Robert Henry Gibson (b. circa 1828 – d ?)
MSA SC 5496-51351
Maryland State Colonization Society Emigrant to Liberia from Talbot
County, 1835
Biography:
Robert Henry Gibson (usually recorded as Henry, but sometimes known as R.H. or R. Henry) was a free resident of Talbot County who emigrated from Maryland to Liberia with his parents Jacob and Rebecca Gibson, his siblings Joseph, Mary Ann, Samuel, Garrison, and Louisa, and his cousin Ellen Gibson.1, 2 The Gibsons left Baltimore on the schooner Harmony on June 28, 1835 and arrived at Cape Palmas, Liberia on August 23, 1835.3 Henry's father, Jacob, died in 1836, and his mother married a William Delany on January 19, 1837.4, 5 The 1838 census recorded Henry and his siblings living with his mother and step-father.6 However, by1840, his mother was widowed again and raising her children alone.7, 8 In 1843, Henry was still living with his mother and likely lived with her until her death in 1847.9, 10 Henry lived with his brother Joseph at least in 1848 and 1849. By this time, Henry, like Joseph, was employed as a teacher for the Episcopal mission.11, 12 By 1852, Henry was still teaching and was married to a woman named Eliza.13
2. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Manumission Lists, 1832-1839, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13248-1, Emigrants, Lines 252-254. Lines 255-260.
3. Hall, Richard L. On Afric’s Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857. (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2003), 451.
4. Ibid, 450.
5. Maryland Colonization Journal, September 1837, Vol. 1, No.12, p. 52.
9. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1843a Census.1843b.
10. Hall, 451.
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