1892 Biography - Forrest Gibbons

Forrest Gibbons, proprietor of the "Elm Grove" plantation, East Baton Rouge parish, La., was born in the state of Kentucky in 1828. His youth was spent in Missouri, where he attended a private school, receiving an ordinary education. His father was a farmer by occupation, and he was trained to the earns calling which he had followed through life. He remained under the parental root until he was nineteen years of age and then removed to Louisiana, where he has since made his home. He was married in 1867 to Miss Day, of Baton Rouge, La., a daughter of Dr. Day, of the same city. Nine children were born of this union-five sons and four daughters. "Elm Grove" plantation contains 261 acres, and is in a good state of cultivation. The principal crops are cotton and sugar cane, and there is a sugar-house on the place which is used exclusively by Mr. Gibbons. During the late Civil war he had charge of the sugar plantation belonging to Dr. Williams, which was situated two and a half mile, below Baton Rouge. In this work he gained a great deal of experience that has been of much value in his own operations in the culture of sugar cane. Mr. Gibbons is a member of the Masonic fraternity. In all his business relations he has shown himself a man of honor and unusual ability. The first salary he received was $30 per month, and the last was $3,000 per year. The interests of his employer were always his own, a merit which did not remain unrecognized. Thomas Gibbons, the father of J. Forrest Gibbons, was a native of the state of Maryland.

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Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, published in 1892, volume 1, pages 442-443.

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