HENRY ROSIMUNDAS GIBBAR was born on May 21, 1832, the child of Jean Nicholas Gieber and Anna Marie Drouard. He was the first Gibbar (Gieber) generation to be born in the new world. Henry's parents, Jean Nicholas and Anna Marie, both came from the small village of Schorbach, located in the northeastern part of France in the province of Lorraine.

On November 15, 1826, Henry's father, Jean Nicolas, son of Maurice and Anna Barbe, married Anna Marie Drouard in the Town Hall in Schorbach. Anna Marie, born January 14, 1803, in Schorbach, was the daughter of Jean Drouard and Anne Marie Guillaume.​​​​​​ 

They had their first child, Elisabeth, on April 13, 1828. She was baptized on April 14th, 1828. Their second child, Pierre Jacob (Peter James), was born on February 3, 1831 and baptized on the same day.

​​​Later that same year, probably in late November or early December, Jean Nicolas, his wife Anna Marie and their children, along with his brother Peter, Peter's wife, Catherine, and their two children, Peter Jr. and Adam, all set sail for America. The Giebers boarded the ship, the ​​​​​​​​​​Tallahassee, originally out of New York, under the master Stephen E. Gibson, and sailed out of the Port of Le Havre, France, bound for New Orleans, Louisiana. Henry's mother, Anna Marie (Drouard) Gieber, was approximately 5 months pregnant with him when the family arrived on January 6, 1832,  in New Orleans, Louisiana.

There is some ambiguity regarding the actual location of Henry's birth. Although he was born on May 21, 1832, he wasn't baptized until June 9, 1832. His godfather was Rosimundus Pratte and his godmother was Mary Louise de la Valle. The priest who baptized him was J. Brands, S.C.M.

Many sources, including several U.S. Federal Census documents, claim that he was born in Missouri. However, in the 1930 U.S. Federal census for Henry's daughter, Louise (Gibbar) Littiken, it states that her father was from France. On the death certificate of Henry's son, Henry Rosemore Gibbar, his father's place of birth is listed specifically as New Orleans, Louisiana, which was the port at which the family arrived in the new world in the dead of winter in January, 1832. The informant for this information was Pius Alfred Gibbar, the deceased's brother and Henry's eldest son. ​

This is compelling documentation to suggest Henry's place of birth was actually New Orleans and that the family chose until after the child's birth to make the long journey up the Mississippi River, and possibly until the weather was more agreeable, to make their final home in Missouri.

Unfortunately, in September of 1834, just two years after their arrival in the new world, Henry's mother, Anna Marie Drouard, died in Perry County, Missouri. His sister, Sofia, was born only four months before his mother's death.

Henry's father, John Nicholas, remarried to Mary Ann Mattingly, originally from Kentucky, on September 18, 1835, at the Assumption Church (St. Mary of the Barrens) in Perryville, Missouri. Together, Jean Nicholas and Mary Ann Mattingly had 8 more children.

According to the 1840 U.S. Federal Census, the Gibbar family (listed as Kabar) was living in Perry County, Missouri. The 1840 census doesn't specify what township is enumerated, nor does it list names of residents other than the head of the household. However, it does show that there were two adults and five children living in the house that correspond to the ages of the Gibbar children at that time.

Jean Nicolas' daughter, Elisabeth, is not represented in the 1840 census reports and there is no other information in Perry County that has yet been found to indicate what became of her. This would suggest that she had most likely died between 1832 and 1840.​​

On January 8, 1855, when he was 23 years old, Henry married ​​​​​Elizabeth Ellen Burns. Elizabeth Ellen was born in 1836, possibly in Bois Brule Township, Perry County, Missouri. We know very little about Elizabeth Ellen, except that she was the daughter of William Burns and Martha Mulvine Taylor.

A document listing payment of church taxes for 1865 for "St. Mary's Landing Church" indicates that Henry Gibbar was a member and that he payed a tax of $1.00 for that year. St. Mary's Landing was an early name for the town of St. Mary, Missouri, which is located in Beauvais Township, Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri. There is also a listing for Nicholas Gibbar. This is most likely Henry's half-brother, Nicholas, as their father, Nicholas, Sr., is presumed to have died in 1851.

There is currently no church called St. Mary's Landing Church. However, in 1855, there was a wooden frame church erected in St. Mary's Landing that was serviced by the Vincentian priests from St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary in Perryville, Missouri. It wasn't until 1874 that the cornerstone for the current brick structure was laid that became the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. 

Henry R. Gibbar served during the Civil War as part of the Missouri State Militia. He enrolled in Perryville, Missouri, on September 17th, 1861, when he was 27 years old as a member of  Simpson's 6 Month Militia, Company C  under Captain Nations. He was appointed Corporal on October 3rd, 1861 and mustered out at the end of the six-month term on February 25th, 1862. His younger brother, Nicholas, also served in this unit.​

On August 16, 1862, Henry joined the 64th Regiment of the Enrolled Missouri Militia, Company B, under Captain William H. Bennett and Capt. Gahl in Cape Girardeau. At that time his rank was Private. He mustered out on May 20, 1863.

Corporal Henry R. Gibbar

Civil War Service Documents

By the time of the ​1870 census, the family had made their home in Saline Township in Perry County, Missouri. Henry, 38, was described as having the occupation of "Blacksmith." ​Elizabeth Ellen, at 34 years old, was listed as "keeping house." There were five children in the home: Mary, Pius, Henry, (Elizabeth) Catherine, and Sofia. In total, the couple had seven children, with the addition of Laura in 1871 and Lydia in 1873. The family had maintained ties with the Catholic Church in St. Mary's as evidenced by the baptismal records from Ste. Genevieve County of their fourth daughter, Laura Ann, in 1871.

