HUGH GIBSON (23958)

Hugh Gibson, born about 1790 in Orkney, came to Rupert’s Land as a servant of the Hudson’s Bay Company. According to family lore, he was one of the HBC boatmen who brought the 1812 settlers from York Factory to Red River. In 1826 he married Angelique (Ann) Chalifoux and they settled at Red River. The couple appears on the 1827 Red River census, no children. By the 1843 census, the family includes six children. The baptismal registers show Isabella, Margaret, Francis, William, Fanny, Ann (died in 1841, aged 3) and Jane. A daughter Barbara was born in 1843 although not included in the census, and the 1870 Manitoba census shows a daughter Elizabeth born about 1852. Hugh does not appear on this census.

The burial registers for St. Andrews-on-the-Red Anglican Church show a burial for Hugh Gibson on October 6, 1869. A memorial stone to Hugh and his wife Ann has been erected in the churchyard giving his death as October 6 and his age as 88 years. This age does not correspond with early census records; Hugh’s exact age was probably unknown. Ann died in 1898, aged 99 years according to the death registration. There is no firm documentation for her age, but it does seem fairly certain that she was at least 90 when she died.

NOTE: There were two men named Hugh Gibson at Red River in the 1820s. HUGH GIBSON (24333) was a few years older and his wife was a First Nations woman known as Christiana. This couple came to Red River from the Edmonton District in 1823. The 1827 census shows them with six children. They do not appear in the 1843 census or the 1870 Manitoba census.