| Chest Springs area farmhouse. Source: landandfarm.com |
John
Gibbons was born in Ashville in 1838, married in St. Augustine in 1857, and
died in Chest Springs in 1914. He never left Pennsylvania. Evidently he lived
his married life in Chest Springs, because most of his children were born
there.
Chest
Springs is one of the oldest boroughs in Cambria County, and one of the
smallest. Iroquois Indians sold the entire territory to William Penn in 1760.
The word “Chest” comes from huge stands of chestnut trees that once stood in
the area, and the rest from the many local springs.
The area
farmers, and I reckon John was one of them, produced most of their own food.
The “downtown” sidewalks were made of wooden planks, about two inches thick and
10 inches wide. Large flat stones were laid at the street crossings, but they
were covered by foot-deep mud in the spring and fall. A paved state road was
finally constructed through the town in 1925, to widespread jubilation.
Young
people, once their chores were completed, made their own entertainment. They
had dances, hay rides, ice skating and sledding in winter. But this frozen
water had more important uses than frivolity: Pond ice was cut in squares,
placed in a wooden frame and covered with sawdust to preserve food in summer
months.
The only thing certain about John and his wife
Maria Anna is that they were outstandingly fertile. Between 1858 and 1881 they
produced 16 children.
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