The Gibson Family

Significant Scots Sir Alexander Gibson -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GIBSON, (SIR) ALEXANDER, lord Durie, an eminent lawyer and judge, was the son of George Gibson of Goldingstones, one of the clerks of session. The period of his birth we have been unable to discover; but as we find him admitted a clerk of session in 1594, we may conclude that he was born considerably more than twenty years previous to that period. It appears that the appointment of Gibson to this duty created a new clerkship, and as the addition in number would reduce the arbitrary sources of emolument of the other two clerks, it was naturally apprehended that the interloper would be received with the usual jealousy of those whose interests are unduly interfered with. King James the sixth, who had generally some deep and mysteriously wise purpose in all he did, chose to be personally present at the appointment of his nominee, in order that the royal choice might meet with no marks of contempt. The mindful sovereign was on this occasion pleased to be so highly delighted with the disinterested conduct of his obedient clerks, who had so willingly received a partner "at his Highness’s wish and special desire," that he promised in presence of the court, to remunerate them with "ane sufficient casualty for said consents." The chamber in the Register house instituted by this appointment still retains the denomination of "Durie’s Office." At that period the duties of a principal clerk of session were of a more politically important nature than they have been since the union: these officers had to register the decrees and acts of parliament, in addition to their present duties. The only remnant of their former occupations, is their acting as clerks at the elections of the Scottish representative peers. Gibson continued in his clerkship for all the remainder of his life, notwithstanding the higher offices to which he was afterwards promoted. In 1621, he was appointed a lord of session, and as the duties of judge and clerk were rather anomalous, we find by the books of sederunt, that the prudent clerk had procured in the previous month his son to be installed in the office. Mr Alexander Gibson, junior, being appointed conjunct clerk with Mr Alexander Gibson, senior, during the life of the longest liver, the senior, it may be presumed, continued to draw the salary, without being much troubled with the duties. Seven years after his appointment to the bench, we find him accepting a baronetcy of Nova Scotia, with a grant of some few square miles of land in that district. In 1633, he was appointed a member of one of the committees for the revision of the laws and customs of the country. In 1640, he appears to have been elected a member of the committee of estates, and his appointment as judge was continued under a new commission to the court in 1641. From the period of his elevation to the bench in 1621, till the year 1642, this laborious lawyer preserved notes of such decisions of the court as he considered worthy of being recorded as precedents, a task for which a previously extensive practice had fitted him. These were published by his son in one volume folio, in 1688, and are valuable as the earliest digested collection of decisions in Scottish law. Their chief peculiarities are their brevity, and, what would not appear at first sight a natural consequence, their obscurity. But Gibson produced by a too niggardly supply, the effect which is frequently attributed to a too great multitude of words. He appears, however, to have always known his own meaning; and when, with a little consideration, his raciones decidendi are discovered, they are found to be soundly stated. The clamours which other judges of the day caused to be raised against their dishonesty and cupidity, were not applied to Durie. He seems, indeed, as far as the habits of the times could allow the virtue to exist, except in an absolutely pure being, to have been a just and fearless judge, for in a period of general legal rapine and pusillanimity, the possession of a very moderate share of honesty and firmness in the judgment seat, made their proprietor worthy of a nation’s honour. If the affirmation of a professional brother may be credited, Durie possessed, according to the opinion of Forbes, a later collector of decisions, most of the intellectual and moral qualities which can dignify the bench. It is a proof of the respect in which his brethren held him, that while the office continued elective in the senators of the college, he was repeatedly chosen as president. At that period, the legal practice of Scotland appeared to have improved for the mere purpose of substituting sophism and injustice under form, for rude equity; it was a handle to be made use of, rather; than a rule to be applied. The crown had recourse to legal fictions, and unjust and arbitrary presumptions, in its dealings with the subject. The subject, instead of calling for a recourse to constitutional principles, sometimes rose against the administration of the law, just or unjust. With private parties, the more powerful got the command of the law, and used it against the weaker. A striking instance of contempt towards the laws, which took place during one of the presidencies of Gibson of Durie is mentioned in Douglas’s Baronage, and Forbes’s Journal, and is more fully and pleasingly narrated in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The earl of Traquair had an action depending in court, in which it was understood the president would, by his influence, cause the court to give judgment against him. A border freebooter, or gentleman thief, known by the name of Christie’s Will, owed to the peer some gratitude and allegiance, having gained his protection by an insolent jest on the subject of his having been imprisoned for theft. This person being a gentleman both by descent and education, insinuated himself into the president’s company during his usual morning ride on the sands of Leith. On the two reaching a very lonely spot, the judge was snatched from his horse, rolled into a blanket, and carried off he knew not where. He was imprisoned three months, during which time his friends and himself considered that he was in fairy-land. The case was decided in favour of Traquair, and a new president appointed, when the judge one morning found himself laid down in the exact spot from which he had been so suddenly carried off, and returned to claim his privileges. This useful man died at his house of Durie on the 10th of June, 1644. He left behind him a son of his own name, who was active among the other persons of high rank, who came forward to protect their national church from the imposition of a foreign liturgy. He is known as having boldly resisted one of king Charles the first’s prorogations, by refusing the performance of the duty of clerk of parliament, already alluded to. He appears, however, not to have always given satisfaction to the cause he had so well espoused, as he is more than once mentioned in Lamont’s Diary as a malignant. He was raised to the bench in 1646. Besides this son, the wealth of the father allowed him to provide a junior branch of the family with the estate of Adistone in Lothian. -- Electric Scotland

