John Gibbs Jr. was also known as (Unknown) Gibbs. John Gibbs Jr. was born on 28 July 1670 at Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. He was the son of
John Gibbs and
Jane Blackwell. John Gibbs Jr. married
Esther Swift, daughter of
William Swift 2nd and
Ruth (Unknown), between 1689 and 1690 at Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. John Gibbs Jr. died before 16 June 1734 at Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. JOHN GIBBS: Since John Gibbs had not yet reached the age of twenty-one when his first child was born, we suspect that he may at first have been working for his grandfather Blackwell or his father-in-law William Swift, in Sandwich for the first years of his married life, even though his children's births are all recorded at Plymouth, because the first Plymouth County deed we find for him, dated 5 March 1696/7, calls him 'John Gibbs junf. . -. . of Sandwich, yeoman.' It was witnessed by his grandfather Michael Blackwell and shows that Gibbs and his wife's brother, Jireh Swift, bought from Jonathan Morey for 16 pounds, the latter's land in Plymouth (PLCD,* 2:Tl). The will, dated at Sandwich 15 Dec. 1705, of 'William Swift Senr.' gives 'to my daughter Hester Gibbs' his moveables which are to be shared with her sisters. By a deed of 31 Dec.1705, John Gibbs 'of Plymouth ... husbandman' sold for 40 pounds paid by Samuel Prince of Sandwich . . . 'all my housing & lands where I now dwell' in Plymouth (PLCD, 6:65); 'Thomas Clarke, junr., of Plymouth, son of Mr. William Clarke, sold 25 May 1710 for 3 pounds 'my sixty-acres of land that was laid out to John Gibbs. . . being in & adjoining to Agawam ... in Plymoutlf' (ibid., 8:99). A deed of 29 Jan. 1710/11--shows that Gibbs sold this tract of 60 acres 'which I purchase of Thomas Clarke,' and on which Gibbs had meanwhile built 'my dwelling house ... where I now dwell.' The price was 100 pounds with a provision that Gibbs 'shall himself, as formerly, dwell in and improve sd dwelling house until May 5th next.' On 6 May Gibbs appeared and signed the deed, after 'Ester his wife' had released her dower rights (ibid., 9:121). Two further deeds, both bearing date 5 May 1712, show that John Gibbs was improving himself; also, Samuel Prince 'of Rochester, gentleman' sold to ' John Gibbs of Plymouth, husbandman, all my tenement which I sometime since bought of John Gibbs .. . 600 acres, as also my moiety of yt land which I and my son-in-law Ezra Bourne of Sandwich bought of Ralph Jones, late of Sandwich, Indian, bounded Northerly by Mr. Freeman, deceased, and ye reputed land of Micah Blackwell, the sd tract containing 4000 acres. . . ' The other deed shows that 'John Gibbs of Plymouth, husbandman, for 115 pounds paid by Nathaniel Otis of Sandwich, shopkeeper . . .' conveyed 'all my tenement which I sometime sold to Mr. Samuel Prince and have this day bought of him again ... containing 600 acres, and also . . . one half part of that land which I this day bought and --Was in partnership between Mr. Samuel Prince of Rochester and Ezra Bourne of Sandwich . . .' (ibid., 9:299-301,308). In 1717 John Gibbs bought additional Plymouth lots from Nathaniel Otis (ibid., 12:222). As we have seen he acted, in 1725, as co-administrator with his stepmother Elizabeth Gibbs, in the settlement of his father's intestate estate. He was dead before 16 June 1734 when 'The widow Esther Gibbs' was baptized and admitted to full communion in the First Church (Plymouth Church Records (1920), p. 435,522) ' At the time of her death she was slaying in the home of her daughter Mercy as we learn from her nuncupative will: 'On the 15th day of October 1736, -then Esther Gibbs, widow of John Gibbs deceased of Plymouth, then at the house of Samuell Ellis of Plyinoutfi and being under her last sickness whereof she died, bid us the subscribers take notice or bear her witness, that what followeth was her Last Will and Testament: I do give my eldest son Joshua Gibbs, 5 shillings. I do give to my son Tohn Gibbs, 5 shillings. I give to my grand daughter Esther Ellis, 10 shillings. I give to my grand daughter Hannah Ellis my iron kettle And all the rest of my estate I give to my four daughters and ye children of my daughter Experience Cornish to be equally divided among them (that is, as we understood, that all the children of said-Experience Cornish should have a share equal to that of -the other four daughters), taken in writing & signed by her this 22 day October, 1736. Attest: John Blackwell, junr., Ephraim Ellis. In presence of Josiah Swift Senr., jonathad Morey, Experience Swift' (Plymouth County Probates, 7:270). The will was presented for probate by the administrator 'Samuel Ellis her son-in-law,' 3 March -1736/7 (ibid) The witnesses were her brother Josiah Swift and his second wife, Experience (Nye) Swift. Source: Ancestors of Thomas Gibbs of Sandwich, Mass. (1615-1693) CD #171.