John Stevenson Gibson, born May 10, 1867, in Beloit, Wisconsin, was the first of the nine children of George and Isabelle Wheatly Gibson to be born in the U S after the family moved from England to Wisconsin about 1865. Two more brothers completed the family, Gowan born in 1870 and William in 1872. George Gibson purchased some land southeast of Oakdale, Nebraska. In 1877, the family moved to the new area.
The four boys attended school in Oakdale. John loved the farm and stayed on the farm taking care of his younger brother, William and his mother who died in1892. William died in 1891. John married Mattie Tousgaard on January 10,1894 in Oakdale at the home of her older sister, Mary Elliott. Mattie was the first child in the Tousgaard family born in America. The family had moved here from Denmark to Iowa in1870. Mattie was born October 4, 1874 in Newell, Iowa. At an early age she moved with her parents to a homestead in Antelope County.
John and Mattie were parents of two daughters, Vee and Barbara, born
on the farm. Mattie’s health was
frail in 1907 so John purchased a home in Oakdale. Both girls graduated from Oakdale High and then taught in the
rural schools of the county. Vee also
taught in Oakdale and then went on to teach in Stanton, Nebraska. She married James R Hicks in 1921 in
Oakdale. James died in May 1977. They had three daughters, Shirley, who
married William Minehart; Mary Luree; Barbara Ann married Paul W
Obermeyer. Mattie passed away in
1921. Daughter Barbara married Elwin
Fletcher Stevens in 1927. John
Stevenson Gibson died in February 1931 at the Hicks home in Stanton.
Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in July 2007