Alexander Gibbons was born in January 1853 in Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland to Margaret Sharp and an unknown father. When he died on 1st December, 1910 in Methven, Perthshire, Scotland he was a well-known business owner, respected member of the Methven community and the father of four.
Family lore says that Alexander’s father was a wealthy gentleman. I have been unable to find any records of Alexander’s birth or baptism, so cannot prove or disprove the story. His mother, however, seemed quite able to look after herself and a child. Her own mother had died when she was only two years old (a couple of months after the birth of her younger sister). At 15, according to the 1841 Census, Margaret was living in the village of Smithy Haugh near Auchterarder working as a Cotton Hand Loom Weaver. She was still there 10 years later when the 1851 Census was recorded.
By the 1861 census, Margaret and Alexander are living in Dunning (not far from Smithyhaugh) and Margaret is still working as a Cotton Weaver. In 1871, Alexander is 18 years old and working as a Tailor’s apprentice for John Sword at Bridge End, Dunning. Meanwhile his mother, Margaret, has moved on from the cotton industry (that faced a steady decline in Scotland during the second half of the nineteenth century) to become a Warden at the General Prison in Perth.
Ten years later, in 1881, Alexander is running his own business as a tailor and clothier in Methven. He has married Margaret McGregor (on 24th March 1876 at Tibbermore, near Perth) and has two young daughters. His mother is still working as a prison warden but she dies at the age of 55 on 15th November, 1881 in Dunning (Alexander is listed as the informant on the death certificate).