John Gibb (March 14, 1829 – August 27, 1905) was a cofounder of the dry goods house of Mills & Gibb.

Biography

Gibb was born on March 14, 1829, in

Forfarshire Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agri ...

, Scotland. He left his father's farm at the age of 14 to apprentice for four years in a draper's shop at Montrose, Angus. Later, he went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and was in the largest wholesale house in that city. In 1850, he became acquainted with a member of the firm of E. S. Jaffray & Company, who induced him to come to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where became a buyer of embroideries and white goods. In 1865, he formed the firm of Mills & Gibb with

Philo L. Mills Philo Laos Mills (1832, New York City - August 21, 1905) was the cofounder of the dry good house, Mills & Gibb. He had been partners with John Gibb (businessman), John Gibb for over 40 years. As a young man, he entered the employ of E. S. Jafiray ...

, with whom he remained partners for over forty years. When the company incorporated in 1903, Gibb became president, while Mills, vice-president, moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to take charge of the company's foreign business. Gibb was a director of the

Brooklyn Trust Company The Brooklyn Trust Company was a New York City bank. History The company was chartered in 1866.

, a member of the advisory council of the Thrift Savings, Loan & Building Fund, the Brooklyn Club,

Long Island Historical Society The Center for Brooklyn History (CBH, formerly known as the Brooklyn Historical Society) is a museum, library, and educational center founded in 1863 that preserves and encourages the study of Brooklyn's 400-year history. The center's Romanesque R ...

, Penatquit-Corinthian Yacht, Merchants‘ Central, Hamilton and Olympic Clubs, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, and the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

. He was for a term president of the Brooklyn Park Commission and was a trustee for

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Personal life

In 1852, he married Mrs. Harriet Balston (died in 1878). Seven years later, he married Sarah D. Mackay. He died in 1905 at his country residence, "Afterglow" in Islip, Long Island. Five sons survived him, I. Richmond, Arthur, Walter, Elmer and Louis and four daughters, all married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibb, John 1829 births 1905 deaths Businesspeople from New York City People from Angus, Scotland Mills & Gibb 19th-century American businesspeople