DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the starting point for this one, and I'll take it from there in my own fashion. Now, you want to talk about a woman who could outwork, outthink, and outlast just about anybody in East Texas — and did exactly that for the better part of three decades — then pull up a chair and let me tell you about Sallie E. Gibbs.
She came into the world as Sarah Elizabeth Smith, born October 18, 1844, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her parents, Mary Washington Ledbetter Smith and Thomas Jefferson Smith, ran a large plantation, and they weren't about to let that girl sit idle. Tutoring started at age four.
Age four. By the time she was fifteen, she was enrolled at the Greensboro College for Young Ladies, where she built herself a general liberal arts education and a strong Methodist Episcopal spiritual foundation. In 1859, her parents packed up the household goods and the slaves and moved the whole operation to Texas.
Sallie made the journey with them — and then turned right around and went back to Greensboro to finish what she'd started. That right there tells you something about her. She graduated in 1863.
Valedictorian of her class. She moved to Texas after the Civil War, in 1865. By then, her parents had a prosperous plantation running near Plantersville, over in Montgomery County.
And it wasn't long after her return that she met Sandford St. John Gibbs — a widower, a successful Huntsville merchant — and the two of them wed in January of 1866. Over the next twelve years, Sallie gave birth to six children: three sons and three daughters.
A full house, a busy life. And then came 1886, and Sandford died. Now here's where the story shifts.
Sallie assumed control of Sandford's assets. And what she did next — over the next thirty-two years — is the kind of thing that makes you set down your coffee and just listen. She took S.
Gibbs and Company, a mercantile business, and transformed it. Later operating as Gibbs Bros. and Company, it grew into one of East Texas' leading financial, land, and timber enterprises. In 1890, with her son Wilbourn and businessman Adair Wynne, she established Gibbs National Bank.
She served an active role on that bank's board of directors until she retired in 1917. And if you want something to picture while you're rollin' down this road — in 1895, she and son Wilbourn built a large Queen Anne-style home right on this very site. That house stood as a long-running reflection of what she'd built.
Sallie died on May 27, 1918, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. She'd spent her life active in the Methodist church and in area educational institutions, the same pillars that had shaped her back in Greensboro all those years before. Valedictorian.
Wife. Mother of six. Banker.
Businesswoman. Sallie E. Gibbs didn't wait for anybody to hand her a seat at the table.
She built the table.
What the marker says
Successful businesswoman Sallie E. Gibbs was born Sarah Elizabeth Smith in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on October 18, 1844 to Mary Washington (Ledbetter) and Thomas Jefferson Smith. Her parents operated a large plantation, and she received tutoring from age four until she went to the Greensboro College for Young Ladies at the age of fifteen. There, she received a general liberal arts education and a strong Methodist Episcopal spiritual foundation. In 1859, Sallie’s parents moved their household goods and slaves to Texas. She accompanied them on the journey before returning to Greensboro to complete her studies. She graduated in 1863 as valedictorian of her class and moved to Texas after the Civil War in 1865. By that time, her parents operated a prosperous plantation near Plantersville, Montgomery County. Shortly after her return to Texas, Sallie met Sandford St. John Gibbs, a widower and successful Huntsville merchant, and the two wed in January 1866. During the next twelve years, Sallie gave birth to six children: three sons and three daughters. After Sandford’s death in 1886, Sallie assumed control of his assets and over the next 32 years transformed S. Gibbs & Co. (later Gibbs Bros. & Co.) from a mercantile business into one of East Texas’ leading financial, land and timber enterprises. With son Wilbourn and businessman Adair Wynne, Sallie established Gibbs National Bank in 1890. Until retiring in 1917, she played an active role on the bank’s board of directors. Sallied died on May 27, 1918 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. During her life, she was active in the Methodist church and in area educational institutions. Her success in business was for many years reflected in the large Queen Anne-style home she and son Wilbourn built on this site in 1895. (2006)