Gibson family

Biographical Note

John Bannister Gibson

• 1780, Nov. 8: Born, Westover, Pa.
• 1795: Entered preparatory school, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.
• 1797: Entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.; afterwards studied law with Thomas Duncan
• 1803: Admitted to Pennsylvania bar
• 1803 - 1805 : Practiced law successively at Carlisle, Pa., Beaver, Pa., and Hagerstown, Md.
• 1805: Returned to Carlisle, Pa., to practice law
• 1810 - 1812 : Democratic representative from Cumberland County to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• 1812: Married Sarah Work Galbraith
• 1813: Named judge, Court of Common Pleas, Eleventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania
• 1816: Appointed associate justice, supreme court of Pennsylvania
• 1827: Appointed, chief justice, supreme court of Pennsylvania
• 1838: Resigned as chief justice of Pennsylvania before state constitution of 1838 went into effect; immediately reappointed
• 1851: Appointed associate justice of Pennsylvania supreme court under new constitutional amendment, but physically incapacitated
• 1853, May 3: Died, Philadephia, Pa.

George Washington Getty

• 1819, Oct. 2: Born, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
• 1840: Graduated United States Military Academy; commissioned second lieutenant, 4th Artillery; appointed assistant commissary of subsistence
• 1845: Promoted to first lieutenant; served with Winfield Scott's army in Mexico
• 1847: Breveted captain for gallant conduct in action
• 1848: Married Elizabeth Graham Stevenson
• 1849 - 1857 : Fought in Seminole Indian campaigns
• 1853: Promoted to captain, United States Army
• 1862: Fought in Peninsular Campaign of 1862; temporary rank of lieutenant colonel Promoted to brigadier general of volunteers
• 1863: Promoted to major, United States Army Assigned command of a division at Suffolk, Va., which prevented approach to Norfolk and Hampton Roads from the south; breveted lieutenant colonel for gallantry and meritorious service
• 1864: Appointed acting inspector general of the Army of the Potomac Breveted colonel for gallantry and meritorious service in the Battle of the Wilderness Breveted major general of volunteers for gallantry and meritorious service in battles at Winchester and Fisher's Hill
• 1865: Breveted brigadier general for gallantry and meritorious service in capture of Petersburg, Va. Breveted major general for gallantry and meritorious service
• 1866: Appointed colonel of infantry Mustered out of volunteer service
• 1871: Transferred to third Artillery; commanded post and artillery school at Fort Monroe, Va., for six years
• 1878 - 1879 : Member of board which reinvestigated the case of Fitz-John Porter and reversed findings of his 1863 court-martial
• 1883: Retired from military service
• 1901, Oct. 1: Died, Forest Glen, Md.

Charles McClure

• 1838: Born, Carlisle, Pa.
• 1858 - 1860 : Studied law
• 1861: Entered United States Army, clerk in Office of Commissary General of Subsistence
• 1862: Resigned clerk position; enlisted in volunteer army Served as commissary officer and aide-de-camp on the general's staff of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 1st Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under the command of M. R. Patrick
• 1862 - 1866 : Captain in volunteer service
• 1865: Breveted major, lieutenant colonel of volunteers Appointed inspector of the commissariat of the armies operating against Richmond at the headquarters of Ulysses S. Grant; transferred to regular army at close of war
• 1866: Promoted to captain and breveted major for faithful service in the Subsistence Department
• 1866 - 1870 : Chief commissary, district of New Mexico
• 1869: Breveted colonel Married Annie Getty
• 1870 - 1897 : Paymaster for United States Army at various posts throughout the United States
• 1880: Promoted major, paymaster, United States Army
• 1898: Appointed chief paymaster, United States Army of the Philippines
• 1901: Appointed deputy paymaster-general, United States Army
• 1902: Retired from military service as lieutenant colonel
• 1902, Nov. 25: Died, Washington, D.C.

From the guide to the Gibson-Getty-McClure Families Papers, 1777-1926, (bulk 1880-1901), (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)