Ernest Willard Gibson

Ernest Willard Gibson
United States Senator from Vermont
In office November 21, 1933 – June 20, 1940
Preceded by	Porter H. Dale
Succeeded by	Ernest W. Gibson, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont's At-large district
In office March 4, 1933 – October 19, 1933
Preceded by	None (new district)
Succeeded by	Charles A. Plumley
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont's 2nd district
In office November 6, 1923 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	Porter H. Dale
Succeeded by	None (district eliminated)
Member of the Vermont Senate
In office 1908–1910
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives
In office 1906–1908
Personal details
Born	December 29, 1872 Londonderry, Vermont, U.S.
Died	June 20, 1940 (aged 67) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Grace Fullerton Hadley[1]
Children	Frank Hadley Gibson Ernest William Gibson, Jr. Doris Gibson Preston Fullerton Gibson
Alma mater	Norwich University (B.S., M.A.) University of Michigan Law School
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Episcopalian
Military service
Service/branch	Vermont National Guard United States Army
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	Pancho Villa Expedition World War I

Ernest Willard Gibson (December 29, 1872 – June 20, 1940) was a politician and lawyer from Vermont. He served as a United States Representative and Senator.

Early life

Ernest W. Gibson was born in Londonderry, Vermont on December 29, 1872,^[2] and attended local schools. He was a graduate of Black River Academy, where his classmates included Calvin Coolidge.^[3] He graduated from Norwich University in 1894, and was a member of the Theta Chi Fraternity. He received his Master of Arts degree from Norwich in 1896. He studied law with Eleazer L. Waterman and James Loren Martin, attended the University of Michigan Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1899.^[4][5]

Start of career

Gibson was a high school principal in Chester from 1894 until 1898.^[6] He served as a Chester Village Trustee from 1895 to 1898.^[7]

He was a Trustee of Norwich University from 1899-1909 and again from 1919-1935, and served as Vice President of the Board of Trustees.^[8] Gibson received an honorary LL.D. from Norwich in 1926.^[9]

A Republican, after becoming an attorney he practiced in Brattleboro, where he also served as the Windham County Register of Probate and Deputy Clerk of Vermont's United States District Court.^[10] From 1904 to 1911 he was a Lecturer on Constitutional Law at Norwich University.^[11]

In 1906 he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives.^[12] In 1908 he was elected to the Vermont State Senate, and served as President pro tempore.^[13]

From 1906 to 1910 Gibson served as Brattleboro's Municipal Court Judge.^[14] In 1910 he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor.^[15]

Gibson became a leader of the Progressive movement in Vermont, which ultimately led to creation of a recognized faction within the Vermont Republican Party, the Aiken-Gibson Wing. The Aiken-Gibson Wing was more liberal than the party establishment, which had been led for years by conservative business interests including the Smith family of St. Albans, the Fairbanks family of St. Johnsbury, and the Proctor family of Proctor.^[16][17]

Despite his Progressive views, Gibson remained loyal to the Republicans and worked to keep Vermonters with similar views in the party. To that end, in 1912 he was a Delegate to Republican National Convention.^[18][19]

Gibson served as Windham County State's Attorney from 1919 until 1921, and was Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) to Governor James Hartness in 1921.^[20][21]

Military service

From 1899 to 1908 Gibson served in the Vermont National Guard. Enlisting as a Private, he was commissioned in 1901. From 1906 to 1908 he served on the staff of Governor Fletcher D. Proctor as a Colonel.^[22][23]

He served again from 1915 to 1923. Joining the 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment as a Captain, he served in the Pancho Villa Expedition in 1915 and 1916.^[24][25][26]

Gibson also served in World War I. As Captain and commander of Company I, 1st Vermont Infantry (later federalized as the 57th Pioneer Infantry Regiment), Gibson served at Camp Bartlett, Camp Greene, and Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina before departing for France in September, 1918. The 57th Pioneer Infantry provided replacement troops for the 83rd Division, with Gibson and a handful of soldiers left to reorganize the regiment and prepare it for a scheduled for deployment to the front lines. The Armistice occurred before the unit moved, and Gibson returned to the United States. At the end of the war he was stationed at Camp Devens, where he received his discharge in March, 1919.^[27][28][29] Gibson remained in the National Guard, and retired as a Colonel upon winning election to Congress.

United States Representative

In November 1923, Gibson was elected to the United States House of Representatives (Sixty-eighth United States Congress), filling the vacancy caused when Porter H. Dale resigned Vermont's 2nd district seat to become a United States Senator. He was reelected to the Sixty-ninth, and the four succeeding Congresses, serving from November 6, 1923 until his resignation on October 19, 1933.^[30]

Vermont lost a House district as a result of the 1930 census, and in 1932 Gibson was elected as Vermont's at-large Congressman, defeating Loren R. Pierce in the primary, and going on to win the general election. Governor John E. Weeks had run for the 1st district seat in 1930, and indicated that if elected it would be the capstone of his career and he would not run in 1932, thus avoiding the possibility that two incumbents would run against each other for the at-large seat.

