GIBBONS, ISABELLA
by J Munro
JUEL ID/KEY: P44625
Isabella Gibbons, female, a prominent individual in the Charlottesville community. She was born circa 1836 (some sources say 1833) and died in 1889 (some sources say 1890). Spouse of William D. Gibbons (P44626).
Sometime by 1850, Professor William Barton Rogers (P43658) purchased Isabella and brought her to live (as the family cook) with his family in Pavilion VI (PL8458). It is said that Mrs. Emma Rogers secretly taught Isabella Gibbons to read (it being illegal for Virginia slaves to learn to read and write) ("Behind Her Eyes").
In 1853, Prof. Francis H. Smith (P43721) replaced Prof. Rogers, coming with his family to live in Pavilion VI, where Isabella had remained as the cook (it is unclear if she was owned by the University, or, if Rogers transferred ownership to Smith). Prof. Francis H. Smith, Isabella, and his family lived in Pavilion VI until 1859, and then moved to Pavilion V (PL8454), living there from 1859 to 1928). As part of the household, Isabella worked in the kitchens of Pavilion VI and then V until 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation freed Isabella, William, and their three children from slavery ("Behind Her Eyes").
Post-emancipation, Isabella Gibbon's new career as an educator began. In October 1865, Anna Gardner of the New England Freedmen's Aid Society arrived in Charlottesville to begin a school for black residents; Isabella apparently asked if she could assist in teaching and was hired as a teacher's aide, eventually receiving a diploma from the Society's Charlottesville Normal School in 1867 and then working as a teacher, no longer an aide ("Behind Her Eyes"). She taught (as of 1866) at the two primary schools, "first at the old Confederate General Hospital, but later from a schoolhouse built just south of the railroad near 7th Street Southwest" ("Behind Her Eyes").
Isabella received a diploma from the newly founded New England Freedmen’s Aid Society’s Charlottesville Normal School in 1867. The school had been founded in October of 1865 when the New England Freedmen’s Aid Society sent a representative, Anna Gardner, to Charlottesville to start a school for the newly freed black residents. Shortly after Gardner’s arrival, Isabella Gibbons asked if she could help teach and work at the school and she was immediately hired by Gardner as a teacher’s aide and, after further instruction, as a full-fledged teacher. Gibbons (as of 1866) and Paul Lewis, another formerly enslaved individual, taught at the two primary schools, first at the old Confederate General Hospital, but later from a schoolhouse built just south of the railroad near 7th Street Southwest. In 1871, Isabella Gibbons was hired by the city's public school system when the Freedmen's School became a public school (eventually, the Jefferson School). Isabella Gibbons is believed to have worked as a teacher until her death in 1889 (note that some accounts list her death as 1890) ("Behind Her Eyes").
Isabella Gibbons is known for her 1867 letter, below, which was published along with other letters in the article entitled, "Extracts from Teachers' Letters," (The Freedmen's Record/Journal, June 1, 1867):
"CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 29, 1867. DEAR LADY,—We have lived to see the fortieth Congress and to behold a change of affairs. The rebels begin to see the error of their way at last, and do all they can to better our race. They say 'the colored people are not only free but have a right to vote. Now let us be kind to them; they have been our slaves, and we must do something for them. It will not do to leave them to the care of those hated yankees. They will build them up as a tower against us. We must not do as we would like, but as we must, in this time of trouble, because the time that the Garrison’s, the Sumner’s, and Stevens’ have been telling them about, has come, they will believe it if we do not take right steps in time. They are a good people, and so fond of their old masters, they will do what we want they should. Most of them love us, and have forgotten what happened while they were slaves. They know we are their friends.' This is a grand story for them to tell, but let us answer them. Can we forget the crack of the whip, cowhide, whipping-post, the auction-block, the hand-cuffs, the spaniels, the iron collar, the negro-trader tearing the young child from its mother’s breast as a whelp from the lioness? Have we forgotten that by those horrible cruelties, hundreds of our race have been killed? No, we have not, nor ever will. If the Northern people who have given their life’s blood for our liberty are not our friends, where can we find them? O, God help us to love these people. I am with the warmest regards, Your servant, ISABELLA GIBBONS."
Details about her later life (marriage, residence, death) are not as clear. William Gibbons was the Minister of the First Baptist Church, Charlottesville after 1863; in 1868, he was the Minister at the Zion Baptist Church in Washington D.C. ("Behind Her Eyes"). William Gibbons was buried at Charlottesville's Oakwood Cemetery; Isabella Gibbons is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave near her husband (accordingly, Isabella is not listed as a person buried at Oakwood; William's gravestone is below):
SOURCES
- New residence at UVA, Gibbons House, named for Isabella and William Gibbons, dedicated June 2015.
- "Isabella Gibbons and Pavilion VI," Thomas Jefferson Architect web site, accessed 13 July 2020
- "Isabella Gibbons," Virginia Changemakers web site, accessed 4 January 2021
- "Extracts from Teachers' Letters," Freedmen's Record/Journal, Accessible Archives
- William Gibbons Tombstone, Oakwood Cemetery, Charlottesville, findagrave.com
- Dunnavant, Kellen. "Behind Her Eyes: The Story of Isabella Gibbons," Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Virginia. Online edition.
- Letter from Eliza Tucker Harrison to Mary Harrison Smith, 22 February 1860; "Reminiscences and a Contrast" (George Christian)
Ana Gardner: silverplate engraved fork, present from pupils of Charlottesville's Freedmen's School (see also biographial sketch one and two of Gardner, papers of Gardner family, mention of article on Albemarle County Schools in Reconstruction era - full text here [mentions Gibbons teaching primary school in the Delevan House to sixty pupils - building became the First Baptist Church, Cville] - Anna Gardner portrait (in her later years - 1897); Anna Gardner carte-de-visite (1860's? Edwin B. Robinson studio; Robinson a photographer occupying "Main Street Studio" in Nantucket, birthplace/home of Anna Gardner); glass-plate negative of same photo
PRIMARY SOURCE INFORMATION
1. References to the Individual in the JUEL Digitized Transcripts
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"Enslaved African Americans at the University of Virginia"
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