Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee.
VOL CLXII
Published by E. W. Stephens Publishing Co., Columbia, Missouri

In Memoriam — Charles N. Gibbs
Pages 729-731

IN MEMORIAM

On Sunday, January 11, 1920, at the age of ninety-two years, death selected Charles Nicholas Gibbs, one of the oldest men and probably the oldest lawyer of Tennessee.

Any tribute of respect to Charles N. Gibbs must, on account of the limitations of human expression, of human affections and of human appreciation, necessarily embarrass the author when his finished composition is compared to the great subject he attempts to eulogize.

In the pioneer days of West Tennessee, Col. C. N. Gibbs at the early age of twenty years sprang upon Tennessee’s stage of law and politics and thenceforth for the succeeding three score and ten years as a public official, as a practicing attorney, as a soldier, as an editor, as a practical statesman and as a constitution maker, he played a leading part.

At the time of his death there was not a surviving Tennessean who had done so much to elevate democracy from a questionable experiment to a consummated human blessing.

While John Q. Adams was President, Col. C. N. Gibbs was born. When President Jackson, at the expiration of his second term as president, returned to his home, the Hermitage, Col. C. N. Gibbs, then in his ninth year was present at the home-coming dinner given in honor of the great president, and an incident happened here which gives some insight into the character of both Col. Gibbs and President Jackson. Col. Gibbs’ father was a Whig and a bitter opponent of Jackson. When General Jackson’s attention was directed to young Gibbs at the dinner he called the boy to him, placed his hand on the boy’s head and said, “I hope you will be a good democrat and not a mean old Whig like your daddy.” And although before the Civil War. Col. Gibbs was a Whig like his daddy, after that he became a good democrat, but he always disliked General Jackson.

Charles N. Gibbs was the son of a lawyer, George W. Gibbs, who had the distinction of being the preceptor of the great jurist, John Catron. G. W. Gibbs, in partnership with Francis B. Fogg, maintained a law office in Nashville until about the year 1847. It is certain that Fogg was then a member of the Nashville bar, because in that year we find in the 27th Tennessee Reports that a committee of the Nashville Bar, of which Fogg was Chairman, drafted resolutions on the death of Chancellor James Kent. This firm engaged extensively in West Tennessee land litigation, and the first case in which Col. C. N. Gibbs was engaged as counsel is Stewart vs. Harris, an ejectment suit from the Circuit Court of Obion County in April, 1849, reported in 28th Tennessee at page 714. Fogg & Gibbs had lost the case in the Obion Circuit Court and had turned it over to young Gibbs for attention on appeal. Notwithstanding he was opposed by W. R. Harris, an elder brother of Governor Isham G. Harris and a brilliant and mature lawyer, Gibbs procured a reversal of the trial court. The opinion in the case clearly discloses that Col. Gibbs ably presented the case. He succeeded in convincing the Supreme Court that both the trial judge and opposing counsel misapprehended the principles of law governing the case which is shown by the following quotation from the opinion of Justice McKinney:

“The case of Brown v. Johnson (1 Humph. 261) to which the counsel for defendant (Harris) referred to argument bears no resemblance or analogy to this case either in its facts or principles,” and the decisions relied on by Gibbs were accepted as decisive.

Col. C. N. Gibbs was Mayor of Jackson, Tennessee, in his twentieth year. Soon after Millard Fillmore became President of the United States in July, 1850, he appointed Col. Gibbs, then in his 22nd year, United States District Attorney for West Tennessee, which office he filled until 1853, when Fillmore’s term of office expired. President Fillmore’s sound judgment in appointing such men as Webster and Everett was also vindicated in the appointment of C. N. Gibbs.

Probably the most valuable service Col. Gibbs rendered was as a member of the Constitutional convention of 1870. At that time sectional hatred was at its highest pitch. Every member of that convention had recently seen the horrors of the Civil War. Their beloved State had before their very eyes been ravished, conquered, ruined, and the colossal task of that convention was to prepare a scheme of government to conform to the terms imposed by their conquerors. The natural impulse was to draw a constitution as obnoxious to union adherents as possible, but Col. Gibbs, then in the very prime of his life, full of experience, and admirably educated to the task, turned his every energy to the making of a constitution that would guarantee and protect Tennessee’s ideals and would at the same time not drive and keep away Northern capital and enterprise. To his efforts more than all others this hatred and prejudice was minimized in the drawing of the present constitution of this State, which has stood for a half century against all assault and criticism, and to the wise provisions of which the phenomenal development of this great state may be directly traced. The good work done by Col. Gibbs in this convention can never be accurately known but it is certain that he took a leading part in its proceedings and that he had a clear and deep insight into the requirements for the future development of Tennessee.

Col. Gibbs was from 1873 to 1881 Secretary of State of Tennessee, and a more popular official has never held an office in this State.

At 21 years of age Col. Gibbs affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, but at the time of his death all his youthful fraternal and professional brethren had long since passed away.

Col. Gibb’s family relations were of the best. He was a first cousin of William Gibbs McAdoo, and was related to the Lees of Virginia.

Col. Gibbs had made Chattanooga his home for nearly forty years, but, on account of his long retirement from the active practice of law, it cannot be said that he was a member of any particular bar, or association of lawyers, but he was a good lawyer, and among his innumerable activities he was known as a lawyer and a member of the Tennessee Bar, and the skillful hand of the trained lawyer may be traced in his great work of re-building and remodeling the old ship of state and steering her successfully thus far on her voyage.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

1. That we deeply regret the death of Charles Nicholas Gibbs.
2. That in commemoration of his life and as a testimonial of our respect, the Circuit, Chancery and Criminal Courts of Hamilton County; the United States District Court for the Southern Division of the Eastern District of Tennessee, and the Supreme Court of Tennessee be requested to spread the foregoing preamble and these resolutions on the records of said courts and that the reporter for the state be requested to prefix the same to the next volume of the Reports of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Tennessee.
3. That the preamble and resolutions be published in the newspapers of Chattanooga, and a copy of them forwarded to Mr. Carl Gibbs and Miss Kate Gibbs, surviving son and daughter of Col. Gibbs, accompanied by a letter of condolence from the committee, in the name of the bar.

COMMITTEE:
T. D. Fletcher, Chairman
Alex W. Chambliss
W. G. M. Thomas
Frank Carden.

From death-certificate:

name: Charles Nicholas Gibbs
event: Death
event date: 11 Jan 1920
event place: Chattanooga, Hamilton, Tennessee
gender: Male
marital status: Widowed
race or color: White
age: 91
estimated birth year: 1829
birthplace: Nashville, Davidson, Tenn.
father: Geo W. Gibbs
father’s birthplace: Tennessee
mother: Lee Ann Dribbrel
mother’s birthplace: Kentucky
occupation: Lawyer-Legal Proffency
street address: 112 Landsey St.
residence: 1 Ward, 1st Dist.
cemetery: Forest Hills Cemetery
burial date: 12 Jan 1920
digital folder number: 4184002
image number: 1565
film number: 1299716
volume/page/certificate number: v 21 cn 30