him.  I remember going up one night with him while he cut his toenails.  Now that I’m getting to be an old man I know (laughter) that cutting toenails is not a simple procedure.  Of course back in those days they didn’t have clippers like we have, so it was a major, major operation for my Dad to trim my grandfather’s toenails.  

DBG:    When did your grandfather have his stroke? What year?

Andrew Vinson Gibbons
"AV" 1849-1932

Grandpa Gibbons’ Stroke

FMG:    It would have been roughly in 1924.  ‘23 or ‘24.  By that time my father had been on the bench for six years and was very well into his job by then.  He knew how to handle it.  And you know the story of how my grandfather was going up on “Chub” to sit in on one of my Dad’s cases.  He loved to attend those cases.  Later he’d want to sit down to grill my Dad about everything that went on and why, and he had very fixed ideas about justice and law.  I remember my Dad telling me that on one occasion my Grandfather was questioning a point of law, and my Dad said, “Well, it’s the law, Dad.”  And he said, “Well, it’s a hell of a law!”  (Laughter)

DBG:    Dad, speaking of A.V., I’ve always been very curious – A.V. had six children, two boys, and both of the boys became lawyers –

FMG:    Yes.

DBG:    – and he didn’t have anyone following him in the ranching business.  What’s your impression about that?

My Father’s Dislike of Farm Work

FMG:    Well, I know from Father’s standpoint, my Father hated it.  He hated farm work.  He liked animals, and we always had a cow.  But my father just didn’t like the work.  I take it that it was the same with Marion.9 I know my father tells the story of Marion–my Grandfather had assigned him some work to do, and Marion didn’t want to do it.  He wanted to go play or do something, and so he took the harness and cut it up in little pieces and buried it.  (Laughter).  So if there’s no harness you can’t use the workhorse.  So from that I inferred that my Uncle Marion shared my father’s great hatred, dislike for farming.  And that’s why they never pursued it.

DBG:    Aside from the incidents regarding polygamy and the stresses of growing up in that kind of home, what do you know about the family arrangements growing up?  Where did everyone live?  Tell me about he brothers and sisters and half brothers and sisters of Grandpa.

Marion Vinson Gibbons

Uncle Marion Vinson Gibbons

FMG:    Marion –  before he bought my father’s home when my father moved to Phoenix in 1930 – Marion had a home east of the square.  I don’t know whether he rented it or whether he owned it, but that’s where they lived. Marion, at the time we moved to Phoenix in 1930, was the principal of the grade school and did a little of practicing of law on the side.  He’d been admitted to the bar, but he never did much in the law.

DBG:    Except for bringing down the Attorney General.10

FMG:    That’s right.  He apparently did a good job there. (Laughter).  But he didn’t have self confidence.  I can remember his traveling clear to Phoenix to talk to my father about a lawsuit he had.  He just didn’t have the self-confidence to handle it on his own.  He wanted to talk to his brother, who was the mental giant.  And so he came all the way to Phoenix from St. Johns to confer with Dad.  

Aunt Noni Gibbons Wilhelm

Aunt Noni,11 of course was dead by the time I came along.  Her husband George Wilhelm12 had a ranch up at Vernon, which is not far from Springerville.  So that’s where they lived, on the ranch.  After Noni died, George tried to raise those boys alone on that ranch and he couldn’t make a go of it.  

Grandma Elizabeth Gibbons with Harvey Gibbons Wilhelm. Harvey's mother, Nancy Naomi Gibbons, was Judge A.S. Gibbons' only full sister. Aunt "Noni died in 1916 on the same day Harvey was born and he and his brothers were raised by their grandmother. Harvey is the first cousin of Francis M. Gibbons, and grew up next door in St. Johns.

Grandma Gibbons Raises Aunt Noni’s Sons

So Grandma Gibbons really raised LeRoy13 and Marion14 and Harvey,15 the three younger boys.

DBG:    The Wilhelm boys?

FMG:    Uh huh.  The Wilhelm boys.  

DBG:    Did she raise them at her home in St. Johns?

FMG:    Yes, they lived there in St. Johns.

DBG:    What were their ages compared to you?