The Scottish Nation --
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-- Gibson plate, title page, Gibson p.1, Gibson p.2, Gibson p.3)

GIBSON, a surname common to both Scotland and England, evidently having its root in the baptismal name of Gilbert, among the son-names, nurse-names, and diminutives of which are Gib, Gibbs, Gibbie, Gebbie, Gibson, Gibbons, and similar appellations. [Lower’s Essays on English Surnames, vol. I. P. 168.] The name of Gibson is of great antiquity in Scotland, and no less than five families of this surname, branches of the same stock, have been raised to the dignity of baronet.

The progenitors of the Gibsons of Durie, in Fife, were free barons of that county and Mid Lothian before the fourteenth century. Their immediate ancestor was Thomas Gibson, who lived in the reign of King James the Fourth, and is particularly mentioned, with several other barons of the county of Fife, in a charter by Sir John Moubry, of Barnbougle, knight, in favour of his son, William de Moubry, in 1511. He left two sons, George his heir, and William, successively vicar of Garvock, rector of Inverarity, and dean of Restalrig. By James the Fifth the latter was appointed one of the lords of session, at the institution of the college of justice in 1532, and by that monarch he was frequently employed in embassies to the Pope, who honoured him with the armorial bearing of three keys, as being a churchman, with the motto Caelestes pandite portae, and as a reward for his writings on behalf of the church, he obtained the title of Custos Ecclesiae Scotiae. [Douglas’ Baronage, p. 568.] In 1549, Cardinal Bethune conjoined the dean of Restalrig with himself as his suffragan, that he might have the more leisure to attend to the affairs of state. He was to retain the benefices which he already held, and to receive, from the cardinal and his successors, a pension of £200, during his life.

George, the elder son, had a son, also named George, who succeeded him. The son of the latter, George Gibson of Goldingstones, was a clerk of session, and died about 1590. By his wife, Mary, a daughter of the ancient family of Airth of that ilk, in Stirlingshire, he had two sons, Sir Alexander Gibson, Lord Durie, the celebrated judge, first baronet of the family (1628), of whom a memoir is subjoined; and Archibald, who was bred to the church, and obtained a charter, under the great seal, of several lands near Glasgow, dated 22d May, 1599. Sir Alexander, Lord Durie, purchased the lands of that name, anciently belonging to the family of Durie of that ilk, and had a charter of the same in 1614. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, lord advocate of Scotland, and, with 3 daughters, had 3 sons, Alexander, 2d baronet, Sir John Gibson of Pentland, who carried on the line of the family, and George, of Balhouffie.

