He represented Ontario North in the House of Commons of Canada as a Conservative member from 1872 to 1874 and from 1876 to 1878.
[1] He was born in Terrebonne, Lower Canada,[1] the son of Thomas Gibbs and Caroline Tate who had gone there from Devonshire, England in 1819.
With his brother Thomas Nicholson, he built a grist mill south of Oshawa.
He was also deputy reeve for Whitby Township and warden for Ontario County.
After his defeat by George Wheler in 1878, he made two more unsuccessful bids for reelection in 1880 and 1882.