FMG:    Harvey was three years older than me – three or four.  Marion, who is probably two years older than Harvey, and Roy was three years older than Marion.  And so they really looked on my Grandmother as their mother.  They loved her very much, and she was very solicitous of them and very anxious to take care of them.  

DBG:    And they lived there right in the home, near your home.

FMG:    Right.

DBG:    So they were your companions?

FMG:    Actually, Marion and Roy were adults by the time I was born.  They were in their late teens, and I suppose at that time they could spend a lot of time with their father up on the ranch.  But Harvey lived right there with Grandma for years and years and years.  Now as to Marion’s sisters, I never really was close to them, and I don’t know who they married, or where they went.  We never had a relationship with them at all.  

Grandma Gibbons’ Brother, Uncle Willy Harris

And that was true of Uncle Willy, Grandma’s brother, Willy Harris.16  I remember seeing Uncle Willy walk back and forth, time after time in front of our place, and he had a home over on the northwest part of the town, and he was a fine man, a very hard worker.  But I don’t think he was ever in our home, we never had a relationship, but we knew him as Uncle Willy and we would greet him as Uncle Willy.  

Dodd Greer, Charles Gillespie and Edmond Butler. Dodd was the first cousin of Judge Andrew Smith Gibbons. Their mothers, Elizabeth and Minerva Harris, were sisters. Dodd was one of the lawyers AS Gibbons coached through the bar. He appeared many times in ASG's courtroom and was Apache County Attorney on and off for a decade.

My Father’s First Cousin, Dodd Greer and Family

I’ve told you about Dodd, Dodd Greer,17 who was my father’s first cousin.  Their mothers were sisters.  Their mothers were Harrises.  Dodd, from the outside, you’d think that Dodd really was doing well.  Maybe it was because he was dipping into the till.  (Laughter) Dodd had a two-story house that would have been, oh, about three blocks north and east of the square.  I can remember he always had horses there, and cattle, and he was dabbling in cattle.  I was always jealous of his older son, Lacy,18 because Lacy had his own horse and he had chaps.  (Laughter) He was a real cowboy, and he really knew how to ride that horse.  So, as I say, Dodd, from the outside, presented quite a prosperous image.  My father’s was impressed with Dodd’s intelligence. He was a smart guy, maybe too smart for his own good. He would have gotten that mentality from the Harrises.  

Mental Capacity Inherited from Harris Ancestors

I’ve told you before, that my father felt that his mental capacity was in large part a gift from the Harris family, because my Grandmother was a very bright lady.  

DBG:    Hang on one second. [Tape change.] Okay.

FMG:    But Dodd used to come down to our place a lot to counsel with my Dad.  Of course, knowing my father, I know that anything he talked about was not anything that involved his court.  It may have been a point of law that Dodd was trying to satisfy himself about.  But he used to come down quite often and talk to my father, and they’d have their cup of coffee together.  That was a staple in our home.  

The Judge
Andrew Smith Gibbons

Family’s Nonadherence to the Word of Wisdom

FMG: My earliest memories are of the smell of that coffee, which had a delightful odor to it.  I never really questioned my father about it, but I’m satisfied that he put his own interpretation on the Word of Wisdom.  He had decided that it was not a mandate and it was a recommendation that he didn’t elect to follow.  So my parents always had their coffee. They were open about it.  I guess they had to buy their coffee from the stores there in St. Johns, so a lot of people knew that the Gibbons were having their coffee.  And when we moved to Phoenix, they always enjoyed their iced tea.  And in the hot summer days when we’d eat our supper out on the little back porch, there in Phoenix, why I can remember the ice tinkling in the pitcher. But I never drank it around home, although later, when I first started to work in the grocery store, on a Saturday morning, on a number of occasions – it wasn’t a routine thing, but every now and then on an early Saturday morning, because I was faced with an eighteen hour day, I’d have a cup of coffee over that this little restaurant near the store where I worked. I didn’t attach any particular significance to it because of my home life. It was a normal thing. But thank the Lord I never got the habit, and I’ve smoked a cigarette or two as a young guy growing up. But thank the Lord it never became a habit with me, and it was not a frequent thing.  But here again was my father’s example.  My father smoked, but he’d never smoke in the house.  My mother would never allow it.  