The eldest son, Sir Alexander Gibson, younger of Durie, was appointed one of the clerks of session on 25th July 1632, and as such was one of the clerks of parliament. On the attempt of Charles I. To impose the service book on the people of Scotland, he protested, with others, at the market cross of Edinburgh against the royal proclamations, on 8th July and 22d September 1638. He was also one of those who presented the petition against the bishops to the presbytery of Edinburgh and the General Assembly, in November of that year. As clerk of parliament he refused to read the royal warrant for the prorogation of parliament from 14th Nov. 1639 to 2d June 1640. In the latter year he was appointed commissary-general of the forces raised to resist King Charles I. On 13th November 1641, he was nominated lord clerk register by the king, who, on the 15th of the previous March, had conferred on him the honour of knighthood. He was also appointed one of the commissioners for the plantation of kirks. On 1sat February 1645, he was named one of the commissioners of exchequer, and on 8th March following, a supernumerary member of the committee of estates; as also of the committees of a similar nature appointed in 1646, 1647, and 1648. On 2d July 1646, he was admitted a lord of session, on the favourable report of that court to the king. Having joined “the ‘Engagement,” he was deprived of his offices by the act of classes, on 13th February, 1649, and in the following year, as an entry, in Lamont’s Diary states, “both Durie and his ladie was debarred from the table because of their malignancie.” In August 1652, he was one of the commissioners chosen for Scotland to attend the parliament of England; and he again went to England in January 1654. He died in June 1656.

His son, Sir John Gibson of Durie, 3d baronet, sat in the first Scots parliament of Charles II. In 1660. His only son, Sir Alexander Gibson of Durie, having died without issue, n him ended the male line of the eldest son of the 5th baron, Sir Alexander, Lord Durie, the eminent judge, and the title and estates devolved upon the grandson of Sir John Gibson of Pentland, his lordship’s 2d son. A steady loyalist, Sir John Gibson of Pentland attended Charles I. In all his vicissitudes of fortune, and in 1651 accompanied King Charles II. To the unfortunate battle of Worcester, where he lost a leg, and for his gallant behaviour was knighted by the king. He had, with 2 daughters, 3 sons: 1. Sir Alexander Gibson of Pentland and Adiston, one of the principal clerks of session, and clerk to the privy council of Scotland; 2. Sir John Gibson, Bart., colonel of a regiment of foot, and governor of Portsmouth; 3. Sir Thomas Gibson of Keirhill, created a baronet in 1702.

The eldest son, Sir Alexander Gibson, with five daughters, had four sons, namely, Sir John, who succeeded Alexander, progenitor of the present family; Thomas Gibson of Cliftonhall; and James, a lieutenant-general in the service of the queen of Hungary.

Sir Alexander’s eldest son, Sir John, 5th baronet, m. Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis Craig of Riccarton, and had, with two daughters, two sons; Sir Alexander, 6th baronet, and John, merchant, London. Sir Alexander, the elder, leaving no male issue, was succeeded by his nephew, Sir John, 7th baronet, son of John Gibson of London. He also dying without male issue, was succeeded by his brother Sir Robert, 8th baronet. At Sir Robert’s death in America, without issue, the title reverted to the descendant of Alexander Gibson, of Durie, 2d son of Sir Alexander Gibson, clerk of the privy council, above mentioned. This gentleman, Alexander Gibson, one of the principal clerks of session, obtained from his father, the lands of Durie in 1699. His eldest son, John Gibson of Durie, married Helen, 2d daughter of Hon. William Carmichael of Skirling, (son of John, 1st earl of Hyndford, and father of 4th earl,) by his first wife, Helen, only child of Thomas Craig of Riccarton, and had, by her, with 3 daughters, 5 sons, viz., Alexander; William, merchant, Edinburgh, father of James Gibson, W.S., created a baronet in 1831, and on succeeding to the estate of Riccarton, Mid Lothian, assumed the additional name of Craig (see CRAIG, Sir James Gibson); Thomas, lieutenant- colonel 83d regiment; and two who died young. John Gibson of Durie, the father, sold the estate of Durie to the ancestor of Mr. Maitland Christie, the present proprietor. His eldest son, Alexander, had two sons, John and Thomas.

Sir John, the elder, succeeded Sir Robert as 9th baronet, and assumed the name and title of Gibson Carmichael of Skirling, on inheriting the estates, as heir of entail, of the 4th earl of Hyndford, his grand-uncle. Having only a daughter, he was succeeded in 1803 by his brother, Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael of Skirling, 10th baronet of the Gibson family. By his wife, a daughter of General Dundas of Fingask, Sir Thomas had 7 children. The eldest, Alexander, born at the family seat, Castle-Craig, Peebles-shire, June 6, 1812, succeeded his father in 1849. Educated first at Harrow, and subsequently at Cambridge, immediately after leaving the university, he entered upon public life. At the election of 1837 he contested the county of Peebles, but was defeated by a small majority. He subsequently became private secretary to the Hon. Fox Maule, wh in 1852 succeeded his father as 2d Lord Panmure. Sir Alexander Gibson Carmichael died 1st May 1850. He was remarkable for his piety, and a brief memoir of him is inserted in the volume of the Christian Treasury for 1850, p. 376. He was succeeded by his brother, Sir Thomas, 12th baronet, who died Dec. 30, 1855, when his next brother, Rev. Sir William Henry, born Oct. 9, 1807, became 13th baronet. The latter married, in 1858, Eleonora-Ann, daughter of David Anderson, Esq. of St. Germains.

