San
Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE H. GIBSON
A resident of Stockton for more than
forty years, during his busy life as one of the foremost interior and exterior
decorators here, George H. Gibson has still found time to take a
public-spirited interest in civic and educational affairs. A native son of the Golden State, he was born
at San Jose, February 5, 1868. His
father, Dr. William Gibson, a native of Pennsylvania, crossed the plains to
California in about 1851, coming on horseback with comrades. He was a graduate of William and Mary College
and of a medical school, receiving the M. D. degree. He practiced medicine at San Jose until the
breaking out of the Civil War, when he returned to his home in Hornsburg, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned a surgeon in
a Pennsylvania regiment. After the war
he was married at Chicago in 1867 to Lucy M. Blanchard, born in Boston,
Massachusetts, who was teaching music in Chicago at the time of her
marriage. He brought his bride via the
Isthmus of Panama to San Jose and there engaged in the practice of medicine
until he retired, passing away while on a visit at Santa Rosa. Mrs. Gibson survived him until 1917, when she
was fatally injured by a motorcycle at Alameda.
The eldest of five children, all
boys, George H. Gibson was only eight years old when his father died. He went to school in San Jose until he was
twelve years old, then came to Stockton to learn the painter’s trade with
Badger Bros., and later he was with James Kidd and then with Stoetzer & Bender.
In the early days he worked on the George Sperry home, the Bours residence, the old Odd Fellows Block, the Shippee Bank, the Hart & Thrift Grocery and many others
of the older buildings. About sixteen
years Mr. Gibson formed a partnership with Claude Stewart, this continuing
until Mr. Stewart died, then nine years ago he joined
forces with Julius Eichenberger, under the name of
Gibson & Eichenberger. This firm has done some of the best work in
Stockton, among which the following may be named: Smith & Lang Building, Yost & Dohrmann Building, St. Agnes Academy, the A. E. Gianelli residence, all the
beautiful mahogany finish, tapestry hangings, etc., in the Wong Jew home, one
of the finest residences here. In Tracy
they decorated the new Odd Fellows Building and the Bank of Tracy.
Mr. Gibson’s marriage united him
with Miss Mary Polfer, a native of Kansas, and they
have four sons. Howard A. and Clair A.
are assisting their father in business, while Louis S. and George B. are
attending the Stockton high school.
Howard was in Company H, 12th U. S. Infantry, for fourteen
months during the World War and Clair was in the aviation section of the U. S.
Army, for twenty-three months, being stationed in Texas. The family makes their home on a ten-acre
chicken ranch near French Camp and Mrs. Gibson has shown much ability in its
management, having an average of 500 laying hens. A lifelong Democrat, Mr. Gibson has been a
member of the Democratic County Central Committee, serving as its chairman for
one year. He was elected a member of the
Stockton Board of Education in 1914, and served on this board until 1918. It was during his term in office that many of
the new school buildings were erected:
the El Dorado, the Lottie Grunsky, the
Hazelton and the new Weber School. In
early days Mr. Gibson was a member of the old Stockton Guard, which late became
a unit of the California National Guard, as Company A, Sixth Regiment, under
Captain Eugene Lehe.
In 1894 this company was called to Dunsmuir, California, to quell a
strike riot of the railroad men. Mr.
Gibson is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Red Men, having occupied
all the chairs of the latter order.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1556. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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