Henry Gibson
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Abt 1797 Christening: Death: Burial: Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Elizabeth Ann Johnson (20 Jan 1820 - 15 Jan 1913) 1 Marriage: 21 Oct 1851 - Wayne Co., Kentucky 2 Children: 1. Flemming C. Gibson (Abt 1853- ) 2. Archibald Gibson (Abt 1855- ) 3. John M. Gibson (Abt 1857- ) 4. Samuel Gibson (Abt 1861- ) 5. Johnson Gibson (Abt 1864- )
Notes
General:
CENSUS:
<pre>1860 Pulaski Co., Kentucky, District No. 2, p.o. Somerset; Aug 17; pg 63
449/439
Henry Gibson 65 MW Va $150/$200 Farmer
Elisabeth " 40 FW Ky
Pleasant " 17 MW Ky
Elisabeth " 12 FW Ky
Mary " 10 FW Ky
Fleming " 8 MW Ky
Archibald " 6 MW Ky
John " 4 MW Ky </pre>
He is not in the Slave Schedule. Pleasant and Mary are Elisabeth's children by her first marriage, and their surname is Johnson. Elisabeth, age 12, might be Henry's child by a previous marriage.
There is a Henry Gibson in Wayne Co. in 1840 and 1850. He is not this Henry Gibson; in 1860 he is 54 years old and still in Wayne Co.
<pre>1870 Pulaski Co., Kentucky, Mt. Gilied District, p.o. Adams Mills; June 15; pg 16
105/105
Henry Gibson 71 MW Tn $300/$302 Farmer
Elizabeth A. " 49 FW Ky Keeping house
Polly J. Garland 20 FW Ky House Keeping
Esom E. Bolen 18 FW Ky Housework
Flemming C. Gibson 16 MW Ky Labors on farm
Archabald " 14 MW Ky Labors on farm
John M. " 12 MW Ky Labors on farm
Samuel " 9 MW Ky At home
Johnson " 6 MW Ky At home
Mary A. Garland 2 FW Ky </pre>
<pre>1880 Jackson Co., Tennessee, Civil Dist. No. 1, ED 54; June 19; pg 35
310/317
Jno. M. Gipson 22 M Ky Va Ky Farm laborer
Julia F. " 17 wife M Tn Tn Tn Keeping house
Elysabeth " 60 mother Wd Ky Ky Ky At home
Johnson " 16 brother S Ky Va Ky Farm laborer </pre>
In 1900 A. Betsey Gibson (80, Jan 1820, Wd, Ky Ky Ky) is living in Marion Co., Arkansas in the household of her son Johnson Gibson (36, Nov 1863, M12, Ky NC Ky, farmer).
In 1910 Elisabeth Gibson (90, Wd/8/5, Ky Ky Ky) is living in Marion Co., Arkansas in the household of her son John Gibson (56, M1/32, Ky Va Ky, farming).
CLARIFICATION:
The following comments are from an e-mail (12 Oct 2007) sent to me by Karen M. Raichle. The first comment is about Elizabeth, age 12, in the 1860 census. The second concerns the 1870 census.
1860:
Elizabeth is a bit of a problem for me. I don't really know for certain who she was. I haven't been able to find any birth information on her. She may have been a child of Henry and Elizabeth, but I tend to believe that she was more likely the daughter of Henry and his second wife. She could also have been a grandchild or other orphaned relative as Henry had a tendency to take in other family members. I don't really think that she was a child of Elizabeth and Esom Bolen, though I suppose that is possible as well. Not knowing her actual date of birth, it is hard to determine exactly who she was.
Elizabeth's Gibson grandchildren thought that maybe there was a sister called Lizzie, but aren't really sure. Her Johnson grandchildren only knew about the sister named Polly. Each family tells a story about a sister who killed her husband and then committed suicide.
The Gibson grandchildren tell this story with the sister's name as Lizzie. The Johnson grandchildren's story has the sister's name as Polly. Both said she was a half sister to the Gibson boys. I'll cover the story with what I have uncovered from actual court and newspaper records later.
1870:
Mary Jane Johnson married William E Garland in Pulaski Co., KY on 12 Dec 1866. The marriage record shows her name as Polly Jane Bolin. Polly used both Bolin and Gibson as her surname over the years, depending on who her mother was married to at the time. The Johnson grandchildren knew her only as Polly Gibson.
I do believe that this Esom E Bolen listed in Henry's household was incorrectly recorded as a female and the age was also recorded wrong. I firmly believe that this is the man Polly took up housekeeping with and later killed.
The story of Mary Jane Johnson is a little complicated so bear with me. After the death of her husband, Mary Jane returned to her step-father's home bringing her young daughter with her. "Polly" took up with Esom Bolen shortly after she moved back to Henry's home. Sometime later, Polly and Esom ran away taking her young daughter with them. I don't know if they were ever married. I haven't been able to locate a record of the marriage, but don't really know which state to search. Considering the reputation of Esom Bolen, her elopement would have created quite a scandal in the family. The family never had much to do with her afterwards and only talked about her in whispers if at all.