During his House tenure, Gibson was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury (Sixty-ninth Congress) and the Committee on Territories (Seventy-first Congress).^[31]

United States Senate

In November 1933, Gibson was appointed to the United State Senate, filling the vacancy created by Porter Dale's death.^[32] He was elected in 1934 to complete Dale's term, and elected to a full term in 1938. Gibson served in the Senate from November 21, 1933 until his death on June 20, 1940. He died in Washington, D.C. and is interred in Morningside Cemetery in Brattleboro.^[33]

Family

Gibson married Grace Fullerton Hadley on November 25, 1896. They had four children, Frank Hadley Gibson (1899-1922), Ernest William Gibson, Jr. (1901-1969), Doris Gibson (1903-1947) and Preston Fullerton Gibson (1908-1955).^[34]

Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. succeeded his father temporarily in the Senate and later served as Governor of Vermont and Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.^[35]

Preston F. Gibson was a lawyer who was active in Republican politics and served as Judge of Brattleboro's municipal court.^[36][37]

References

1. Vermont Vital Records, 1720-1908, marriage record for Ernest W. Gibson and Grace Fullerton Hadley (1896), retrieved February 28, 2014
2. Port of New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, entry Ernest W. Gibson, arriving on S.S. President Harding, September 24, 1927, page 186, retrieved February 28, 2014
3. Middlesex Club of Boston, Program, Grant Night Dinner, 1924, page 20
4. University of Michigan Law School, Annual Catalogue for 1893-1894, 1893, page 48
5. Arba Ellis, William (1911). Norwich University, 1819-1911: her history, her graduates, her roll of honor, Volume III pub. by Major-General Grenville M. Dodge. The Capital City Press,. p. 284.
6. Vermont Bar Association, Report of Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, Volume 34, 1940, page 82
7. Ellis, Norwich University, 1819-1911, page 284
8. White, James Terry (1943). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. J.T. White. p. 452.
9. Norwich University, Norwich University Record, 1937, page 5
10. Prentiss Cutler Dodge, Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography, 1912, pages 199-200
11. Ellis, Norwich University, page 600
12. Prentiss Cutler Dodge, Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography
13. Vermont General Assembly, Journal of the Vermont State Senate, 1908, page 5
14. James Terry White, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography
15. Prentiss Cutler Dodge, Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography
16. Samuel B. Hand, The Star That Set: The Vermont Republican Party, 1854-1974, 2003, page 133
17. Richard Munson Judd, The New Deal in Vermont: Its Impact and Aftermath, 1979, pages 64, 160, 303
18. "Gibson, Ernest Willard (1872-1940)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
19. Peter S. Jennison, The Roadside History of Vermont, 1989, 101
20. Sampson and Murdock, The New England Business Directory and Gazetteer, 1920, page 123
21. Vermont Bar Association, Annual Meeting Proceedings, 1940
22. Ellis, Norwich University, page 284
23. Vermont Adjutant General, Biennial Report, General Order Number 1, 1906, page 1
24. U.S. Army Adjutant General, Returns from Military Posts, 1806-1916, entry for Ernest W. Gibson, August 1916, retrieved February 28, 1916
25. U.S. Army Adjutant General, Returns from Military Posts, 1806-1916, entry for Ernest W. Gibson, October 1916, retrieved February 28, 1916
26. Army and Navy Journal, Inc., Army and Navy Journal, Volume 74, Issues 1-26, 1936, page 462
27. U.S. Army Adjutant General Military Records, 1631-1976, Vermont Roster of Soldiers in World War I (1917-1919), 1927, entry for Ernest Willard Gibson, page 494
28. Richard A. Rinaldi, The US Army in World War I - Orders of Battle, 2004, page 102
29. Vermont Secretary of State, Vermont Legislative Directory and State Manual, 1965, page 168
30. "Sen. Ernest Gibson,". Govtrack.us. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
31. United States. Congress (2005). Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005: The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States, from the First Through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 2005,. Government Printing Office,. p. 1115.
32. "Appointed Senators". United States Senate. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
33. "Ernest Willard Gibson, Sr". Find A Grave. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
34. Arba Ellis, William (1911). Norwich university, 1819-1911: her history, her graduates, her roll of honor, pub. by Major-General Grenville M. Dodge. The Capital city press,. p. 284.
35. "Gibson, Ernest William (1901-1969),". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
36. Vermont Secretary of State, Legislative Directory, 1949, page 680
37. U.S. Government Printing Office, Memorial Services Held in the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Ernest Willard Gibson (late a Senator from Vermont), 1943, page 52

External links

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: GIBSON, Ernest Willard, (1872 - 1940)
• The Political Graveyard: Gibson, Ernest Willard (1872-1940)
• Govtrack.us: Sen. Ernest Gibson
• Find A Grave: Ernest Willard Gibson, Sr