Near the line where Spring is joined by Carroll Township, along Sherman's Creek, George Gibson took up fifty acres in February, 1785, and another fifty acres in 1787. Ann West Gibson took up 100 acres in April, 1793. This was the Falling Springs property. She was the wife of George Gibson, who was killed in 1791 in battle, and took up the claim after his death. Her father, Francis West, and Ross Mitchell owned adjoining claims. George Gibson and his wife, Ann West Gibson, were the parents of five children, two of whom became prominent, John Bannister Gibson being a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and George Gibson, Commissary General of the United States. See chapter devoted to their lives. The old Gibson mill was built by Ann West Gibson prior to 1782, its history being embraced in the chapter on Old Landmarks, Mills, etc. When the county was formed in 1820, the Gibson heirs were assessed with 450 acres of land, a sawmill and a gristmill. The Wests, of which family Mrs. Gibson was a member, were descendants of Francis West, who came over with William Penn on his second voyage to America, from the family seat at "Westover," England. They took up large tracts along Sherman's Creek. William West warranted 323 acres in May, 1755; Francis West, several tracts in 1755 and 1757; Ann West Gibson, a tract in 1787; Edward West, 100 acres in 1792, and a tract called "Trouble Ended," in 1790. The 100-acre tract he called "Quaker Hill."
Francis West, one of the family, was a "squatter" prior to taking out a warrant for his land. His old hut was still standing a dozen years after the formation of the county. At the out-breaking of the Revolution he resided at Carlisle and was judge of the courts. During the war he moved to his lands here, where he died in 1784.
