AKA Orville H. Gibson

Born: 1856
Birthplace: Chateaugay, NY
Died: 21-Aug-1918
Location of death: Ogdensberg, NY
Cause of death: Heart Failure
Remains: Buried, Morningside Cemetery, Malone, NY

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Business, Musician

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Made mandolins and guitars

Orville H. Gibson made musical instruments as a hobby in the 1890s, while working as a clerk in a shoe store in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His handcrafted mandolins (which were far more popular than his early guitars) featured carved tops and backs made from a solid section of wood, a dramatic change from the standard method of his time, where the wood was bent to the needed shape, or instruments were constructed from numerous strips of wood. By 1896 Gibson was able to quit his day job and make musical instruments full time, and in the early 1900s he found investors to help turn his hobby into a business, establishing the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company on 11 October 1902. Once the business was underway, however, Gibson's health began to fail, and he was not often present in his company's factory and office. He was hospitalized numerous times, often for extended periods, and died at the St. Lawrence State Hospital, an asylum for the mentally ill in Ogdensberg, New York.

Father: John Gibson
Mother: Amy Nichols Gibson
Sister: Emma Gibson
Brother: Lovell Gibson
Brother: Orzo Gibson
Sister: Pluma Gibson

    Gibson Guitar Corporation Founder (1902-04)
    English Ancestry (Paternal)
    Peruvian Ancestry (Maternal)

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