Later in life Gibson served as an assistant auditor in Washington, D.C., for the United States Post Office Department.
Finding no market there for his merchandise, he traveled over land to the west, arriving two days later at what is now Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
[3] He and his co-representative, George W. Featherstonhaugh Jr. of Brothertown, represented roughly the entire northeast quadrant of the Wisconsin Territory.
[6] Gibson was not nominated that year, and with the inauguration of Democratic president Franklin Pierce, he was not renominated to his role in the land office.
[7] The 19th district then comprised roughly the entire northwest quadrant of the state, extending all the way north and west of Crawford County.
Again, the election was incredibly close; his opponent Marcus W. McCracken received the most votes, but Gibson was declared the winner after several votes were thrown out because they were cast by residents with a Native American parent or grandparent in a decision by Wisconsin circuit court judge George W. Cate.
Gibson proceeded to take office at the start of the 12th Wisconsin Legislature, but McCracken challenged the results and brought his complaint to the Assembly.
The Assembly referred the question to a select committee, which examined evidence and testimony and quickly ruled in McCracken's favor.
[14][1] Rather than returning to Wisconsin, however, Gibson remained in St. Louis to open a collections agency on behalf of soldiers and widows.