"I have another reference which states that Nicholas Gibson, at theage o f eight years (1773), was captured by Indians and held until hewas six teen years old; that during the time with the Indians,Nicholas' ears a nd nose were pierced. Eventually, Nicholas was soldto white settlers f or a barrel of whiskey." Mary Gibson Moore, pg. 5,Journal of Braxton C o. Historical Society. Date and issue no. notgiven.
(Maxwell's "History of Barbour County" states that the family wasc aptured in 1781 or 1782 and the Nicholas County Minute Bookestablishes t hat he was with white people in 1790 and subject to thejurisdiction of t hat court. The same Minute Book establishes his
birth date as May 8, 1777. Thus, Nicholas would have been 4 or five
years old when he was captured and assuming that the court actedfairly p romptly after he was returned, would have been in captivityabout eight y ears.)
"Nicholas served as a private in the Virginia Militia during theRe volutionary War, was granted and then denied a pension for hisservice. I h ave some `skimpy' records from the National Archivesregarding Nicholas G ibson's Revolutionary War pension and subsequent
denial. But it seems that during the process of reviewing Nicholas'pe nsion claim, in 1835, his papers were removed by a United StatesDistri ct Attorney and were never returned.
"I suspect that the probable reason Nicholas Gibson's pension wasd isallowed was because of disputed years of service. Many of the menfr om the `frontier' were formed into groups of local militia and weregiv en responsibilities for fighting the Indians and securing the
frontier forts. But many times, not being in the 'regular army, theyw ere not given credit for this service when determining such thingsas p ension eligibility, particularly when documentation of servicewas unav ailable. I do have a copy of a receipt dated November 231984, indicat ing repayment of fifteen dollars by Nicholas Gibson forthe pension pay ment he received and was later denied.
"Nicholas Gibson was commissioned a justice of the peace by thegov ernor of Virginia and along with Asa Squires, John Byrne, JohnClifton, L orenzo Camden, Peton Byrne, Marshall Triplet, AndrewSterrett, Henry Du ffield and William Givens, convened the firstcounty court in Braxton C ounty on April 26, 1836.
"Nicholas later moved from Braxton County to Richland County,Illin ois, where he died on June 5, 1858.....
"Elizabeth Robinson has Nicholas's birth state as "Old Dominion",o r VA. She also has his burial place as "Passport" Richland Co. IL.She c ites her references as Richland Co. (IL) Court Records; LolaJane Felle rs and Capitolia S. Henry.
Elizabeth says she has been told that Nicholas (herg.g.grandfather ) "was the publisher of the Plain DealerNewspaper...and that he also t urned his home into an `Ordinary' (atavern in
present day terminology)...I think it was named Lancaster Place." Sheh as him listed as a printer and politician."
Residences & events:
1837 IL
1844 Clay Co, IL
7/27/1850 Clay & Richland, Richland Co, IL. Listed in the censuswere N icholas Gipson, 80, and his wife Lydia, 75, both born in VA.He was a f armer but had no real estate. Next door was the family ofgranddaughte r Juliet and Oliver Rice (Oliver was probably brother ofdaughter-in-la w Dorcas Rice), followed by the Lough family wherePrudence Gipson, 8, l ived.
