Gibson, William

Gibson, William a Reformed Presbyterian minister, was born near Knockbracken, County Down. Ireland, in 1753. He studied at Glasgow, and was licensed by the Reformed Presbytery of Ireland in 1781. In the political ferment of Ireland towards the end of the century he joined the United Irishmen, and on the failure of the rebellion he fled to America, where she arrived in 1797. Finding a number of his own people there, he formed a congregation; and the Reformed Presbytery of North America was constituted in 1798. In 1799 he became pastor at Ryegate, Vermont, and remained there till 1817, when he accepted a call to Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1830 his infirmities compelled him to resign his charge. His latter years were spent in Philadelphia, where he died, October 15, 1838. — Wilson, Presb. Hist. Almanac, 1862, page 274; Sprague, Annals (Ref. Presb.), 9:6.