George Gibbs was the son of “that high-minded, openhanded citizen the merchant prince of Newport, Mr. George Gibbs, ” and of his wife, Mary Channing. He was the third of that name in a line reaching back to Janies Gibbs, who emigrated from England to Bristol, Rhode Island, about 1670.
Though apparently not college- trained, Gibbs received the M. A. degree from Rhode Island College (now Brown University) in 1800, and from Yale.
George Gibbs by personal effort and extensive purchases amassed a collection of minerals comprising some 12, 000 (other accounts say 20, 000) specimens.
This collection, brought to Newport in 1805, was the largest and most valuable yet seen in the United States.
Attracted by its fame, Benjamin Silliman the elder, then in the early days of his professorship at Yale, obtained permission to examine the collection, and paid his first visit to it in 1805 or 1806, at a time when Gibbs was again in Europe.
On the latter’s return, Silliman made his acquaintance, and, as he sa^s in his Journal, “acquired a scientific friend and a professional instructor and guide. ”
This friendship had important results for Yale, for in 1810, Gibbs, unsolicited, offered to deposit his famous collection in the College. Here, arranged in cases in two rooms in South Middle College, it attracted wide attention, and drew many visitors, not only from New Haven, but from all over the country.
In 1825, Gibbs finally offered the collection for sale at $20, 000, giving Yale the first option. Silliman and the college authorities were unanimous in feeling that it must not be lost. A public meeting was called, followed by a personal canvass led by President Day.
The amount needed was raised, and the collection became the property of Yale; it still remains one of her great treasures. The friendship between these two men had another important result.
In the early years of the century, American scientific periodicals were few and irregular. The American Mineralogical Journal, started in 1810 by Dr. Archibald Bruce of New York, had published four numbers, but the failing health of its founder made continuance unlikely.
In 1817, at a chance meeting on board the steamer Fulton in Long Island Sound, Gibbs urged upon Silliman the duty of starting a new journal of science.
In 1822, he was vice-president of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, and presented to that institution the great “Gibbs meteorite” from Texas, which later came to Yale as a memorial of him. His publications were limited to four short papers.
Gibbs died at the age of fifty-seven on his estate, Sunswick Farms, near Astoria, Long Island.
Personally, Col. Gibbs was a man of culture and brilliant conversational powers, and famous for his generous hospitality.
Quotes from others about the person
“Although many reasons, public and personal, concurred to produce diffidence of success, the arguments of Col. Gibbs, whose views on subjects of science were entitled to the most respectful consideration, and had justly great weight, being pressed with zeal and ability, induced a reluctant assent”.
Gibbs was married to Laura, daughter of Oliver Wolcott. Their three sons, George, Oliver Wolcott, and Alfred, continued the record of family achievement.
10 April 1794 - 10 December 1870
18 July 1819 - 25 August 1906
12 August 1827 - 7 December 1902
17 July 1815 - 19 April 1873
24 June 1831 - 27 December 1882
22 April 1823 - 26 December 1868
21 February 1822 - 9 December 1908
January 21, 1751 – 24 August 1825
28 May 1747 – 1 June 1834