The Scottish Nation. Gibson. Gibson, a surname common to both Scotland and England, efidently having its root in the patismal name of Gilbert, among the son-names, nurse-names, and simunutibves of which are Gib, Gibbs, Gibbie, Gebbie, Gibson, Gibbons, and similar appellations. [Lower's Essays on English Surnames, vol. i. p.168{ The name of Gibvson is of great antiquity in Scotland, and no less than five families of this surname, branches of the same stock, have been raised to the dignity of baronet. The progenitors of the Gibsons of Durie, in Fife, were free barons of that county and Mid Lothian before the fourteenth century. Their immediate ancestor was Thomas Bifson who lived in the rign of King James the Fouth, and is particularly mentioend, with several other barons of the county of fife, in a charter by Sir John Houbry, of Barnbougle, knight, in favour of his son, William de Moubry, in 1511. He left two sons, George his heir, and William, successively vicar of Carvock, recotor of Inverarity, and dean of Restalrig. By James the Fifth the latter was appointed one of the lords of session, at the institution of the college of justice in 1532, and by that monarch he was frequently employed in embassies to the Pope, who honoured him with the armorial bearing of three keys, as being a churchman, with the motto "Coelestes pandite portae," and as a reward for his writings on behalf of the chruch, he obtained the title of "?Custos Ecclesiae Scotiae" [Douglas' Baronage, p.568]. In 1540, Cardinal Bethune conjoined the dean of Restalrig with himself as his suffrafan, that he might have the more leisure to attend tot he affairs of state. He was to reain the benefices which he already held, and to receive, from the cardinal and his successors, a pension of L200, during his live. George, the elder son, had a son, also namesd George, who succeeded him. The son of the latter, George Gibson of Goldingstones, was a clerk of session, and died about 1590. By his wife Mary, a daughter of the ancient family of Airth of that ilk, in Stirlingshire, he had two sons, Sir alexander Gibson, Lord Durie, the celebrated judge, first baronet of the famiy (1628), of whom a memoir is subjoined; and Archibald, who was bred to the church, and obtained a charter, under the great seal, of seeveral lands near Glasgow, dated 22d May, 1599. Sir Alexander, Lord Durie, puchased the lands of that name, anciently belonging to the family of durie of that ilk, and had a chrater of the same in 1614. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, lord advocate of Scotland, and, with 3 daugthters, had 3 sons, Alexander, 2d baronet, Sir John Gibson of Pentland, who carried on the line of the family, and George, of Balhouffie. The eldes son, Sir Alexander Gibson, younger of Durie, was appointed one of the clerks of session on 25th July 1632, and as such was one of the clerks of parliament. On the attempt of Charles I, to impose the service book on the people of Scotland, he protested, with others, at the market cross of Edinburgh against the toyal proclamations, on 8th July and 22d September 1638. He was also one of those who presented the petition against the bishops to the presbytery of Edinburgh and the General Assembly, in November of that year. As clerk of parliament he refused to read the royal warrant for the prorogation of parliament from 14th Nov. 1639 to 2d June 1640. In the latter year he was appointed commissary-general of the forces raised to resist King Charles I. On 13th November 1641, he was nominated lord clerk register by the king, who, on the 15th of the previous March, had conferred on him the honour of knighthood. He was also appointed one of the commissioners for the plantation of kirks. On 1st February 1645, he was named one of the commissioners of exchequer, and on 8th March following, a supernumerary member of the committee of estates; as also of the committees of a similar nature appointed in 1646, 1647 and 1648. On 2d July 1646, he was admitted a lord of session, on the favourable report of that court to the king. Having joined "the Engagement," he was deprived of his offices by the act of classes, on 13th February, 1649, and in the following year, as an entry, in Lamont's Diary states, "both Durie and his ladie was debarred from the table because of their malignancie." In August 1652, he was one of the commissioners chosen for Scotland to attend the parliament of England; and he again went to England