Henry, the second of fourteen children. Both Henry's father and grandfather were highly educated men, being well versed in ancient and modern languages, and in natural science. It is evident from published accounts that members of the family carried down through the generations a full share of those traits of inflexibility of purpose, purity of life and simplicity of manners that make for the distinctive individuality of members of the Society of Friends.

Henry received in his native city of Wilmington, Delaware, a good early education from private schools where he had a thorough training in English and French, and acquired a knowledge of Latin and Greek. As an adolescent youth he began a medical apprenticeship in the practice of his father with whom he studied until he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania where he received an MD degree in March 1829. He then practiced with his father in Wilmington for twelve years but, attracted by the larger opportunities in the great city, he moved to Philadelphia in 1841. There he was soon invited to accept a professorship at the Philadelphia College of Medicine, a post he held until he departed for California. Meanwhile his scientific interests led him to membership in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and in the College of Physicians. Furthermore, he lectured on physiology and other topics at the Franklin Institute and elsewhere, was one of the original members of the American Medical Association, and one of the founders and corporators of the Female Medical College of Philadelphia. In the course of these various endeavors he became a relaxed and effective public speaker and able parliamentarian, attributes that served him well in his later undertakings.

When gold was discovered in California in 1848, Dr. Henry Gibbons was no longer a venturesome young man, but a mature physician of forty with a successful academic career and a promising future of medical practice in the premier medical city of the new nation. Nevertheless, responding to some mid-life compulsion to expand his horizon, he joined the high tide of immigrants flowing to the farthest West where a new society was being created.

He and two of his brothers reached San Francisco by sea via the Isthmus of Panama on 20 August 1850. Six feet tall, thin, dark of eyes and hair and sedately dressed, Dr. Gibbons as he disembarked in San Francisco was plainly a professional man and not a restless argonaut bound for Sacramento and the gold fields beyond. He went directly into practice in San Francisco and within a month or two of his arrival was involved in a cholera outbreak in the city. He had previous experience with the disease when it occurred in the eastern states in 1832, 1847 and 1849 and offered his services to the city authorities. Contrary to most, he had no fear of the disease and even slept in the hospital to care for the victims. Since climate was thought to be somehow concerned with the etiology of cholera , and botany with its therapy, he set out to make observations in the virgin field of California meteorology, and aided by his brother, Dr. William P Gibbons (1812-1897), studied native plants. He later published his climatological observations in various journals. From a promising beginning of selfless public service during the cholera epidemic, Henry Gibbons grew steadily in the esteem of the local profession and his medical practice reflected the high regard in which he was held by the public. Another brother, Dr. Edward Gibbons, also came to California and practiced in Oakland.

No man in California in his day surpassed Henry Gibbons in zeal and natural aptitude for medical organization. His cool impartiality and parliamentary finesse made him a respected presiding officer and effective mediator in fractious medical assemblies where acrimonious exchanges were prone to get out of hand. His ability in this regard was recognized by his medical colleagues soon after his arrival in San Francisco.

As already mentioned, he was one of three candidates nominated for the presidency of the San Francisco County Medical Society when it was resurrected in 1853, and he became president of the Society in 1855. When the San Francisco County Medico-Chirurgical Association was founded in August of 1855, its dynamic program attracted his attention, and he was elected to membership in October. Thereafter he participated faithfully in the Association's activities. We shall have occasion to refer again and again to the roles of Henry Gibbons, Sr., and his son, Henry Gibbons, Jr., in the evolution of medical education on the Pacific Coast.

Henry and Martha had eight children.