BARNEY BARZILLAI GIBBS
BLOOMFIELD: Pastor Baptist Church
The subject of this sketch was born Jan. 13, 1822. Early in the seventeenth century three brothers Gibbs, from Scotland on the English border, settled on Long Island, N.Y. The son of one of them, Samuel Gibbs, moved into New Jersey about 1750. Leaving there, he settled in Genoa, Cayuga County, now Lansing in Tompkins County, N.Y., on a farm four miles north of the present beautiful city of Ithaca. Mr. Gibbs’ father lived on that farm sixty-six years. He died there March 5, 1857. The maternal grandparents, Oliver Bigelow and Esther Harding, born in Colchester, Conn., in 1759, belonged to most worthy and patriotic families, well known in the early history of the commonwealth of Connecticut. Having finished a course of academic study, Oliver Bigelow enlisted as a soldier in the army of the revolution. After the war he graduated from a medical course. For a short time he practiced medicine in Goshen, N.Y., to which place the Hardings and others went, in consequence of the desolation of the Wyoming Valley, where they had settled before the war. They afterward left Goshen and returned to the valley. At the time of the memorable "Wyoming Massacre" in 1778, when the fort was about to fall into the hands of Indians, two brothers of Esther Harding were slain. The lead in the fort was buried. Esther, then eighteen years old, assisted by a colored girl, took the powder in a leather sack to the river and sunk it. Though seen by the savages, they reached the fort in safety. For six months Esther was a captive among the Indians. Dr. Oliver Bigelow and Esther Harding were married in 1786. To them were born five daughters and one son. The eldest of these, Nancy, married Gerritt Goodwin Gibbs (son of Samuel above mentioned). They had four sons and four daughters. Of these children, Barney Barzillai, the subject of this notice, was the fifth, and the third son. As to health, he was never strong. His grandmother Bigelow used to tell him that God had spared his life in answer to her prayer, and that he would have to preach. His eldest sister was the special instrument, through grace, in awakening him to a sense of his need of God’s mercy. While in his academic course he professed faith in Christ. Dr. John S. Maginis, president of "The Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution," baptized him into the fellowship of the Baptist church of Hamilton, N.Y., Nov. 18, 1839. His father designed him for the legal profession; but he chose the ministry of the gospel. Graduating from "Madison," now "Colgate University," in 1846, and from the Theological Seminary in 1848, he was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry at Ithaca, N.Y., a few weeks after. He went south that fall, into the Mississippi Valley. He spent a few months in Southwest Louisiana, in the "Attackapa Country," seeing slavery there on the sugar plantations, in, perhaps, its severest forms. The next year was spent in middle Mississippi, preaching to three churches, and to several congregations of slaves, in the four counties of Yazoo, Warren, Hinds, and Madison. He rode 3,000 miles on horseback and 2,000 by steam that year. In 1851, he took the pastorate of the Wall Street Baptist Church in Natchez, Miss. He was married that year to Miss Eliza E. Poyer of North Norwich, N.Y. His labors in Natchez were greatly prospered. Beginning with a new church of eighteen members, he left it, after three years and six months, with one hundred and seventy-seven communicants. The sickness of his wife called him north. In a few weeks she passed away. He did not return south, but supplied various pulpits and labored as evangelist. In 1855 he became pastor of the Baptist church in Geneva, N.Y. In 1857 he was married to the daughter of Colonel Samuel Hartwell of Chenago County, N.Y. He has three sons. Dr. Charles B., of New York, Herbert H., attorney and counsellor in the city of New York, and Clesson F. Gibbs, D.D.S., of Bridgeport, Conn.
Mr. Gibbs has said: "Had I given myself especially to evangelistic work I should have accomplished more." Possibly, yet his pastorates have been successful. The condition at Geneva was low, house sadly out of repair, and congregation small. But stimulus came; the attendance increased, and additions gave strength and courage. The work with the church in Jordan, N.Y., was one of correction and earnest labor to lead the membership to deeper spirituality. Returning to Geneva, in a second pastorate there he succeeded in inspiring the people with a better apprehension of Christian life and to higher motives in gospel work. Prosperity followed, and the impulse then given lingers there to this day.
In 1865 his mother (widowed and alone) urged him to come home. He thought change for a time would be advantageous. He went; but the cares of the farm and the wear and tear of much travel in supplying neighboring churches caused him to accept, after two years, the pastorate of the church at Union Springs, N.Y. Four years of ordinary prosperity were had there. He went to Spencer, N.Y., in 1871 - a country field, ten miles across it, with many outposts for service. Additions strengthened the church; expensive repairs greatly
improved the house; hut the pastors health failed. He was called to New York city, where he worked with varying success nearly five years. He suffered much there from malaria. Going to Catskill on the Hudson, his health began immediately to improve. Five years there, beginning with conditions of disorder and discouragement, were favored with much success. Two years were spent in Wales, Mass., with the Baptist church.
Mr. Gibbs considers that the gospel supplies the true grounds of culture and advancement for all people. His six years in the south were a most interesting and valuable experience. They supplied him with more intelligent thought on the great national issues of the day; assured him of the need of sounder ethical principles in our civil government; showed him that the people, north and south, should have more intimate acquaintance in social, pohtical, and commercial matters; that such acquaintance would check the growing strife, and modify the bitterness of discussion. The late Jefferson Davis was then rising to the acme of southern popularity. In the senate chamber of Mississippi, he heard Mr. Davis in his famous and eloqent eulogy of Calhoun, and felt that a crisis was near at hand. But his southern life supplied him neither with feeling nor argument for slavery. As a gospel minister he had to do with the highest interests of both master and slave. He has, therefore, always held it both as privilege and duty to notice the fact that he was never hindered, but often encouraged, in his labors for the slave; and he felt himself respected and trusted by the southern people. Ten miles from Jackson, the state capitol, in the little town of Raymond, rumor said one morning that a slave had been killed. Mr. Gibbs was assisting the pastor there as evangelist. The excitement called a meeting of planters, at once, over which he presided as chairman. He, with a committee of planters, investigated the case, and reported the next day that the slave had been cruelly beaten with a hand-saw, but that he would recover. The meeting censured the master, and required of him a promise of humane treatment for the future.
Mr. Gibbs has given forty-three years to his chosen work - the highest of earthly callings. Loyalty to truth has marked his course. He is now in Bloomfield, Conn. His work there will appear more fully in the future. Extreme conservatism is tenacious, and also persistent; not to be changed in a day. Connecticut was the home of some of his ancestors. The interests of the state and people he cherishes with special regard, confiding in the appointed instrumentalities of truth. Another says, "The garment of praise must be the outgrowth of the inner life;" and it is wise to remember that -
"Across the fields of toil there fall
The notes of yonder sunset bell."
Source: Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut - 1891, Compiled and Published by J. A. Spalding, Hartford Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1891
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