DBG:    Did he smoke a pipe?

FMG:    Cigarettes.  He smoked cigarettes.  On this occasion when I went with my father and my brother up on Paradise Creek, fishing, we were up there for two weeks.  We really had a lovely campsite.  My brother really knew how to organize and manage a camp.  He had it all laid out.  My father and my brother took along a little machine to make their own cigarettes.  They took great joy in making their cigarettes, and they would sit around of an evening and puff their cigarettes.  I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this or not.  It was a traumatic experience for me.  The first time I ever knew that my father smoked was before we moved to Phoenix, and I couldn’t have been over seven or eight years old.  My father invited Charles Carson,19 who later became his law partner, and a man named Jenckes, Judge Jenckes20 from Phoenix, and there was a man named Earl,21 and I think one other.  And the first night after we made our camp, up near McNary, the men were sitting around the campsite, and someone broke out the cigars, and my Dad took one and lit up and I almost died.  (Laughter) He probably did too.  He probably was more embarrassed than I was.  But he had been associating with these men before, and so it was nothing new to them, nothing new to him, but it was really, really new to me.  So that was my introduction to the fact that not only did my father drink his coffee, but he smoked.  (Laughter).  

Dad Gives up Tobacco

But he gave it up.  He gave it up after we moved to Phoenix. I don’t think they ever gave up their coffee.

DBG:    Well, I know Nana never did.

FMG:    No, she never did.  (Laughter) They probably didn’t interrogate them as closely for Temple Recommends back in those days as they do now. But my father did give up his tobacco. It was a cold turkey thing for him as it was for my brother. My brother Andrew gave it up cold turkey, as did my Dad.  

DBG:    How old were you when he did that?

FMG:    Lets see, I would have been probably fourteen years old.  Around ‘35 or thereabouts.  

My Father’s Love of Being in the Temple

It was at that time my parents began regularly to go to the Temple.  They would drive over to the Mesa Temple, probably once a week or so.  And my father loved it.  And he told me on one occasion, he said, “When I go to the Temple, I never want to leave it!”  Apparently he had very strong, warm feelings about the Temple.  Now I’ve never felt to criticize my Father for his non-compliance with the Word of Wisdom, because he was raised in a rough area, a rough time, and I would suspect that the great majority of the Mormons in St. Johns were not really keen on the Word of Wisdom.  So, it wasn’t until later, when Brother Grant came on the scene, that they really began to put the step over toe hold on them.  (Laughter).  My father in the mid thirties may have heard some of Heber J. Grant’s impassioned talks about he Word of Wisdom, so he decided that he’d better come into line.  

DBG:    Before we leave the Word of Wisdom, I remember Nana professing a deep passion for beer.  What about alcohol use?

My Father’s Membership in the Arizona Club

FMG:    Well.  I’m satisfied that my father did some social drinking, because after we moved to Phoenix, he joined the Arizona Club, which is the equivalent of the Alta Club.  It was a club for the professional and business people of Phoenix.  It was located on the top floor of the Loors Building, the building where I used to sell papers.  I’ve had meals up there with my father, and so it was a very posh place.  And I have no doubt, that when my father was a member of the Arizona club, that he tippled – that he had his social drinks with the brethren.  Both of his law partners were Gentiles and very sophisticated, well-educated men, and he associated with them, and especially there in the Arizona Club.  But he never did any drinking around me.  What I have said is an inference I have drawn, that he did some drinking.  He wasn’t the kind of guy who would buy a six-pack and come home (laughter).  But he finally gave all of that up.  He finally got it out of his life.  So, as I say, I have never felt to criticize my Dad for that, or look down my nose at him for that, because he was a good man.  He was a good man!  He was a brilliant man, and a man we can be very, very proud of.

DBG:    Dad, getting back to your grandfather’s house, is that the home that your Dad grew up in?

FMG:    [Pause] Let’s see.

DBG:    I had read somewhere that Aunt Ella had lived in the home that you grew up in.  So, did your Grandpa, A.V. live with your Grandmother and the two children in that brick home?

