Thomas F. Gibbs, Grand Master, 1891

This Brother was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, July 14, 1837. In early life he removed to Bridgewater, in his native State, where he received an academic education. October 6, 1864, he enlisted in the 20th Maine Infantry, and shortly afterward was detailed for hospital duty in Washington, District Columbia, in which service he continued until October 31, 1865, when he was honorably discharged and immediately appointed to a position in the War Department He graduated from the Medical Department of the Georgetown University of this city in 1870, and practiced his profession for about a year in Providence, Rhode Island. He then returned to Washington and resumed his position in the War Department, and continued in that service the balance of his active life. In July, 1901, while going from Washington to Boston, the steamer encountered a heavy gale and Brother Gibbs was flung violently from his berth, receiving injuries from which he never recovered, resulting in progressive paralysis and partial blindness.

He was made a Master Mason in Columbia Lodge, No. 3, January 5, 1876; was Junior Warden of said lodge in 1878; Senior Warden in 1879, and Worshipful Master in 1880 and 1883. He was Junior Deacon of the Grand Lodge in 1885, served in each succeeding station in the progressive line, and was Grand Master in 1891. He was also an honorary member of M. M. Parker and Washington Centennial Lodges. In Capitular Masonry, Brother Gibbs was Grand High Priest in the year 1892. He died January 30, 1906.

For twenty-five years he was a faithful and zealous worker in Symbolic and Capitular Masonry until his active career was terminated by the injury noted above. In manner courteous and genial, in disposition candid and sincere, he was held in great affection by all who knew him. Living for years in the shadow of death, with the knowledge that his summons might come at any moment, he was yet brave and cheerful, and his interest in the Fraternity never failed. He was, indeed, an ideal Mason and a living practical exponent of the moral tenets of the Fraternity.

AHGP District of Columbia

Source: History of the Grand Lodge and Freemasonry in the District of Columbia, compiled by W. Brother Kenton N. Harper, 1911.