Gibbs Family of Colonial Connecticut

GENEALOGYThis site has been created to assist those who may be researching their Gibbs family ancestry in colonial Connecticut.

There are at least three fairly well documented AND DISTINCT Gibbs lines in New England who settled in New England during the 1600s. One of those is that of Giles Gibbs who was probably born in the County of Somerset in southern England about 1600, who removed to the County of Devon by the 1620's, and who emigrated to Dorchester in the Massachusetts Bay Colony prior to 1633. Within about five years, Giles and his family had joined other MA pioneers to found the first incorporated settlement in Connecticut ~ Windsor. Over the next century, Giles' descendants spread westward through Hartford County into Litchfield County, CT, and southward along the Connecticut River into Middlesex County, CT.

By the Revolutionary War, the ancestral Gibbs home of Windsor had for the most part shifted to Litchfield. During the early years of the new republic, many of this line moved on again ~ this time into the Revolutionary War military land grant areas of central and upstate New York. Meanwhile, many of those who had remained in Windsor and greater Hartford County prior to the Revolution found their way into Vermont & the Berkshire Mountains of western MA.

If you found this site because you are researching your Gibbs ancestry in New England, you must consider that the line of Giles Gibbs is only one of several. If you can document that your Gibbs was in CT prior to say 1825, then chances are you are descended from Giles. If however, your Gibbs is from the Boston area, he or she may instead be descendant from Matthew Gibbs who settled in Sudbury, MA. Similarly, if your Gibbs hails from Cape Cod or the old Plymouth Colony, you are probably a descendant of Thomas Gibbs who settled in Sandwich, MA. All three of these Gibbs lines are well established before 1650. In addition, there is a distinct line descendant from another immigrant, Robert Gibbs, who settled in the abutting Bristol Counties of MA and RI during the early 1700s. No doubt there are other early New England Gibbs lines as well, especially in the maritime towns of Boston and Newport. There is also an early southern line of Gibbs which immigrated to NC. Another southern Gibbs family ~ in SC & GA ~ may be connected to one of the colonial Gibbses of maritime Rhode Island & Providence Plantations. You will find links at this site to such other Gibbs lines as they may have been reported to the owner of this page (none to date.). Otherwise, this page is dedicated to, and only to, the descendants of Giles Gibbs and his wife Katherine Carwithe.

Note that during Giles' own life time, the spellings of Giles and Gyles were used interchangeably -- most sources use the Giles spelling today, though his will was signed Gyles. In the early years of colonial New England, both Gibbes and Gibbs spellings are associated with Giles. In England, Gibbes was almost definitely the correct spelling. Giles Gibbs is the nomencalture used herewith, but it could be just as properly Gyles Gibbes.

Below you will find a genealogy report on the descendants of Giles Gibbs and his wives Helen Carey & Katherine Carwithe. This report will be updated regularly as individuals submit additions &/or corrections, which should be submitted to GibbsGen@aol.com.

As this site is still under construction, please consider it a beginning. As time goes on, one should find any number of articles of mutual interest.

For beginners, I offer the following for discussion ~ Giles was NOT the son (though he might be the grandson) of Capt. William Gibbes & Mary Newcourt of South Perrott, as has been published more than once. He is also probably NOT the son of Hugh Gibbs of North Pemberton as has been cited in several LDS records. Click here for more on Giles' background in England.

* * *Descendants of Giles Gibbs

Generation No. 1

1. GILES GIBBS was born Bet. 1585 - 1590 in Co. Somerset or Co. Dorset?, England, and died 21 May 1641 in Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. He married (1) KATHERYN CARWITHE 13 April 1629 in Sidwell's Church, Exeter, Co. Devon, England, daughter of ROGER CARWITHE and ELIZABETH WESTCOTT. He married (2) HELEN CAREY 29 July 1617 in Alford, Somerset, England - St. Mary's Church.
Go to Will of Giles Gibbs.
Go to Will of Katherine (nee Carwithe) Gibbs.

Children of GILES GIBBS and KATHERYN CARWITHE are:

i. JACOB GIBBS, b. 28 March 1629, Exeter, Co. Devon, England; d. 1708; m. ELIZABETH ANDRUS, 4 December 1657, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.
Go to Descendants of Jacob Gibbs & Elizabeth Andrus.

ii. SARAH GIBBS, b. 5 May 1631, Exeter, Co. Devon, England; d. 1 November 1689, Windsor, Hartford Co.?, CT; m. JOHN SHEAR, 5 December 1661, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.
Go to Descendants of Sarah Gibbs & John Shear.

iii. SAMUEL GIBBS, b. 1635, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT; d. 8 February 1718/19, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT; m. (1) MIRIAM DIBBLE; m. (2) HEPSIBAH DIBBLE, 15 April 1664, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT.
Go to Descendants of Samuel Gibbs & Hepsibah Dibble.

iv. BENJAMIN GIBBS, b. 1637, Dorchester, MA, or Windsor, CT; d. 1676, Boston, MA; m. LYDIA SCOTTOW, 5 December 1661, Boston, Suffolk Co., MA.
Go to Descendants of Benjamin Gibbs & Lydia Scottow.

Children of GILES GIBBS and HELEN CAREY are:

vi. MARY GIBBS, b. November 1618, Crewkerne, Somerset, England; d. 1619, Co. Somerset, England. No issue.

vii. MARGARET GIBBS, b. 1620, Crewkerne, Co. Somerset, England; d. 1621, Somerset Co., England. No issue.

viii. GREGORY GIBBS, b. 1623, Crewkerne?, Co. Somerset, England; d. 15 March 1706/07, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT; m. JOYCE ???, Abt. 1654, Windsor, Hartford Co., CT. No known issue.