Louise Hixson Gibson
1960

MRS. GIBSON DIES AT THE AGE OF 96

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Widow of a Confederate Veteran – Funeral Will Be Monday in Hixson

 

            Mrs. Louise Hixson Gibson, 96, one of the few surviving widows of Confederate veterans, died Saturday morning at her residence, 1513 East 16th St. , following an extended illness.

            Mrs. Gibson was born March 20, 1864, the daughter of Houston and Nancy Barker Hixson. Her grandfather, Ephriam Hixson, became the first settler in the town that now bears his name only 24 years before her birth. A veteran of the War of 1812, Mrs. Gibson’s grandfather obtained a land grant when his former commander, Andrew Jackson, became the seventh president of the United States . The grant includes the area where Hixson now stands.

            On Oct. 15, 1889 she was married to the late Jeremiah Gibson, a native of North Carolina and 20 years her senior. He was fighting with a North Carolina infantry regiment in the northern Virginia campaign when she was born.

            Shortly after their marriage, Mr. Gibson moved his bride to a plot of land then considered the “country” insofar as Chattanooga was concerned. That was 73 years ago. It was swallowed up by the expansion of Chattanooga years ago. But the Gibson family continued to live there through the years. Mrs. Gibson’s death came in the same house she moved into as a bride. None of the family acreage around it has been developed.

            For many years Mr. Gibson was connected with the Nashville , Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway Co. He also was a member for many years of the Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp of the United Confederate Veterans.

            Mrs. Gibson was the oldest member of the Hixson Methodist Church . Her parents had worshiped in that church before she became a member.

            Funeral services will be held Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Hixson Methodist Church with its pastor, the Rev. Perry T. Rule, officiating. Burial will be in the Hamilton Memorial Gardens .

            Survivors are her daughter, Mrs. Nota Gibson Divine; a granddaughter, Mrs. Annie Divine Lambdin; two great-grand children, Robert and Frances Lambdin, all of Chattanooga .

            The body was moved to the National Funeral Home, West Chapel, to remain until the funeral.

            Pallbearers will be C. K. Sisco, Henry Hobday, Herman Pursley, Raymond Davis, Charles Lawson and Curtin Hixson.

The Chattanooga Times, Sunday, September 18, 1960.