Living Arrangements for A.V.’s Plural Wives

FMG:    Well, now I assume so.  I’ve never really stopped to think about that.  I don’t know when that home was built. They could have had a home down in “Egypt”, as we used to call it.  “E Jumped.”  It was the farming, ranching area north of town where my Grandfather had his farm.  That was Egypt.  They could have had a home down there.  I don’t know.  That’s an interesting question.  It would have been pretty crowded.  Of course Aunt Ella had the home that I was raised in, and that’s where she could have kept Marion and Marion’s sisters.  So its very possible that my father and Aunt Noni lived in that main home that was my Grandfather’s.  I don’t know!

DBG:    Tell me about the rest of the neighborhood around the home you grew up in.  Who were the neighbors?  What was the neighborhood like?

Main business section in St. Johns about the time Francis M. Gibbons was a boy

The Neighborhood in St. Johns

FMG:    We had very few neighbors, because the “Dreen” was right across the street from the home.  There was a bridge across the stream which flowed into the Dreen.  After you crossed that bridge, then you got down into the area where the Rabins – I’m sure it was “Ray BEAU” (Laughter) – French converts.  Uncle Marion used to mock those French speaking people.  (Laughter) He’d say “Profiso ballibo, attamabooSEE.” (Laughter).  The Rabins lived down there.  The Rabins didn’t live far from this hairpin turn where this guy crashed his Cadillac.  (Laughter).  But, aside from the Rabins, I don’t remember who else was there.  But then across the street was a little nest of house, and that was where Uncle Willy lived.  

DBG:    When you say Uncle Willy, you don’t mean William H. Gibbons?

FMG:    No, I mean Grandma Gibbons’s brother Willy Harris.

DBG:    Oh.  Willy Harris.  Okay.

FMG:    Yeah.  That was Uncle Willy.  Then there was a family named Stradling22 that lived up in the area where Uncle Willy lived.  And up in that same area was the place where Grandma Christensen’s family lived, the Thomases.  The town blacksmith.23  I can’t remember any other families who lived up in that area.  Down the street to the east, of course, was Levi Udall’s place, and right adjacent to Levi’s place was a small home in which I think one of the Lees lived.  Arlo Lee.24  Arlo was a cousin to the Udalls, because Louise Udall was a Lee.  And then down one of the streets to the north was where Uncle Josh lived.  

DBG:    Are you talking about Joshua Smith Gibbons, the son of the Pioneer?

FMG:    Yeah.  Right.  Joshua Smith Gibbons.

DBG:    What’s your memory of him.  

FMG:    None at all.  All I know about him is what I’ve read in books.

Notes

1 Lee Roy Gibbons (“Uncle Roy”): Son of the Pioneer and Uncle of ASG. Born 4 September 1872 in Glendale, Utah Territory, the youngest son of the Pioneer Andrew Smith Gibbons and Rizpah Knight.  Younger brother of AV Gibbons and uncle of ASG.  Died 25 August 1942 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona. 

2 Andrew Smith Gibbons  (The “Pioneer”): ASG’s grandfather and FMG’s great-grandfather.  Born 12 March 1825 in Union (now Hebron), Licking County, Ohio.  Married Rizpah Jane Knight on 5 January 1846 in the Nauvoo Temple.  They were the parents of fifteen children, eight of whom survived to adulthood.  A.V. is their oldest son.  The Pioneer died 9 February 1886 in St. Johns, Arizona Territory.

3 William Hoover Gibbons (“Uncle Bill”): Son of the Pioneer and Uncle of ASG.  Born 23 January 1851 in Kanesville, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, the son of the Pioneer Andrew Smith Gibbons and Rizpah Knight.  The Pioneer and Rizpah gave names of great personal significance to each of their children.  His middle name was given him in honor of the Pioneer’s mother, Polly Hoover. Served as a counselor in the Bishopric and then in the St. Johns Stake Presidency under President D.K. Udall.  Died 21 January 1925 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.

