No Obituary listed in the Marshall Newspaper

Married:

1. Mary Connelly (6/11/1867-9/1907) "Divorced",in 8/14/1891
2. Hattie Adeline Darrow (1862) in 9/9/1884 Homer, Michigan:, she married Owen Townsend
3. Minetta Winsel 1912 in Inro California:,
4. Katharine Clinton Franks (1874) m-1903

Children:

1. Helen Gibbs (1898)

2. Katherine E Gibbs (1906) m-Leo Mielziner

3. Kay Edwina Gibbs (1/13/1905-8/26/1968) Famous Memorial Occupation: American stage and film actress
Memorial # 10402978

4. Virginia Gibbs

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Google Books: Bio of Joseph Sprague Gibbs by Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career
By Lynn Kear, John Rossman

"Joseph Gibbs was always attracted to beautiful women, and one of them was Maxine Elliott, whom he introduced to the stage." While this seems to be another myth about the lareger than life Joe, it is true that Joe liked the ladies and vice versa.
Joe took another trip down the aisle on August 14, 1891, in New Yoek when he married Mary Connelly. They returned to Homer Mi two years later "with the intention of making it their home for life: but this marriage , too , ended in divorce.
Who was Joseph Sprague Gibbs? Newspaper and historical accounts described that Joe "Has visited many places of interest throughout the United States and foreign countries. We regret that limited space would not allow a detailed account of many of his experiences." So do we, since hard facts about Joe are difficult to come by.
In 1901 the local newspaper provided a brief biography of the man who would sire Kay Francis just four years late:
Mr. Joseph S Gibbs received his education at the Homer Mi School from which he is a graduate. Later he learned telegraphy and was in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad for a period of two years, at which time he made a change in his occupation as he engaged in the hotel business in New York City, Subsequently having a natural fondness for theatrical life, he was connected with that profession for four years, seeing life in many of its phases, not only in the Unites States, but in foreign countries, as he crossed the Atlantic four times. His experiences in his varied life have been many and some of them very interesting, as he is a person of keen perception and retentive memory.
When Volney died in 1899, Joe inherited a fortune. According to one estimate, Joe received the 800 plus acre farm, as well as seven smaller properties, and about $100,000 cash. Joe , however was not the penny pincher his daugher turned out to be. "Joe maintained an estate equal to a country gentleman, The house was rebuilt and patterned and furnished in fashionable manner in the style of an old English country home. When it was completed Mr and Mrs Gibbs gave a house warming staged on a most elaborate scale. Newspapers provided frequent reports on Mr and Mrs Gibbs, particularly focusing on their travels and parties. One of the most memorable social gatherings was a Tally-Ho party. "A fine two=horse team hitched to a large coach came dashing into town after the guests with a coachman in uniform on the box and Gibbs dressed in keeping with the event on the coach steps. As the homes of the guests were approached, Gibbs signaled with a blast of Tally-Ho Horn"
Newspapers also reported on Joe's racehorses, ":The finest horses bred were to found in the Gibbs stables, horses for racing, driving and saddle. Many horses were sent from there to racing stables in New York City and Chicago./" There was even a mention of Joe as a crack baseball player. "Joe Gibbs makes a good Shorstop- in fact, Joe can play anywhere" Truer words were neve written.
Most interesting, however, were the accounts suggesting Joe was an amateur actor of some repute. The Local newspaper reported in August 1892 that Joe had left for New York City to prepare for an acting role that would eventually put him on a tour winding through the South and up the West Coast. On January 6, 1893, Joe was back in Michigan, playing a role int The Westerner, a popular play of the time"
"Many people here in Homer were anxious to see a play in which he took part. The Trip of eight miles to Albion in those days was quite an undertaking so the Homer people chartered a special train which was made up in Hillsdale and took them to Albion to attend the show"
In the following year, the newspaper reported that Joe had returned to New York City for a stage production.
Joe also tried his hand in writing, authoring a March 1894 dramatic sketch, "A Mother's Love" which he directed for a local program. Sometimes wife Mary got in on the act, too. In April 1894 they appeared in a comedy sketch written by Joe "Nellies Brother" . The newspaper critic raved. "The people were more than pleased, The sketch embraces four characters, three of which were take by Mr Gibbs, each of which was true to life. Mrs Gibbs as Nellie was a surprise to all present. The part could not have been better taken. We understand that Mrs Gibbs has had little, if any, experience as and actress, but the manner in which she carried the part was not evidence of inexperience."
Sometime around 1900 Mary Gibbs became restless. In April of that year, Joe advertised for a housekeeper; and then in May, Mary and Joe adopted a two year old girl, Helen Louise, from St Joseph's Foundling Home. Meanwhile, Joe continued to travel on business and remained active in horseracing circles. In late July 1900, his stallion, Cedric Muscovite, won two races at the Battle Creek Driving Club. Then, during an August business trip, Joe was almost killed when his passenger train collided with a freight engine and caboose near Lafayette, Indiana. Several people were killed, but Joe, though knocked unconscious and bruised, fully recovered. If that was the worst of 1900, the year's highlight came in October when one of his horses won a $5,000 purse in Minnesota State Fair.
Joe Gibbs was the first Homerite to own automobile.
Like many of Joe's adventures, it made the local paper. : Joseph S Gibbs, is the newist rival of William K Vanderbilt as automobilist. While in Chicago last week Mr. Gibbs purchased a locomobile and started home with it Friday afternoon, accompanied by W. L. Hibbard, an expert engineer" All went will until it broke down in Coldwater Mi and had to be towed to Homer Mi.for repairs, Joe, quite proud of the car, frequently drove it into town, where he showed it off to locals.
Joe made a strange decision 1900, He signed over the farm's deed to wife Mary. Perhaps it was an attempt to hide his assets, he was hit hard by the new county inheritance tax law, which required he pay $228.21 in February 1901- or maybe Mary demanded it in lieu of a divorce. No one knows , but the decision came back to haunt him a few years later.

