Artist/Author/Illustrator
Centurion, 1890–1896
Born 5 October 1850 in Sandy Hook, Connecticut
Died 16 July 1896 in Washington, Connecticut
Buried Washington Cemetery on the Green
, Washington, Connecticut
Proposed by James D. Smillie and Albert Mathews
Elected 4 October 1890 at age thirty-nine
Century Memorial
William Hamilton Gibson, distinguished alike as an artist, an author and an illustrator, had risen by unwonted industry, native talent, and a tireless enthusiasm to a high place in the esteem of the lovers of nature and the admirers of true art. He was recognized as an artist with the pen as well as with the pencil, and entitled to a place among those enthusiastic naturalists who have the skill in words to impart their enthusiasm. His “Highways and Byways,” “Pastoral Days,” the “Heart of the White Mountains,” “Nature’s Serial Story,” “Camp Life in the Woods,” “Trapping and Trap Making,” “Happy Hunting Grounds,” and many other books, all illustrated by himself, showed his scientific exactitude and his artistic quality. His illustrated article in the last number of Harper’s Magazine seems like a farewell message from him in another world. He was also a noted water-colorist, and, in later years, a popular lecturer on natural history.
His facility of expression and ingenious illustration of his subject by his crayon and mechanical appliances instructed and entertained his audiences, and no man had appeared in this field since [Louis] Agassiz with such success as met him. There was a charm in his personality from the earnestness and kindliness of his nature, and the number of those who mourn his early death is not confined to his personal friends alone.
Henry E. Howland
1897 Century Association Yearbook