TOWCESTER FAMILIES
John
Gibbes Home
John
Gibbes was the 7th child of John Gibbes, Painter, Plumber and
Glazier of Towcester, and his wife Ann, one of 16 children, of which only 7
survived infancy. He followed in his father’s footsteps, and became a plumber
and glazier. He was just 23 when he married Eliza Wheeldon (who was only 19),
in Towcester Parish Church
on 19 Nov 1840. Their son John was born in May 1841. The three are shown
together in the 1841 Census, in Kings
Lane (now Brackley Road), close to the Saracens
Head Inn.
We
do not know what happened, but during the next three years something went very
wrong. By 1844, Elizabeth was in Scotland, where she gave birth to a son named
Harry, with one Nottage Nowell, followed by a daughter Catherine in York in 1849. She died in Rotherham in 1868. Their son John continued to carry the
Gibbs name, and it is interesting to speculate whether he knew his father was
still alive.
John
Gibbs left Towcester for London, where he met Louisa Harriet Plimpton. They had
one child in London
in 1846, Ann Louisa, before returning to Towcester in time for the birth of
their son Henry in 1849. They lived together in Towcester as man and wife,
having 9 children altogether, until Louisa died in 1868. Interestingly, she is
recorded in the burial register as “Louisa Harriet Plimpton”, although her
death certificate says Gibbs. No marriage has so far been traced.