Dr. Charles Milo Gibbs, one of the best-known and most successful physicians in Greenfield, this county, is a native son of Hancock county, having been born on the old Gibbs homestead farm in Center township, three miles northeast of Greenfield, March 28, 1873, son of John S. and Sarah I (Bristow) Gibbs, both member of pioneer families of this county.

John S. Gibbs was born on a farm east of Greenfield, in Center township, this county, March 30, 1851, son of Milo and Elizabeth J. (Crider) Gibbs, the former a native of New York and the latter of Virginia, who came to this county with their respective parents in the early thirties of the last century, both families establishing permanent homes here. After their marriage Milo and Elizabeth Gibbs set up a home on a farm four miles east of Greenfield and shortly thereafter moved to Effingham, Illinois, where he died at the age of twenty-six years. His widow, who was born on January 30, 1828, returned to Hancock county a few years later and is still living in Hancock county, being now nearly ninety years of age. John S. Gibbs grew to manhood on the farm and is still living in Center township, within two miles of the farm on which he was born. He married Sarah I. Bristow, who was born on a farm on the banks of Sugar Creek, on the line between Vernon and Brown townships, eight miles northwest of Greenfield, June 2, 1850, daughter of Henry and Louisa (May) Bristow, both natives of Ohio, the former of whom was born on February 15, 1819, and the latter, June 27, 1826, who settled in this county in an early day of the settlement of this community and became large landowners and useful and influential citizens of this county, where both spent the remainder of their lives. Henry Bristow was a pioneer Methodist preacher and for years was a well-known circuit rider in this part of the state, his ministrations taking him into widely separated neighborhoods throughout this region. He followed farming quite successfully and was regarded as one of the most substantial citizens in that part of the county. Both he and his wife lived to advanced ages. Sarah I. Bristow received her schooling in the old Frazier school house in Vernon township and was married to John S. Gibbs on April 18, 1872. To this union five children were born, all of whom are still living, as follows: Charles Milo, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Mary E., born on August 2, 1875, who married Andrew J. Briney, a well-known Hancock county farmer; Ida O: March 3, 1878, who married John Briney, who is living on the old Briney homestead in this county; Iva O., March 23, 1883, who maried Edgar Howrey, living seven miles northeast of Greenfield, and Ethel E., May 18,1885, who married Charles S. Davis, of Clinton county, this state.

Charles M. Gibbs was reared on the home farm and received his elementary education in the Bethel school house in Center township, which he left at the end of his eighth year and began teaching school, continuing to assist his father on the farm during the summers and was thus engaged for five years, during which time he attended one term at the Central Normal College at Danville and one term at the State Normal School at Terre Haute. On July 20, 1896, he then being twenty-three years of age, he entered the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons at Indianapolis and was grauated from that excellent institution in 1900. Thus equipped for the practice of his profession, Doctor Gibbs returned to this county and in April of that same year formed a partnership with Dr. J. M. Larimore, of Greenfield, and entered upon the practice of medicine in that county, being the first physician in the county to begin practice under the law requiring a full four-year course at a medical college for all practitioners. For four years Doctor Gibbs continued in partnership with Doctor Larimore and then in 1904 opened an office of his own in the Gates block at Greenfield and was located there until in October, 1913, at which time he moved his office to the Dudding-Moore block, where he ever since has been located and where he is successfully engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery.

Doctor Gibbs is widely known among the medical fraternity throughout central Indiana and holds a high position to the regard of his confreres. He is past president of the Hancock County Medial Society, having filled all the offices in that organization, and is a member of the Indiana State Medical Association, in the deliberations of which he takes much interest. He has served the public as coroner of Hancock county, to which office he was elected on the Democratic ticket, and for three years served as secretary of the city board of health at Greenfield and four years as health commissioner of Hancock county. Doctor Gibbs is the owner of a fine and well-cultivated farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Jackson township, six miles northeast of Greenfield, to the upkeep of which he devotes considerable attention, and is the owner of several good pieces of real estate in Greenfield besides his fine home at 403 East Main Street, being considered one of the substantial citizens of that city.

On March 29, 1900, Dr. Charles M. Gibbs was united in marriage to Ida M. Hamilton, who was born in Center township, this county, May 3, 1874, daughter of Cicero J. and Mary E. (Sample) Hamilton, both natives of this county, members of pioneer families and prominent residents. Mrs. Gibbs was educated in the Greenfield high school and is a competent and valuable helpmeet in her husband's busy professional career. Both take a warm interest in the general social and cultural activities of their home town and of the country at large and are held in high esteem by their many friends hereabout. Dr. Gibbs is a Mason, a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has been the financial secretary since 1905, and a member of the Improved order of Red Men, in the affairs of all which organization he takes an active interest.

Transcribed from History of Hancock County, Indiana, Its People, Industries and Institutions by George J. Richman, B. L., Federal Publishing Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1916. Pages 840-842.

Submitted by Sylvia (Rose) Duda, Laingsburg, MI September 11, 2001.

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