James Gibbons, son of James and Jane, was educated chiefly in his father’s house, by his parents; was a diligent student, and became an accomplished scholar, linguist, and mathematician.

He married Eleanor, daughter of William Peters, Dec. 1, 1756. He inherited the West-town property from his father, and became by profession a farmer.

He was for some time treasurer of Chester County, and was a representative of the county in the General Assembly for the three years immediately preceding the Declaration of Independence. A member of the Society of Friends [Quaker], and a non-combatant, he retired from all public service at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, but in private pursuits he was a valuable and honored citizen.

At his residence, on his plantation, he opened a private school for instruction in the French, Latin, and Greek languages, and several of the young men of the county, who afterwards became honorably distinguished, were among his pupils.

When disputes arose among neighbors, they were generally referred to him for settlement, and in open quarrels he was the peacemaker of his township. His judgment and advice were rarely appealed from, even when they involved rights of property. His services as a surveyor were in frequent requisition, and many of the deeds and wills executed in Chester County were prepared by him.

About the year 1780 he removed to Philadelphia, where he opened a classical school on Pine Street, below Second, which was largely attended. But he soon grew weary of city life, and returned to his ancestral home. He retained this property until 1795, when he sold it to the Yearly Meeting of Friends for the site of a boarding-school for the education and religious instruction of children of Friends. The cause of education was one in which he took a lively interest, and when the committee of the Yearly Meeting appointed to purchase a proper site for the school signified a preference for his property, he fixed in his own mind a price for it, which was much less than its actual value. His intention was to encourage the scheme by a donation, and he preferred to do it in that way. He imagined that the members of the committee would understand and appreciate his motives, in fixing the price of a parallelogram containing six hundred acres of land at the low rate of ten pounds per acre, Pennsylvania currency.

But in this he was disappointed. The chairman of the committee was an Englishman, living in Philadelphia, a sharp, loquacious, and successful "man of business," who never lost an opportunity for a display of his business acumen. When James named to the committee the price which he proposed to accept for his plantation, the chairman, after a brief silence, remarked that the committee had been viewing another property in the county which he thought would suit them quite as well, and perhaps a little better on some accounts, which could be obtained on more reasonable terms; "but," he added, "if thou wilt sell at nine pounds per acre, I would be willing to advise the committee to take thy land at that price." James was indignant. He quickly replied, "Why, friends, you deal like jockeys! If you are not content with my offer, our business is ended!" "Quite content! quite content!" the other members of the committee at once responded. They were as much mortified by the suggestion of their chairman as James was incensed by it. The deed was delivered on the 1st of April, 1795, but not until the committee had executed to him a covenant that the property should be used for the educational purposes for which he had sold it to the Yearly Meeting.

There is little in the daily life of an unostentatious Christian countryman that can furnish material of much interest to those who are not of his own family, and yet the influence of such men is the silent power which, more than any other instrumentality, elevates the character of the society in which they live.

No man of his time did more for his neighbors by the mere force of his excellent example than James Gibbons. Resolute, fearless, and self-sacrificing, no selfish considerations stood in his way if any good work called for the support of good men. One anecdote will illustrate his character in this respect. It was once the custom among the farmers of Chester County, while the work of the harvest was going on, to provide rum or spirits for the refreshment of the harvesters. The effect of this was bad in every respect; for every man and boy asserted his right to his ration of rum; and from this use of rum came profanity and quarrels, and habits of drinking that made drunkards. Mr. Gibbons determined to break loose from the custom, and announced that no rum should be used on his plantation. He had a large quantity of wheat to cut. In those days they used the sickle. He could find no reapers. No man would work for him without his customary rations of rum. All the wheat in the county had been gathered but that one field, in which Mr. Gibbons and his little boy were at work, making but a slight impression upon it. "What are you going to do with your wheat, friend Gibbons?" inquired a young farmer who was riding by. "Oh," he answered, "my son and I will gather what we can, and the fowls and birds will take care of the rest." The next day the neighboring farmers invaded his place with their teams and rakes and sickles, and the crop was saved. There was no difficulty after that in excluding rum from the harvest-fields of Chester County.

He was very well known among the people as a man of great learning. While the British army was yet in the county, after the battle of Brandywine, some officers were one day making themselves merry at a wayside inn where Mr. Gibbons frequently stopped, when passing, to water his team. They were criticising the ignorant country boors who were engaged in the rebellion against their king, and running the inn-keeper pretty severely, who happened at that moment to see Mr. Gibbons, at some distance, driving up the road. Turning to his guests with assumed indignation, he said, "I’ll wager twenty pounds that the first farmer who drives past this house can speak more languages than the whole kit and crew of you put together!" "A bet!" they cried, and the money was staked. Soon after, Mr. Gibbons stopped, as usual, and one of the party, saluting him in French, was civilly answered in the same tongue. Another, in very bad Spanish, asked him if he was a Frenchman, and he answered, in very good Spanish, that he was born in Chester County, and had never been in France. There was a pause in the conversation, and, putting their heads together, a quotation was aimed at him from one of the Satires of Horace, and they found, to their amazement, that this plain-looking farmer was a good Latin scholar. By this time the farmer perceived that he was on trial, and he put them completely to rout by a volley of Greek, which none of them could understand. The happy inn-keeper won his bet, and the Chester County farmer went his way, little suspecting that this odd trial of tongues had cost the enemy twenty pounds.

A well-educated officer in command of a foraging party from the British army entered the residence of Mr. Gibbons, and found him in his study. Saluting him rather familiarly, and looking at the shelves, well filled with books, he remarked, "You are a clergyman, I fancy?" "No, I am not," was the reply. "A doctor, perhaps?" "I am not a doctor." "Pray, then, what is your profession?" "I am a Chester County farmer."

The stranger meanwhile was thumbing over some of the books, and answered, "But these are not farmers’ books!" "What dost thou know about them?" Mr. Gibbons inquired. "Oh," replied the stranger, "they are old and familiar friends!" A long and very pleasant conversation ensued on the subject of education in England and America, and when the stranger rose to take his leave, he extended his hand and said, "This has been the most agreeable hour I have spent in your country. I did not expect to find classical scholars in the woods of America." The party retired from the farm leaving his property untouched. But it was thoroughly pillaged by others before the invaders left the county.

A British officer having met with Mr. Gibbons after the battle of Brandywine, and surprised at his linguistic knowledge, expressed the opinion, in a letter written home to England, that it would be in vain to prolong a struggle with men who, owning the soil, themselves drew from it by the labor of their own hands an independent subsistence, whilst they cultivated literary pursuits and classic tastes.

James died on his farm, in Birmingham township, on the 17th of October, 1823, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, surviving his wife about eighteen months, who died on the 30th of March, 1822, at the age of eighty-six years. They had twelve children,— six sons and as many daughters. Three of their sons survived their parents.
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Educator; sold land to Friends for Westtown school, 1795.2992