Millennium Project
Dave Gibbs - Resident in USA provided this information in May 2011
"I don’t know why we left Deddington, but it was at a time that was hard on farmers. My GG grandfather Henry and grandmother were living with his parents, Henry and Sophia (Wayne – like Shania Twain, from Tadmartin. He came over around 1870, with his brother William. They eventually settled in SW Missouri south of Ozark, where a number of other English families settled. William eventually moved west, but we have lost contact. My GG grandmother Emma (Draper) Gibbs (who was from Barford. She was a hat maker in Oxford when she married Henry. They married at St. Peter and Paul’s in Jericho Oxford, which is now Freud’s.) brought their 5 children over in 1871. Only my G grandfather and his sister, Catherine, which was also the name of William and Henry’s sister (the father and brother who came over), who stayed back in Deddington. Catherine, the daughter, married and her family eventually moved to Washington state, but we have lost contact.
My dad’s generation moved all over the country, mostly to California and dad to Indiana. Of my family name, my brother’s, nephew, and I are the last of this family line. We were Methodists in Deddington and became Baptists in America. William Henry, married a teacher from Illinois, she was one of the first women who went to Southern Ill Uni, and he was a bookseller. His son, John, was a farmer. And, his son, my dad, fought in WWII with Gen. Patton, made it through the battle of the bulge, help liberate Dachau and take it east to the Russians. He came home got into journalism started a family and went from a radio reporter, to a TV writer, to a TV executive in Chicago. I’m a late last child of four."
Jon Malings (a DOL history sub-editor at the time) said
"The father/grandfather of the unnamed Gibbs were living in Philcote Street in 1841, probably in the cottage below Calder Cottage. In 1851 they were possibly living in part of the Old House.
In 1871 Grandfather Henry Gibbs was living in the first house on the North East corner of Chapel Sq. 116 or 117 on the 1808 map I would guess though I don't know where Market Place ends and Chapel Sq. starts (and was it the same place in 1871?)
Lastly, the unnamed Gibbs wasn't christened until May 15 1864 despite being born late 1860/early 61. His parents christened William Henry and Henry William Gibbs on the same day."
Research by Janet Booth
In June 2015 Janet provided Dave Gibbs with the results of some research she had carried out into his roots. It is published in full below. Her research acknowledges the use of Parish Register Transcription CDs and Oxfordshire Marriage Index records courtesy of The Oxfordshire Family History Society.
"Going backwards from Zachariah GIBBS at Deddington
| 17 December 1770 |
Zachary GIBBS & Amy GAYDON |
| 10 December 1742 | Mary daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised, buried 18 December 1742 |
| 8 January 1743/44 | Zachariah son of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised |
| 9 August 1745 | John son of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised |
| 19 May 1747 | Mary daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised |
| 30 November 1749 | Amy daughter of Richard & Jane GIBS baptised |
| 22 December 1751 | Ann daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised |
| 21 December 1753 | Jane daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised |
| 10 March 1756 |
Phoebe daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBS baptised, buried 15 March 1756 |
It looks as if Jane GIBBS may have died as a result of childbirth because there is a burial for a Jane GIBBS on 13 March 1756. Burial for a Richard GIBBS on 21 July 1790. There is no marriage on the Oxfordshire Marriage Index for a Richard GIBBS (or variants) to a Jane.
| 15 November 1719 | Zachariah son of Richard & Mary GIBBS baptised |
| 10 June 1722 | Richard son of Richard & Mary GIBBS baptised |
| 28 February 1724/25 | Susannah daughter of Richard & Mary GIBBS baptised |
Burial on 29 April 1734 of Mary GIBBS, wife of Richard and one on 29 April 1746 for Richard GIBBS.
| 10 September 1682 | Richard son of Richard & Mary GIBS baptised |
| 17 September 1684 |
Ann daughter of Richard & Mary GIBS baptised, buried 23 September 1684, |
| daughter of Richard GIBBS | |
| 18 July 1686 |
Ann daughter of Richard & Mary GIBBS baptised |
| 15 December 1689 | William son of Richard & Mary GIBS baptised |
| 29 September 1695 | Elizabeth daughter of Richard & Mary GIBS baptised |
| 13 March 1697/98 |
Mary daughter of Richard & Mary GIBS baptised |
| 8 June 1701 | Alice daughter of Richard & Mary GIBS baptised |
Burial 23 May 1693 of Mary wife of Richard GIBBS, so did Richard marry again? Also a burial on 18 June 1700 of Jane wife of Richard GIBS. So is she another wife of Richard above or the wife of Richard below and in that case the Richard & Jone GIBBS below are distinct from the Richard & Jane GIBBS parents of Richard baptised 1657! Burial 9 January 1703/04 of a Richard GIBS. Burial 17 January 1707/08 of another Richard GIBS. This would make it likely that there were 2 distinct Richard GIBBs having children in Deddington between 1633 and 1660, one married to a Joan and the other to a Jane and that Richard & Jane were the parents of Richard GIBBS baptised in 1657.
| 28 April 1633 |
Thomas son of Richard GIBBS baptised |
| 25 March 1638 | John son of Richard GIBBS baptised, buried 1 January 1644/45, son of Richard & Jone |
| GIBS, a child | |
| 29 March 1640 | Mary daughter of Richard & Jone GIBBS baptised |
| 12 December 1642 |
Thomas son of Richard & Jone GIBBS baptised |
| 28 April 1644 | William son of Richard GIBS baptised, buried 25 Dec 1644 infant son of Richard |
| GIBS the younger | |
| 24 August 1645 | John son of Richard & Jane GIBS baptised |
| 8 February 1645/46 | Jane daughter of Richard & ? GIBS baptised, buried 12 May 1650 daughter of Richard |
| 29 July 1649 | William son of Richard & Jane GIBBES baptised |
| born 3 April 1652 | Ann daughter of Richard & Jane GIBES |
| 14 December 1654 | Jane daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBES baptised |
| 28 November 1657 | Richard son of Richard & Jane GIBBES baptised |
| 15 November 1660 | Elizabeth daughter of Richard & Jane GIBBES baptised |
Burial on 15 September 1663 of Richard GIBBS, a poor lab(ourer), followed by one in March 1674/75 of Joane GIBBS, a widow.
Deddington PR Transcripts only start in 1631, so I cannot go any further back for you, but the earliest GIBBS burial is one on 16 August 1633 for an Anne wife of Richard GIBBS.
..... from this information it would seem likely that your Zachariah’s ancestors did originate from Deddington. There is a baptism for a Richard son of John GIBBES at Hook Norton on 4 October 1640 but that is obviously too late to be the Richard GIBBS who is married to a Jane and having children in Deddington from at least 1645."