4 Joshua Smith Gibbons (“Uncle Josh”): Son of the Pioneer and uncle of ASG, the Judge.  Born 9 May 1862 in St. George, Washington County, Utah Territory, to the Pioneer Andrew Smith Gibbons and Rizpah Knight.  The Pioneer and Rizpah gave names of great personal significance to each of their children.  He was named for the Pioneer’s adopted father, Joshua Smith, who lived and was martyred in Nauvoo, Illinois.  Younger brother of AV Gibbons and uncle of ASG. He came to St. Johns at age 17 with his parents and helped the Pioneer on the farm. Married Nancy Louise Noble in St. Johns.   History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 264.  Served in the 25th Arizona Territorial Legislature, which was the last to convene prior to Arizona’s admission to statehood in 1912.  He also served as a Justice of the Peace in St. Johns.   A Turning of Hearts , pages 763 - 764. Died 13 February 1917 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona .  He should not be confused with his son, Joshua Smith Gibbons, Jr. (known as “J. Smith” or simply “Smith”), a lawyer who served two terms as Apache County Attorney and then was Superior Court Judge from 1947 to 1967.  His daughter Nancy also taught school in St. Johns for many years and was Apache County School Superintendent one term.   See, History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , pages 255 - 256, 264.

5 Richard Canine Gibbons (“Uncle Dick”): Son of the Pioneer and uncle of ASG, the Judge.  Born 22 October 1858 in Santa Clara, Washington County, Utah Territory, the son of the Pioneer Andrew Smith Gibbons and Rizpah Knight.  The Pioneer and Rizpah gave names of great personal significance to each of their children.  He was named for the Pioneer’s twin brother, also named Richard Canine Gibbons. Arrived with his parents in St. Johns at age 22 and married Clarissa Isabel Wilhelm there.  He later settled in Vernon, where he engaged in sheep raising on the grassy slopes and low mountains there.  In 1910 he moved to Mesa where he operated a large ranch.  History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 264. Died 1 January 1924 in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona.

6 Frances Ann Thomas (“Fannie” or “Grandma Christensen”): ACG’s mother and FMG’s grandmother.  She was born 4 May 1864 in Kanosh, Millard County, Utah Territory the daughter of David Nathan Thomas and Adeline Springthorp.  David and Adeline arrived in St. Johns with two sons, David and John, and seventeen year old daughter Fannie on November 19, 1881 in a company with nine other families.  The ten families camped on the public square on their arrival.  On 6 June 1883, less than eighteen months of the Thomas family’s arrival Fannie married Marinus Christensen and bore eight children, the eldest of whom was ACG.

7 Eliza Pace Gibbons  (“Eliza” or “Aunt Eliza”): Daughter of the Pioneer and aunt of ASG, the Judge.  Born 21 February 1853 in Sessions Settlement (now Bountiful), Davis County, Utah the daughter of the Pioneer Andrew Smith Gibbons and Rizpah Knight.  The Pioneer and Rizpah gave names of great personal significance to each of their children.  She was named for Eliza Baldwin Pace, a neighbor of the Pioneer’s parents, William Davidson Gibbons and Mary (Polly) Hoover, in Hebron, Licking Township, Ohio in the 1820's.  Eliza Pace was the sister of the Pioneer’s adoptive mother, Sarah Baldwin Smith. She was born Eliza Baldwin on 22 June 1806 in Otis, Berkshire, Massachusetts to Samuel Baldwin and Mehitable Kingsley. See, Susan Easton Black, Membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 1830 to 1848 , Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, entry for “Eliza Baldwin.”  She married Elisha Pace, also a member of the Church, who died October 1, 1844.  Eliza Pace was apparently the first of several residents of Hebron to join the Church, and she later moved to Kirtland, Missouri and then Nauvoo with the Pioneer’s adoptive parents, Joshua Smith and Sarah Baldwin Smith.  It is also apparent that Eliza Pace remained with Sarah Baldwin, likely living with her and Rizpah at Winter Quarters for several years and then traveling with them to Utah, where they initially settled in Bountiful. At the time “Grandma Sarah” and “Aunt Eliza Pace” were both widows.  It was in Bountiful, shortly after their arrival, that Eliza Pace Gibbons was born.  “Aunt Eliza Pace”, Eliza Baldwin Pace died in 1862, leaving a vast progeny of Pace descendants in the Church.  Eliza Pace Gibbons married William Holgate in 1875.  She died 4 October 1909.  