Elizabeth Ellen (Burns) Gibbar died on or about October 3rd, 1875. Records note that "her body was blessed for burial" by the Reverend W. V. Moore, who was a priest stationed at St. Marys of the Barrens Seminary. At the time of her death, she was 39 years old. The records of her death are located at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Perryville, Missouri, but do not give us information about where she was buried.

It was a little more than a year after the death of Henry's first wife, Elizabeth, when he remarried to Mary Ann on November 26, 1876, in Perryville, Perry County, Missouri.

Mary Ann Reddick Miles was the daughter of James Reddick and Mary Manning. Mary Ann was a widow. She and her first husband, William Regis Miles, were married on May 6, 1850. Census records show the couple were still married and living in St. Mary's Township, Perry County, Missouri, in July of 1870.

With her first husband, Mary Ann had three children. The first, Mary Josephine Miles, was born in 1851 and died in 1852. The second, John William Miles, was born in 1873 and died in 1874. The third child and only one to survive infancy, William Richard Miles, was born in 1874. On the 1870 census, he was listed as step-son, living with his mother and her new husband, Henry Gibbar. Mary Ann's first husband died sometime between 1874 and November of 1876.

Together, Henry R. and Mary Ann had two more sons, Francis Elias, born June 6, 1880, and James Nicholas, born July 23, 1882. Because Francis Elias wasn't born until June 6th, he was not enumerated on the 1880 census. The 1880 Federal Census began on June 1st for the general population of the United States. The enumeration was to be completed within thirty days, or two weeks for communities with populations of 10,000 or fewer. Regardless of when an individual was contacted, all responses were to reflect the status of the individual as of June 1, 1880, the official Census Day.

James Nicholas died in October of 1884 when he was approximately two months old. The Missouri Death Records do not record a date of birth or an exact date of death for James Nicolas. The report of his death, from fever and "flux," was not recorded until several months after the event. The date of burial is listed as "about the next day" and, in place of the attending physician returning the certificate is the name of his father, Henry R. Gibbar. He was buried in "St. Marys Seminary" in Perryville, Missouri.

In the 1880 Federal census, the Henry R. Gibbar family was listed as living three properties from the James P. Kline family. As was common at the time, due to the diffiulty of travel and living in a very rural environment, people often married into families that lived in the vicinity of their own. Henry's son, Pius Alfred Gibbar, and James' daughter, Mary Ambrosia Kline, would later marry.

Although most of the federal census records from 1890 were destroyed by water and fire damage, we are fortunate that some did survive. Included in these is a "Special Schedule - Surviving Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, and Widows, etc." From this special census we know that Henry Gibbar was still living in Saline Township in Perry County, Missouri, in 1890 and, more specifically, that his post office address was Brewer, Missouri. The census also lists his rank as Corporal and his company as Company C, and his regiment as Regiment 4. 

On February 19, 1891, Henry R. Gibbar submitted the application for his military pension. At the time of his submission, he was 59 years of age, and listed "Invalid" as the class. Whether he was injured in the war or not was unknown. In the census of 1880, seventeen years after his draft registration, Henry's occupation was listed as "Blacksmith," which is a physically demanding job that one would assume would be difficult if one had suffered an injury significant enough to specify the class of "invalid" on a pension application.​​​​​​​​​​​​

Henry's penion application shows that he served in Company 4 of the Missouri State Militia Infantry. Note that other documents state that he was also a member of Company B, Regiment 64.

Henry R. Gibbar died on Sunday, March 26, 1893. Records note that "his body was blessed for burial" by the Reverend J.A. Foley, C.M., who was a priest stationed at St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary. At the time of his death, he was 61 years old. The records of his death are located at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Perryville, Missouri, but do not give us information about where he was buried. The cemetery indicated on the headstone application appears to be ​St. Mary's Cemetery in Perryville, Missouri. St. Mary's of the Barrens Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Perry County. Although there are 249 graves documented online, Henry's grave is not listed among them. It is possible, however, that the online record is not complete and that he is, indeed, buried in the old pioneer cemetery.

In 1900, the census showed Mary Ann Gibbar (listed as Mary A. Gibbon), as widowed, the head of the household, and still living in Saline Township in Perry County Missouri. Living with her was her son from her previous marriage, William R. Miles, and Frances Elias, her son with Henry. All three are listed as farmers. Having passed away in 1893, her husband, Henry R. Gibbar, is not included. Mary Ann Gibbar was not represented in Saline Township in the 1910 census. However, her son, Elias, at 30 years of age, was found living in the household of the Pius Alfred Gibbar family and is listed as "half-brother." 

There is an entry in the Assumption church records of the death of a "Mary E. Gibbar," who died on January 13, 1910, at the age of 78 years and 7 months, which would correspond to Mary Ann Gibbar's date of birth in July of 1832. In addition, the entry states that she died in Brewer, which is the last known location of Henry and Mary Ann. It is possible that the "E" is an error, and that this is, indeed, the record of the death of Mary Ann Reddick Miles Gibbar. The notation was made by Reverend Hugh J. O'Connor, a Catholic priest from St. Mary's of the Barrens Seminary. There is no currently known documentation of where she is buried.