Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1880-01-03

tion of the House disproportioned to bis
efforts and surpassed by few members
except the very veterans Of the party.
He weilds this influence all the more
| surely because he does not strive for it
or seems to expect it. 1t might. perhaps,
be greater if he joined to it that restless
energy and vivid apprehension which
make or seize the dramatic points and
situations of political life for person
purpose. But for these his temperament
aud tastes unfit him. Moreover, that
curious malady of public life, an heredi-
tary gout, throwing its black shadow
over days and weeks of pain and enforc-
ed inaction, interf eres with the contin-
uous and most strenuous exercise of his
abilities. It is a vulgar error to believe
this disease is the result of excesses
man moro abstemious and deli
cate in his habits from youth up could
The gout first attacked him amid the
hardshids. poverty and malarial fogs of a
Confederate camp. AS General Gibson's
life has Deen an eventful one, some nc
counts of his antecedents may prove not
uninteresting to your readers. 1t ray
be soma apology to our Northern breth-
eren for our so-ca1led rebellion that so
many of our Confederate leaders were
scions of Revolutionary stocks; they
have the spirit Of resistance in their
blood. Perhaps a few generations of
good, old-fashioned tyranny may tame
these unsubdued inclinings. Randall Glib
son is in every ramifcation of his ances-
trail stem sprung from fighting Wings,
of the Revolution of 1776. John Gibson
the progenitor of the family, emigrated
from England IN 17O6 with one sister and
several brothers aud settled in Middle
sex County, Va. They afterwards re-
moved to the neighborhood of Sandy
Carolina, where with their kinspeople,
the Murfees and Saunders and Harrisons
and Pegnes, they were stout Wings and
firm defenders of the Revolutionary canse
from its beg ginning to its. close. After the
war the grandfather of General Gibson,
Randall Gibson. impel-e by the adven-
turous spirit Of American life, with many
of his kindred joined the stream Of enli-
grafton to the West, and finally settled
in Mississippi, where he became
wealthy planter. His home, Oakley"
in Warren County, was noted for its
well-ordered hospitality and refinement
His descendants and connections en-
c<l.
the Southwest-the Harrisons, Nailors,
Stewards, Gillespies, Barneses, Hum
phreys, Booths, Marshalls. Higginses,
Brands and others-a connection remark
able for character, intelligence and the
strong qualities which command intiu-
ence. He was a man of mark in his day,
and the .sarm personal friend of both
General aud Governor Claiborne. He
built the first church and founded the
first institution of learning-Jefferson
College-in the Mississippi Valley. His
wife, Harriet Mckinley, was the daugh-
ter of John Mckinley and Mary Connel-
ly, both natives of Ireland. John Nc
Kinley was an officer of the Virginia line
in the Revo ution, and was killed in 1882
in Crawfordt expedition against the In
Indians.
Randall Gibsons son, Tobias Gibson.
the father of the subject of this sketch,
settled in Terrebone Parish, La, and be-
came one of the wealthiest and most in
fluential sugar planters of that rich regi-
on. oHe was an ardent Whig and served
several sessions in the State Senate, but
his private business precluded contln-
uance in that career. He was, however,
the close personal and political friend of
Mr.. Clay, and at his summer residence in
KY, was one OF the council
boards of the coterie who sustained their
chief with such unstinted loyalty. To-
bias Gibson was much esteemed for his
prudence and business capacity, his gem
uine benevolence and his perfect integri-
ty. He was gentleman of the old
school, proud, courtly and fastidious, but
hospitable and kind.
Tobias Gibson married Louisiana, the
daughter of Colorel Nathaniel Hart, of
Spring Hill, Woodford County, Ky.
Her mother was daughter of Colonel
William Preston, of Smithfield, in Vir,
pinia, Thomas Hart Benton and Mrs.
Henry Clay were his cousins. The BrecK-
in1idges, Shelbys, Prestons, Marshalls,
and other prominent families connected
with him by blood or marriage, made
Spring Hill favorite resort. His chill
dren were numerous, handsome and bril-
liant. Spring Hill was one of those
Southern households, based on broad
acres, local Importance unbounded hos
ritality, and pride of birth and personal