Francis (Frank) & Jessie Gibbison & their 9 children
Frank was the eldest son of William and Clara Gibbison, born as a healthy full term baby in January 1892 after his mother had suffered several miscarriages. The Gibbisons had originally migrated to the Raglan district from Australia in the late 1850s, and by the time Frank was born two generations of William Gibbisons - his grandfather and father - had already built up a prosperous farming and business enterprise in the Kauroa Valley in Raglan..
Frank's grandfather William was an Australian who had made a business success out of working as a stonemason in Chile followed by gold prospecting in California and Australia. He made enough money to bring and his second wife Ann (nee Mitford) to New Zealand from Sydney, along with two draught horses and enough in savings to buy land in the Raglan District which he proceeded to turn into pasture.
Franks father - also William - inherited his father's financial acumen and was a successful businessman and farmer although he had little formal education. (Family lore relates Frank rode a cow to school, and could be persuaded to turn around and head home at the slightest excuse, but it didn't inhibit his drive - at one stage he owned most of the Kauroa Valley.
Franks' mother Clara also came from a prosperous family. Her father ( Frances also Frank Stevens) had a top civil servant post in Wellington as Commissioner of Crown Lands, so Frank's maternal grandparents were in the position to proudly buy him a very expensive Christening gown which Clara used for all her children and which is still in the family. (Pictured left)
Frank was educated with the rest of the children at the local school in the saleyards building and had an enforced holiday once a month when the sale was on because the building was needed for serving meals. Frank worked his father's farm, and when William retired to Raglan in the 1920s Frank took over the farm and moved his family to the main homestead William Senior had built with pit sawn timber.
Frank's dates: Born 1 Jan, 1892 at Kauroa.
Died 13 July, 1959 at Raglan.
Frank's grandfather William was an Australian who had made a business success out of working as a stonemason in Chile followed by gold prospecting in California and Australia. He made enough money to bring and his second wife Ann (nee Mitford) to New Zealand from Sydney, along with two draught horses and enough in savings to buy land in the Raglan District which he proceeded to turn into pasture.
Franks father - also William - inherited his father's financial acumen and was a successful businessman and farmer although he had little formal education. (Family lore relates Frank rode a cow to school, and could be persuaded to turn around and head home at the slightest excuse, but it didn't inhibit his drive - at one stage he owned most of the Kauroa Valley.
Franks' mother Clara also came from a prosperous family. Her father ( Frances also Frank Stevens) had a top civil servant post in Wellington as Commissioner of Crown Lands, so Frank's maternal grandparents were in the position to proudly buy him a very expensive Christening gown which Clara used for all her children and which is still in the family. (Pictured left)
Frank was educated with the rest of the children at the local school in the saleyards building and had an enforced holiday once a month when the sale was on because the building was needed for serving meals. Frank worked his father's farm, and when William retired to Raglan in the 1920s Frank took over the farm and moved his family to the main homestead William Senior had built with pit sawn timber.
Frank's dates: Born 1 Jan, 1892 at Kauroa.
Died 13 July, 1959 at Raglan.