Obit: Gibson, Joseph (1848 - 1909)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: GIBSON SPERBECK KENNEDY

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner 3/25/1909

JOE GIBSON DEAD

All that was mortal of Joesph Gibson, one of the most respected citizens of Clark County was borne from his house in Longwood on the 12:55 train from Withee to Medford March 21st, 1909, where the funeral services were held at the home of his son, he was laid to rest in the Medford Cemetery. Rev. Norton offered prayer and made a few fitting and touching remarks before the departure from the old home.

Joseph Gibson was born in Kingsey , Quebec, Canada April 30, 1848, son of Alexander and Margaret Gibson. When the subject of this sketch was but ten years old he left his home in Canada and came to this country. He arrived in La Crosse and four years lived with a family and during that time received fifty cents the only money he had ever received in this country. He then secured work in a sawmill but in a very short time began work in the woods in winter and driving logs in summer. His ability and sterling qualities were soon recognized for at the age of nineteen he was foreman in camp for Bright and Withee. In 1871 he came to Clark County and began for himself when this was a wilderness. He secured a large tract of land and in a few years had one of the most beautiful homes in Clark County. He was very successful as a logger, for many years in Wisconsin, and for the last five years in Minnesota, where he had just finished a large contract.

Mr. Gibson was modest and unassuming, but the deeds of kindness and the substantial aid given to the numberless applicants who applied to him none but the Recording Angel knows. When the Greenwood State Bank was organized in the fall of 1891 he was chosen president and held the position until his logging operations called him so far away that he could not attend to it. He was also the first president of the First National Bank of Medford, Wis.

When the war of the Rebellion broke out, although but a boy of fifteen, he enlisted and was in the siege of Savannah and with Sherman in his march to the sea.

Mr. Gibson died of apoplexy brought on no doubt from over work in unloading and bringing to the farm and stabling car load of horses he had brought to pasture through the summer. He had remarked to a friend on Friday morning that he had felt fine all winter and was seemingly well at 10 o'clock p.m. when the man who assisted him in his day's work left him at his own door and when at 7 a.m. he was called to his breakfast he was found dead in his bed.

On July 8, 1869 Mr. Gibson was married in La Crosse to Matilda Catharine Sperbeck.

The widow and their two children survive him, Lee W. of Medford and Blanche E., wife of C. T. Kennedy of Grand Rapids, Minn. The wife and daughter were both sick and under care of a nurse at the time which makes it doubly sad. Deceased also leaves two brothers and three sisters and a host of friends to mourn their loss.