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Henry H. Gihson 



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iic rortrait 



It is the sad duty of Habdwood Record to chronicle the death 

 of its founder and editor, Henry 11. Gibson, who died suddenly of 

 heart failure on Wednesday evening, March 25. Mr. Gibson had 

 been in delicate health for the last few years, but his friends had 

 hoped that 'a- was impioving and they certainly had no thought 

 of his untimely end at a time when his brilliantly matured intellect 

 and sane judgment made him perhaps the most valuable writer on 

 forest products of the last decade. 



'"Jot to our knowledge has any other writer on lumber and forest 

 topics had the peculiarly practical experience in both the newspaper 

 and lumber trade that was Mr. Gibson's. As a boy he was a 

 newspaper man starting at Flint, Mich., becoming later the editor 

 of the Grand Rapids Leader. 



sjoon after iiis marriage to Idah McGlone at Flint, Mich., he 

 entered the employ of his wife's father, who was a well-known 

 lumberman. Here he learned the lumber business thoroughly, not 

 only the selling but the buying end. and sonif years afterward 

 went into business for himself in Sandusky, later moving to 

 Ciucinnati. 



Ill health caused Mr. Gibson to give up his Cincinnati business 

 and go into the southern pine woods in search of health, and for 

 some years he conducted a mill in ^\^^itle.v, Tenn. This, too. he 

 had to give up on account of his health and a severe surgical 

 operation. While recuper.ating he accepted a position on the Ameri- 

 can Lumberman, a paper for which he had written since its inception. 



In January, 1905, Hakdwood Record was launched with Mr. 

 Gibson as president of the company and editor and manager, this 

 company taking over the Chicago Hardwood Record, whicli had been 

 published as a comparatively local publication up to that date. It is 

 not neeessarv to say to our clientele and the lumber trade that this 

 venture was a success from the start, and Mr. Gibson 's advice on 

 lunibei' conditions and lumber operations was not only asked through 

 the columns of H.utDwoOD Record but also his personal counsel was 

 sought by the largest concerns and factors in the trade. 



Of direct and incisive style, trenchant with fact and often pointed 

 with humor, Henry Gibson's writings have chronicled the history of 

 the hardwood lumber trade for the last nine years. A man of great 

 courage and clear convictions, he never wrote anything that he did not 

 feel in his heart was the truth, and for this singleness of purpose and 

 sincerity of speech his friends — who were all who knew him either 

 in a business or social way — admired him most. 



There was no man who loved his friends more and who would 

 do more for them than Henry Gibson. His sympathy was boundless, 

 his efiort untiring in a friend's cause. 



Henry Gibson was an eminently successful man in the fact that 

 he accomplished everything he undertook. He never ceased to 

 accumulate money for its own sake, but he was vastly interested 

 iu the game of life and played it to the last with a zest that even 

 ill health could not diminish. He loved the woods and often re- 

 nun ked "next to my wife I love a forest tree." 



He was the most tolerant of men, always ready to give anyone 

 the benefit of the doubt. 



Mr. Gibson was singularly happy in his married life. The wife 

 who shared with him the adversities and good fortunes of a busy 

 and varied life, which embraced residence in a number of the larger 

 cities of the country as well as in the forest and in the mountains, 

 was a true companion to him and he to her. Mr. Gibson never 

 boasted that he was a lover of home, but it was very easily seen 

 thai he took no greater joy than extending to his friends the fullest 

 hospitality of his home life. 



In his capacity as an employer, Mr. Gibson was singularly fortunate 

 in having the knack of conveying to those whom he employed the 

 feeling that they were simply part with him in an organization 

 ivhich was working for a specific purpose, and imparted to his 



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co-workers his own enthusiasm and couN-ictions, with the result that 

 the organization which he built up worked with the deepest loyalty, 

 singleness of purpose and thought, without the usual feeling that 

 it was simply a paid factor to carry out his wishes. In his business 

 life he never asked anyone to do what he was not capable of doing 

 and ready to do himself, 



Mr. Gibson was in no sense a clubman, although singularly gifted 

 in the attributes which usually go to make up the successful follower 

 of club life. He was an exceedingly clever mixer, approaching new 

 acquaintances easily and agreeably, and invariably making the favor- 

 able first-impression which is essential to the abilitj- to mis wcU 

 with mei'. of aflfairs. However, he had alwajs considered his home 

 as his club, and at the time of his death his only club aflSliation 

 was with the Lumbermen's Club of Chicago. 



On October 1, 1912, Mr. Gibson, with Albert Kraetzer, Burdis 

 Anderson and H. C. Holthoff, incorporated The Kraetzer Company, a 

 concern which exploited the commercial possibilities of the process 

 of preparing lun\ber for drying by steaming under pressure in a 

 steel cylinder. This proposition under Mr. Gibson's most able 

 guidance has enjoyed remarkable success. Mr. Gibson was president 

 of the concern, and had chiefly to do with the sales of the apparatus. 



One of the most notable achievements of the deceased was the 

 compilation of a remarkable series of articles describing in minute 

 detail the scientific and economic facts regarding every commercial 

 tree of the LTnited States. This work was started in the form of a 

 series of articles which were begun by Mr. Gibson shortly after 

 commencing the publication of Hardwood Record. About a year 

 and a half ago, with the assistance of Hu Maxwell, formerly of the 

 United States Forest Service, Mr. Gibson compUed this remarkable 

 series in book form entitled "American Forest Trees," which will 

 stand for all time as a very fitting monument to his memory. 



During his work with Hardwood Record, Mr. Gibson was instru- 

 mental in inaugurating several associations having to do with the 

 hardwood business and in fostering their development. He rendered 

 his best efforts to this work and it was his personal pride to see 

 the progress which the organizations have since made. His close 

 touch with all phases of the hardwcod business, with the manufactur- 

 insr and merchandising of the products cf the hardwood forest, 

 rendered him eminently fitted to carry on organization work of this 

 character. 



Henry H. Gibson was born at Camden, X. Y., January 26, 1855. 

 He leaves a wido\v, an aged mother and a sister, Mrs. F. E. Stevens, 

 of Grand Kapids, Mich. 



There was a brief funeral service in Chicago on Friday, March 27, 

 previous to conveying the body for interment to the home of his 

 sister in Grand Rapids, Saturday morning, March 28. Mr. Gibson 

 was buried in the family lot in the Grand Rapids cemetery. Grand 

 Rapids lumbermen acted as pallbearers. 



The broad and loyal acquaintances of our late editor is convincingly 

 shown through the number and character of letters and telegrams 

 which were received by his widow and at this office following his 

 death. We believe that it is due his widow that the expressions 

 of some of his friends iu the trade are shown herewith. It would 

 be impossible to publish even a small part of the communications 

 received, but a few of those from soine of his oldest friends in 

 the trade follow: 



Hcnr.v II. Clbs'jii. editor anil uinnagcr of Hardwood Record, died 

 suddcni.v o( heart failure in Clilcngo Wednesday evening, March 25, 1914. 

 Mr. Gibson, who wa< au authority on hardwoods, and who, In Hardwood 

 Record, presented to the world a remarkable scries of articles on .\mer- 

 Ican forest trees, was a native of Camden, N. Y., and at the time of his 

 death was flft.vniuo jears old. He was a warm personal friend of many 

 members of this tlub. who received the news of his death with sincere 

 sorrow and regret. In view of Mr. Oibson's eminence in the hardwood 

 field, and the personal loss we have snlTered in bis death, the following 

 resolutions arc adopted : 



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