John Gibb (March 14, 1829 – August 27, 1905) was a cofounder of the dry goods house of Mills & Gibb.
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Biography
editGibb was born on March 14, 1829, in Forfarshire, Scotland.[1] He left his father's farm at the age of 14 to apprentice for four years in a draper's shop at Montrose, Angus. Later, he went to London and was in the largest wholesale house in that city. In 1850, he became acquainted with a member of the firm of E. S. Jaffray & Company, who induced him to come to New York, where became a buyer of embroideries and white goods.[2]
In 1865, he formed the firm of Mills & Gibb with Philo L. Mills, with whom he remained partners for over forty years. When the company incorporated in 1903, Gibb became president, while Mills, vice-president, moved to England to take charge of the company's foreign business. Gibb was a director of the Brooklyn Trust Company, a member of the advisory council of the Thrift Savings, Loan & Building Fund, the Brooklyn Club, Long Island Historical Society, Penatquit-Corinthian Yacht, Merchants‘ Central, Hamilton and Olympic Clubs, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History. He was for a term president of the Brooklyn Park Commission and was a trustee for YMCA.[2]
Personal life
editIn 1852, he married Mrs. Harriet Balston (died in 1878). Seven years later, he married Sarah D. Mackay.[1] He died in 1905 at his country residence, "Afterglow" in Islip, Long Island.[3] Five sons survived him, I. Richmond, Arthur, Walter, Elmer and Louis and four daughters, all married.[2]
References
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Black's "Dry Goods Guide" (1905)
- ^ a b The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. IV. James T. White & Company. 1893. p. 158. Retrieved December 3, 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c Dry Goods Guide (Public domain ed.). Black Publishing Company. 1905. pp. 11–.
- ^ "Death of John Gibb at His Home in Islip". Brooklyn Eagle. Islip, Long Island. August 28, 1905. p. 5. Retrieved December 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.