8 Martha Sarah Gibbons (“Aunt Martha”): Daughter of the Pioneer and aunt of ASG.  Born 26 December 1846 in Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska to the Pioneer Andrew Smith Gibbons and Rizpah Knight.  The Pioneer and Rizpah gave names of great personal significance to each of their children.  She was named for her two widowed “Grandmothers” who lived with Rizpah in Winter Quarters and later accompanied the Pioneer’s little family to Utah: Martha McBride Knight, the widow of Bishop Vinson Knight, and “Grandmother” Sarah Baldwin Smith, the widow of Joshua Smith and the adoptive mother of the Pioneer.  Martha Sarah Gibbons married John Sims Carter on 24 September 1863.  She died 13 December 1935 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona.

9 Marion Vinson Gibbons (“MV” or “Uncle Marion”): ASG’s half brother.  Born 22 November 1888 to AV Gibbons and Sarah Ella Harris.  Marion was the half brother of ASG.  Marion or “M.V.”, as he was known, was a school teacher for many years in St. Johns.  ASG coached Marion through the bar, and he later served as Apache County Attorney from 1941 - 1943 and again from 1947 - 1953.  Though mild mannered and gentlemanly, he later became known as “The Racket Buster”, as he was instrumental in the arrest and successful prosecution of John L. Sullivan, then the incumbent Attorney General of the State of Arizona, on charges of conspiracy, bribery and racketeering.  Marion Vinson Gibbons died on 25 June 1966.

10 John L. Sullivan: A former Attorney General of the State of Arizona.  ASG’s half brother Marion V. Gibbons was instrumental in the arrest and successful prosecution of Sullivan, then the incumbent Attorney General of the State of Arizona, on charges of conspiracy, bribery and racketeering.  This episode began when a bribe was offered to M.V. on January 27, 1947 by delivering to him an unaddressed envelope containing $500.00 in cash.  The bribe was offered to induce M.V., then County Attorney, to refrain from prosecuting gambling violations along Route 66, which runs through Apache County.  M.V. retained his (and ASG’s) cousin, Dodd L. Greer as a Deputy County Attorney to assist him in investigating the bribe, and ultimately the Attorney General was implicated, arrested and successfully prosecuted.   History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , pages 252 - 253.

11 Nancy Naomi Gibbons (“Aunt Noni”): ASG’s sister.  Born 3 April 1878 in Glendale, Kane County, Utah Territory to Andrew Vinson Gibbons and Sarah Ella Harris. She was briefly married to Elijah Norman Freeman in about 1897, bearing a daughter Maude (born 1899) by Freeman, which marriage soon ended in divorce.  She married Zemira George Wilhelm 2 January 1905. This was the same day of the wedding of Noni’s half brother, ASG.  In the family’s collection is a photograph of the two couples – George and Nancy Wilhelm and Andy and Addie Gibbons – in their wedding clothing.   See, A Turning of Hearts, page 379.  She had four sons by George Wilhelm: George Andrew born 1905; Carl Leroy born 1907; Marion Walter born 1909; and Harvey Gibbons born 1916.  She died 16 March 1916 in St. Johns.

12 Zemira George Wilhelm: The husband of Nancy Naomi Gibbons (“Aunt Noni”), ASG’s sister and FMG’s aunt.   Born 8 September 1872.

13 Carl Leroy Wilhelm: A first cousin of FMG. Born 28 April 1907 to Zemira George Wilhelm and Nancy Naomi Gibbons. (“Roy”).

14 Marion Walter Wilhelm: A first cousin of FMG.  Born 28 July 1909 to Zemira George Wilhelm and Nancy Naomi Gibbons.  Died 28 February 1942.  Marion was killed during a major fire at the so called “Whiting block” on Commercial Street in St. Johns.  During the fire a butane tanker truck exploded, killing Marion, who was a Whiting employee, and Apache County Sheriff John Nunn, who were standing adjacent to the truck.

15 Harvey Gibbons Wilhelm: A first cousin of FMG. Born 16 March 1916 Zemira George Wilhelm and Nancy Naomi Gibbons.

16 William Moses Harris (“Uncle Willy”): Uncle of ASG.  Born 6 June 1865 in Glendale, Kane County, Utah Territory, to John Smith Harris, Sr. and Nancy Lydia Aldridge.  An uncle of ASG.  Died 18 September 1959 in St. Johns.

