Gibson – My Maryland-Louisiana Roots

In 2021 I stumbled on the Palfrey Papers that were housed in the Fondren Library at Rice University in Houston, TX. Among the many documents I found were William T Palfrey’s 1842-1859 Plantation Diary as well as letters between John Palfrey and sons William, Henry and John Gorham. I found information on my paternal 3rd great grandfathers Robert ‘Bob’ Gibson and James ‘Jim’ Morgan. Both were young children listed among the slaves sold by Relf & Chew to John Palfrey March 9, 1811. Bob was listed with his mother Aime and siblings: Joe, Tom, Ben and Fannie. James was not listed in any family group. Also listed were Sam and wife Mima and daughters Sally and Anna.

I was able to easily determine that James Morgan’s wife was Sally Riggs and that their children were George, Ambrose, Mima, Mahaley, Phoebe and Hortense ‘Fortune’ Morgan. Fortune’s death certificate listed her mother as Sally who was born in North Carolina. Additionally, Sally, Jim and children were listed on John Palfrey’s 1843 probate.

Bob or Robert Gibson was not included in John Palfrey’s 1843 probate as he and James ‘Jim’ had been swapped by John and William Palfrey in 1835. So, there was no document laying out Bob’s family. I found death certificates for Fanny Marshall and Elsie Morgan that listed their father as Robert Gibson. Neither death certificate provided a name for their mother. My family descended through Elsie Gibson, and I found many DNA matches from Elsie’s descendants and also from Fanny Gibson & William Marshall. So, I now knew Robert had at least 2 children: Fanny and Elsie.

When I read William T Palfrey’s diary I saw references to Nancy, daughter of Bob and also of Caroline, wife of Bob giving birth to Letty in 1854 and Lewis in 1864. hen knew that Bob had another daughter Nancy. I’d already found Bob with Caroline, Letty and Lewis on the 1870 census. I found additional information in the plantation diary of another daughter of Bob’s–Charity. Palfrey wrote of Bob transporting a Charity and her daughter Sidney from Franklin to Cypremort in the midst of the Civil War taking place all around them. In 2026, I found a DNA descendant of Charity in Ancestry to further substantiate that Charity was Bob’s daughter. But I still had no name for the mother of Fanny, Elsie and now Charity. Charity’s daughter Ellen Green Betts was interviewed by the WPA in the Texas Slave Narratives. She told of her life in St Mary Parish and mentioned several names https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1944/images/BYU325-01462?pId=6819.

On a visit in 2024 to the St Mary Parish courthouse, I found an April 27, 1838 deed, Folio 178, Entry 4400. Included was a list of slaves: Bob 35, Peter 34, Anderson 36 as well as Sarah 35 and children: Dave 12, Aimy 16, Nancy 9, Kizzy 30 and Eliza 7 and Cyrus 4.

When I got back home, I went through all of the Palfrey journals and letters again and found a 5 page account book for 1832 for William Palfrey. On one page were the names of young Palfrey slaves:

Aimy born Oct. 3, 1821,
Charity born 8/2/1824,
David born 9/16/1826,
Nancy born Oct 10, 1827
Elisa born Nov 23, 1830
Anthony born Sep 6, 1831
Cyrus born May 11, 1833
Fanny no birth date listed

On the following page was a list of slaves on his plantation in 1832. That list included John, Jim, Peter, Anderson, Sarah, Roy, Amy, Charity, David, Nancy, Kizzy & her child Elisa, Sinah, Manuel, Jesse, Harriet & her child Anthony.

The names in the 1832 account book almost totally mirrored the names in the 1838 deed record. Names of interest that were missing from the 1838 deed record were the names Charity, Fanny and Sinah. And missing from the 1832 account book records was Bob. Bob was still among the slaves of William’s father John Palfrey. William and John Palfrey formally swapped the men in 1835. Sarah’s name precedes the names of Aimy, Charity, Dave and Nancy in both the 1832 account book and the 1838 deed record. Sinah’s name is listed in the 1932 account book, but the order of the names in the list suggests that she is not the mother of Bob’s children who are listed above her.

So, who was this Sarah?

I scoured William Palfrey’s 1842-1859 diary again, this time looking for references to Sarah. I found 2. Palfrey wrote that Sarah Weeks ran away for a few days and returned May 12, 1848 of her own accord. He wrote that Sarah died Dec 11, 1851 at the age of 55.

Palfrey referred to Sarah as Sarah ^ Weeks. Had she been a slave of Palfrey’s earlier partner Davids Weeks? How did she come to live on William Palfrey’s plantation? Were her mother, father or siblings also on Palfrey’s plantation or a Weeks family member plantation? Was she the mother of all of Bob’s children Aimy through Elsie?

Was she David Gibson’s mother? My mother, my sisters and several close cousins are relatively close DNA cousins to many of David Gibson’s descendants. All of David Gibson’s descendants are DNA cousins on my mother’s maternal side while all of her matches through Charity, Nancy, Fanny and Elsie are on her paternal side. How can this be?

I need to do more research to make this make sense. Until then…

Best,

Tag: Gibson

Sarah Weeks the Mother of Robert ‘Bob’ Gibson’s Children?