He was raised on his parents farm and attended schools in Le Raysville, Pennsylvania and at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute in Towanda, Pennsylvania before attending the University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1861.

[1] Gibbs moved west, traveling through Illinois and Iowa before settling in Albert Lea, Minnesota and working as a teacher.

In 1863 he was elected to his first of five terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives as a Republican, serving from 1864 to 1866, 1876–1878, 1885–1887 and 1895–1897.

[1][2] While he had studied law, Gibbs earned his living as a farmer and owned property outside Geneva, Minnesota.

He occasionally lectured on agricultural topics and was particularly well known as a dairy farmer, even winning election as president of the Minnesota Dairymen's Association in 1893.