I don't know who this Esom E Bolen's parents were. He had previously been living with, but probably not married to, Martha "Patsy" Bolen and had a son with her. This Martha Bolen was the youngest daughter of the elder Esom Bolen who was Elizabeth Johnson's second husband. Esom and Martha Bolen had a son named James prior to the time he took up with Polly. After the "elopement", the next time Esom and Polly show up is the 1880 census of Webster Co., MO. They are listed as married and in their home along with Mary Ann Garland is also James Bolen (son of Esom and Martha). Esom and Polly also had two sons of their own by this time, William and Thomas E "Teet" Bolen.
[The census entry follows:
<pre>1880 Webster Co., Missouri, Dallas Township, ED 136; June 18; pg 41
305/307
E. Bolen 40 MW Sng Ky Ky Ky Farmer
Mary J. " 30 FW wife Mar Ky Ky Ky Keeping house
James R. " 15 MW son Sng Ky Ky Ky Laborer
Mary A. " 9 FW dau Sng Ky Ky Ky
William I. " 7 MW dau Sng Ky Ky Ky
Thomas E. " 6 MW son Sng Ky Ky Ky </pre>
In the case of Thomas 'son' is written over 'daughter'. The census taker evidently forgot to do the same for William. Note that only Mary J. is said to be married.]
By 1881, Esom and Polly were living in Rogers, Benton Co., AR. In addition to Mary Ann, William, and Thomas E, they also had a baby daughter named Jenny. The elder son, James Bolen, had run away from home a few months before this and gone to Colorado not to be heard from until many years later.
The story goes that on Christmas Eve Polly shot Esom in the back of the head with a rifle while he was sitting at the dinner table. I don't know how the law was summoned, but twelve men were summoned to the house to act as a coroner's jury. They found Esom slumped over, face down in his plate. Amazingly enough, the bullet had not exited his forehead but had protruded far enough to create a lump on his forehead. They found that he had died from the bullet wound and that Polly had shot him.
She was arrested, of course, and taken to the county jail in Bentonville. She was allowed to take her baby daughter Jenny with her, Jenny being only about three months old. The remaining children, Mary, William ,and Teet, were put into the custody of neighbors until a court could decide what to do with them
Polly wasn't treated as some awful monster, in fact, one gets the sense from reading all the documents that people had great sympathy for her. Certainly Esom did not have a good reputation. Among other things, he was a womanizer and was rumored to be running with the James gang. Still, she almost certainly would have been hanged for her crime.
She died two days after Christmas. The only other prisoner in the jail was a prostitute. The deputy, apparently not overly concerned with either prisoner, had allowed both jail cells to be open. The prostitute was sweeping out the jail, and Polly was working on some sewing. She had asked the deputy for a knife to rip out seams in some clothing that she had been allowed to have in her cell. He gave her a pen knife.
According to the deputy's affidavit, he gave her the knife about 2:00 in the afternoon. He had periodically checked on her and always found her working steadily on the clothing. About 4:00, some visitors arrived at the jail, wanting to see the woman who had shot her husband. When the deputy went back to Polly's cell to presumably call her out, he found that she had cut her throat with the pen knife. She was already dead, had slumped over on her baby, and the baby had almost choked to death from the blood.
A Bolen relative eventually came from Kentucky and collected the four children and took them back. All we know is that they went to Clay Co.
This story was told in both the Gibson and Johnson families. The only difference is that the Gibson group thought her name was Lizzie. Mary J Bolen's will was probated in Benton Co., AR in 1882. Ava Smith called the Benton Co. courthouse several years ago and had the file copied and sent to her. It included the coroner's report and many affadavits from people in the jail. When Ava tried to get more information from the courthouse last year she was told that they could no longer find this file.
I did finally find an article published in the Joplin News Herald of Dec 29, 1881 (Jasper Co., MO)
"Mrs. Esom Bolin who killed her husband on the night of the 23rd at Rogers, Ark., was placed in jail at Bentonville, on the 26th. On a pretext of making some clothes for her little child, she borrowed the jailor's knife, a common Barlow. With this she cut her own throat severing the jugular vein causing almost instant death."
I also tried newpapers in the Rogers and Bentonville area but was unable to find anything about the case.
William, Thomas, and Jenny Bolen were in Whitley Co., KY in the 1900 census, but I didn't try to follow them much after that. James R Bolen was in Jefferson Co., CO in 1910 and eventually made his way to Indiana where his mother Martha Bolen had moved after her marriage to Daniel Hollers.
Martha married Daniel Hollers around the time Esom and Mary Jane left for MO. Perhaps the new husband didn't want James around and he was sent to live with his father. It is also possible that Esom and Mary Jane just came and got him when they left the state. At any rate, James did not get along well with his father. He had no problems with his step mother, but left home because of difficulties between him and Esom.
Apparently he kept in touch with his mother over the years, because he knew exactly where she was. After the death of James R. Bolen's step father, James moved his family to Monroe Co., Indiana around 1912 to be near his mother. Unfortunately James didn't live much longer and died around 1915. It wasn't until long after his death that his younger half brothers learned what had happened to him and connected with some of his children and grandchildren. The fact that James didn't go to be near his mother until after the death of his step father leads one to think he might have been sent to live with Esom and Mary Jane when they left KY because of the new husband (Daniel Hollers).
1 Personal Communication -- Karen M. Raichle, 2007.
2
June Baldwin Bork, "Wayne Co., Ky. Marriages & Vital Records 1801--1860," Vol 1, pg 115. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.
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