Something even more ominous occurred in 1901. Joe was so ill in March that many feared death was imminent. On April 17, the newspaper reported that Joe :Lies in a precarious condition at his home south of Homer. He rallied considerably yesterday morning but is very low at this writing and hopes of his recovery have been abandonded" A Week later the paper sounded a more optimistic note, and suggested Joe would be out and about in several weeks.

He indeed recovered, and his comings and goings were again dutifully reported, beginning in June. By November, he was spotted in Battle Creek, where a newspaper referred to him as a " Well known horseman and sportsman: But his near death experience triggered wanderlust. Joe took many business and hunting trips, and in January 1902 he and his wife- 'the royal host and hostess'-threw an elaborate party celebrating his 40th birthday. "The handsome mansion was a veritable dreamland of beauty and daintiness. Dancing, Pedro and music took a prominent part toward the merry making and were augmented by refreshments"
Joe's business continued to thrive. In April 1902, a local newspaper described in detail this state-of -the- art horse breeding facilities. "Mr Gibbs deals exclusively in high class coach horses and cobs and endeavors to secure only those that will attract the attention of buyers who represent the eastern coach horse trade. He shipped 18 horses to Buffalo yesterday.

Although Joe and Mary continued to make nice in pubic, the marriage apparently was over. In December 1902, Joe sold off part of his real estate holdings for $8,000 and
dissppeared from Homer, Mi. Mary Gibbs filed for divorce on June 23, 1903, citing extreme cruelty and habitual drunkeness, and the divorce was granted on November 19, 1903.
Mary received the Gibbs Farm-a generous settlement, to say the least, suggesting she'd been abandoned.

Joe eventually moved to St Louis, where he found work as a bookkeeper. He made one final effort to regain his fortune. On August 19, 1918 he filed suit against Cavanagh and Linton again, asking that the deed be set aside. Joe died of pneumonia on January 20, 1919 and the suit was dismissed on April 13.1920.

The once wealthy landowner and horseman, the husband of actress Katherine Clinton, the father of Movie Star Kay Francis, had nothing when he died.

The Homer Masonic Lodge paid for his $15 funeral and burial.

At the time of his death, he's started another family,
He is survived by wife Minnie and Two daughters, four year old Virginia, and five year old Helen.