NameSusanna ASHBRIDGE 2997
Spouses
Birth Date4 Nov 1737
Birth PlaceWesttown Township, Chester Co., PA, USA
Death Date30 Oct 1803 Age: 65
OccupationChester County Sheriff, Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts
FatherJames GIBBONS (1710-1745)
MotherJane SHEWARD (~1702-1798)
Misc. Notes
COL. WILLIAM GIBBONS, son of James and Jane (Sheward) Gibbons, was born in the township of West-town in 1737, and in 1761 married Susanna, daughter of George and Jane Ashbridge, of Goshen.

Settling at first in Philadelphia, he afterwards resided in Thornbury,— 1766 to 1769,— and then removed to West Nantmeal, where he and his brother Thomas had inherited 1200 acres of land from their father.

For a short time after the breaking out of the [Revoltionary] war he was located on the Susquehanna River, at or near the site of Harrisburg, but returned to Birmingham prior to 1783, in which year he was elected sheriff of Chester County as the successor to Col. John Gardner, his former neighbor in Nantmeal, giving Cols. John Hannum and Thomas Cheyney as his sureties. While he was in office the seat of justice in the county was removed from Chester to West Chester, and in September, 1786, it became his duty to remove the prisoners from the old jail at Chester to the new jail at the Turk’s Head, in Goshen.

In 1790, Col. Gibbons was a delegate from Chester County in the convention which framed the State constitution of that year. In 1791 he was appointed by Governor Mifflin to succeed Caleb Davis as prothonotary and clerk of the courts of Chester County, where he approved himself an excellent officer during a period of nine years.

He commanded a company of militia in the battle of Brandywine; was a brave and daring soldier, and rose to the rank of colonel. During the war he sold a valuable farm, and refused to accept in payment anything but Continental money, on the ground that it was the money of his country, and what was good enough for his country was good enough for him. The money depreciated and became worthless. The purchaser afterwards proposed to make good the loss, but the gallant colonel peremptorily refused the generous offer.

In 1794, when volunteers were called for to suppress the Whisky Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania, the old colonel, then in his fifty-seventh year, enlisted as a private in Capt. McClellan’s company of volunteer cavalry; went through the campaign, and at the close of it resumed his duties as prothonotary. He died on the 30th of October, 1803, aged about sixty-five years, leaving the character of a just, patriotic, and upright man.
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His patriotism will be well illustrated by the following letter to Col. John Gardner:

PAXTON, March 9, 1779.

FRIEND AND GOOD NEIGHBOR GARDNER,— There is that greedy, extorting disposition amongst us here, even of those who call them-selves Whigs, and some Tories and Jew Whigs, that grain is very hard to be purchased; some denying that they have any to spare, others say that it is promised; some will not sell unless for the rising price, until they call for their money. So that near home I cannot purchase grain for my family, and have not two weeks’ bread for my house. Therefore I request you to get my grain threshed for me and keep it, only what you may need for your own use. And pray do me the favor to request my good neighbors, John and Jared Irwin, to keep what appertains to me.

I have offered Col. Grenawalts and other men of distinction what commissions they would please to charge to buy grain for me. They say they can do nothing in that way unless I can furnish hard money, of which I have none. I intend soon going to Lebanon, and getting Col. Grenawalts along with me, to go through that neighborhood, and if possible to purchase what grain may suffice my family until harvest; and if I am so happy as to succeed, shall then be willing to sell what grain I have with you.

I do not expect my wheat yielded well, but hope I have a considerable quantity of rye, which is good enough for me, and, I suppose, for any man that sets a right value on his liberty, if the fortune of war gives that turn to our affairs. Sooner would I eat rye bread to my dying day than meanly surrender my liberty and sell posterity. With sincerity do I wish this may find you and all my former good neighbors in good health, and unanimous for the support of the American States.

I remain with sincere regard your friend,

William Gibbons
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Among the Gardner papers is a receipt signed by William Gibbons, Oct. 29, 1783, in the prison at Chester, for a number of prisoners therein named.
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Delegate to ratify Federal Constitution, 1787; member Pennsylvania Constitutional Conventionm, 1790; county prothonotary, 1791-1880.2996
Family ID4477
Marr Date17612997
Last Modified 29 Mar 2009Created 17 May 2017 Rick Gleason - ricksgenealogy@gmail.com