17 Dodd Lacy Greer (“Dodd”): First cousin of ASG. The son of Lacy Greer and Lydia Minerva Harris, the younger sister of AV’s two plural wives, Nancy Elizabeth Harris and Sarah Ella Harris.  Dodd was thus ASG’s first cousin on his mother’s side.  Dodd was one of the lawyers ASG coached through the bar.  He appeared many times in ASG’s courtroom. He was Apache County Attorney from 1929 to 1933 and again from 1935 to 1937.   History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , pages 255 - 256. He was ultimately disbarred in the late 1930's for malfeasance in the handling of the estate of Nasif Tamer in Apache County’s Superior Court, although he appears to have been readmitted by the late 1950's, at which time he was retained to assist M.V. Gibbons in his “racket busting” prosecution of the Arizona State Attorney General, John L. Sullivan.   See, History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 252.

18 Lacy Camp Greer: born 29 December 1917 in Concho, Arizona to Dodd Lacy Greer and Wilmerth Hazel Butler and died 18 May 1985 in Holbrook, Arizona.

19 Charles A. Carson: A friend, colleague and law partner of ASG.  He was a Phoenix attorney who, in 1924 formed a partnership with attorney Gene Cunningham.  In 1930 this partnership became Cunningham, Carson & Gibbons when ASG joined the firm.  ASG severed his ties with the firm in 1937.  The firm was still in existence (in 2001) and was known as  Carson Messinger with offices still in Phoenix. See 2001 Martindale Hubbell listing.

20 Joseph S. Jenckes: A friend and legal colleague of ASG.  He was a  Judge of the Superior Court, Maricopa County. ASG tried cases before Judge Jenckes while in private practice in Phoenix. See, e.g., Gay v. City of Glendale , 41 Ariz. 265,  17 P.2d 811 (1933); and Gay v. City of Glendale , 41 Ariz. 207,  16 P.2d 971 (1932).

21 This could be one of several legal associates of ASG.  1) Earl D. McGinty was a client of ASG in the early 1930's.   See, McGinty v. Bass , 40 Ariz. 385,  12 P.2d 283 (1932).   2) Harold L. Earley was a client of ASG in about 1940.   See , Shumway v. Earley, 56 Ariz. 124,  106 P.2d 194 (1940) (Note: this is the last case ASG argued before the Arizona Supreme Court before his death).  3)  J. Early Craig was a lawyer from Phoenix who was frequently in the courtroom with ASG, both while ASG was a judge and while he was in private law practice. See, Collins v. Superior Court , 48 Ariz. 381,  62 P.2d 131 (1936); Continental Oil Company v. Fennemore , 38 Ariz. 277,  299 P. 132 (1931); Young Mines Company v. Sevringhaus , 38 Ariz. 160,  298 P. 628 (1931); Watson v. Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation, Ltd. ,  28 Ariz. 573,  238 P. 338 (1925). 4) Earl Anderson was a Phoenix lawyer who appeared in Maricopa County Superior Court while ASG was presiding there.   See, Williams v. Williams , 33 Ariz. 367,  265 P. 87 (1928). 5)  W. H. Early was a witness in a lawsuit heard in Maricopa County by ASG. Watson v. Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation, Ltd. ,  28 Ariz. 573,  238 P. 338 (1925 ).

22 Probably the descendants of William Stradling, who arrived in St. Johns with his family in 1880.   History of the St. Johns Arizona Stake , page 272.  

23 David Nathan Thomas: The father of Grandma Christensen, Frances Ann Thomas Christensen.  Born 22 August 1820 in Carmathen, Wales.  Married to Adeline Springthorp, who had been born 5 September 1826 in Leicester, England.  David Nathan Thomas died 14 August 1888 in St. Johns.

24 It is unclear whether FMG means Arlo B. Lee, who was born 26 September 1918 to Thomas Rain Lee and Rhoda Frances Lee.  A close contemporary of FMG and his sister, Ruth Naomi Gibbons, Lee’s parents moved to St. Johns in 1928. He married Katy Gibbons, the daughter of Marion Vinson Gibbons.  Katy Gibbons Lee is a cousin of FMG.