in January 1654. He died in June 1656. His son, Sir John Gibson of Durie, 3d baronet, sat in the first Scots parliament of Charles II, in 1660. His only son, Sir Alexander Gibson of Durie, having died without issue, in him ended the male line of the eldes son of the 5th baron. Sir Alexander, Lord Durie, the eminent judge, and the title and estates devolved upon the grandson of Sir John Gibson of Pentland, his lordhips 2d son. A steady loyalist, Sir John Gibson of Pentland attended Charles I, in all his vicissitudes of fortune, and in 1651 accompanied King Clares II, to the unfortunate battle of Worcester, where he lost a leg, and for his gallant behaviour was knighted by the king. He had, with 2 drs, 3 sons: 1. Sir John Gibson of Pentland and Adiston, one of the principal clerks of session, and clerk to the privy council of Scotland; 2. Sir John Gibson, Bart., colonel of a regiment of foot, and governor of Portsmouth; 3. Sir Thomas gibson of Keirhill, created a baronet in 1702. The eldest son, Sir Alexander Gibson, with five daughters, had four sons, namely, Sir John, who succeeded Alexander, progenitor of the present family; Thomas Gibson of Cliftonhall; and Janes, a lieutenant-general in the service of the queen of Hungary. Sir Alexander's oldest son, Sir John, 5th baronet, M. Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis Craig of Riccarton, and had, with two daughters, two sons; Sir Alexander 6th baronet, and John, merhcant, London. Sir Alexander, the elder, leaving no male issue, was succeeded by his nephew, Sir John, 7th baronet, son of John Gibson of London. He also dying without male issue, was succeeded by his brother Sir Robert, 8th baronet. At Sir Robert's death in America, without issue, the title reverted to the descendant of Alexander Gibson of Durie, 2d son of Sir Alexander Gibson, clerk of the privy council, above mentioned. This genelman, alexandger Gibson, one of the principal clerks of session, obtained from his father, the lands of Durie in 1699. His eldes son, John Gibson of Durie, married Helen, 2d daughter of Hon. William Carmichael of Skirling, (son of John, 1st earl of Hyndford, and father of 4th earl,) by his first wife, Helen, only child of Thomas Craig of Riccarton, and had, by her, with 3 drs., 5 sons, viz, Alexander; William, merchant,l Edinburgh, father of James Gibson, W.S., created a baronet in 1831, and on succeeding to the estate of Riccarton, Mid lothian, assumed the additional name of Craid (see Craig, Sir James Gibson, vol. i, p.692); Thomas, lieut.-col. 83rd regiment; and two who died yougn. John Gibson of Durie, the father sold the estate of Durie to the ancestor of Mr. Maitland Christie, the present proprietor. His eldest son, Alexander, had two sons, John and Thomas. Sir John, the elder, succeeded Sir Robert as 9th baronet, and assumed the name and title of Gibson Carmichael of Skirling, on inheriting the estates, as heir of entail, of the 4th earl of Hyndford, his grand-uncle. Having only a daughter, he was succeeded in 1803 by his brother, Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichel of skirling, 10th baronet of the Gibson family, (see vol. i., p.591). by his wife, a duaghter of General Dundee (?) of Fingask, Sir Thomas had 7 children. The eldest, Alexander, born at the family seat, Catle-Craig, Peefles-shire, June 6, 1812, succeeded his father in 1849. Educated first at Harrow, and subsequently at Cambridge, immediately after leaving the university, he entered upon public life. At the election of 1837 he contested the county of Peebles, but was defeated by a small majority. He subsequently became private secretary tot he Hon. Fox Masle (?) who in 1852 succeeded his father as 2d Lord Panmure. Sir Alexander Gibson Carmichel died 1st May 1850. He was remarkable for his piety, and a brief memoir of him is inserted in thi volume of the Christian Treasury for 1850, p.376. He was succeeded by his brother, Sir Thomas, 12th baronet, who died Dec. 30, 1855, when his next brother, Rev. Sir William Henry, born Oct 9, 1807, became 14th baronet. The latter M., in 1858, Eleonora-Ann, daughter of David Anderson, Esq. of St. Germains.

Misc Gibson records:Ann Hunt born 12/14/1688 Darby, Chester Co, Pennsylvania; married (1)John Blunston, Jr. (2)Nathan Gibson (Note: John Blunston, Jr. died in 1716 and Ann married second to Nathan Gibson on Dec 7, 1719 at Darby MM) -- Darby, Chester Co, Pa

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