Andrew Gibney

When Andrew Gibney first took the field for the Gotham Base Ball Club (BBC) of New York in the early 1860s, baseball was still largely a regional pastime, its strongest clubs and traditions concentrated in and around the metropolitan area. By the time he played his final professional game in 1870, the sport had swept across the country, shed its exclusively amateur ideals, and stood on the threshold of its first professional league. Gibney was neither the greatest nor the most celebrated player of that transformative decade, but few careers better reflected its remarkable course. Moving from New York to Philadelphia, Delaware, and Washington, he belonged to a generation of New York-area ballplayers who became unwitting evangelists for the developing game, carrying their experience and skills into communities where baseball was still taking root. Gibney’s story is therefore less about statistics than about movement and influence—the story of one ballplayer whose journey through the 1860s mirrored baseball’s own passage from regional pastime to national game and, ultimately, professional sport.

The son of Irish immigrants Patrick Gibney and Margaret Maloney, Andrew Gibney was born on October 27, 1843, in Van Vorst Township, New Jersey—eight years before the township was annexed by Jersey City.1

Gibney’s parents formed a close relationship with the Reverend John Kelly, who founded and oversaw the construction in 1855 of St. Mary’s Chapel, Jersey City’s second Catholic house of worship. While the new chapel was being constructed, the congregation held weekly Mass in the Gibney home.2 The family’s relationship with Kelly later proved instrumental in the direction of Andrew Gibney’s life.

In September 1857, at age 14, Gibney began attending St. Francis Xavier’s College, a Catholic college in Manhattan. He distinguished himself academically during his three years at the school but left after the 1859–60 academic year.3

While at St. Francis Xavier, Gibney began playing baseball, the increasingly popular bat-and-ball game that had taken hold in the New York metropolitan area during the 1850s. In 1859 and 1860, he participated in games with several Jersey City junior outfits, including the Eagle, Aurora, Washington, and Champion clubs.4

Intending eventually to enter the priesthood and likely encouraged by Kelly, Gibney transferred to St. Mary’s College in Wilmington, Delaware, in August 1860.5 The Catholic boarding school had been founded by Kelly’s close friend and longtime associate, the Reverend Patrick Reilly. Owing to the relationship between the two priests, matriculation to St. Mary’s became a common path for Catholic young men from Jersey City during the 1850s and 1860s.6

While at St. Mary’s, Gibney made the acquaintance of Mary Louise Murray, a student at Wilmington’s Wesleyan Female College, and the two developed a romantic relationship. With his plans for the priesthood abandoned, his education complete, and the Civil War underway, Gibney left St. Mary’s in July 1862 and returned home to Jersey City. According to a later account, he professed his love for Mary Louise before departing Wilmington and promised to return to marry her after completing his military service and after her graduation from Wesleyan.7

What Gibney did immediately after leaving St. Mary’s College remains uncertain. A 1965 newspaper account based in part on materials preserved by the Gibney family claimed that he returned to Jersey City, enlisted in the 4^th New Jersey Infantry, distinguished himself in service, and eventually attained the rank of captain.8 Extensive searches of surviving state and federal military records, however, have failed to substantiate the account. Gibney does not appear in New Jersey’s official record of Civil War servicemen, which incorporated the state’s registers of commissioned officers, and a National Archives search of federal enlistment records found no Andrew Gibney matching his biographical information.9

By August 1863, Gibney was back in the New York area, where the surviving documentary record of his life resumes with his appearance on the junior nine of the venerable Gotham BBC.10 The Gothams traced their lineage to New York’s earliest organized bat-and-ball clubs of the 1830s and were among the clubs represented at the landmark 1857 convention that standardized the rules of baseball and led the following year to the formation of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP).11 In five documented appearances with the Gotham Juniors in 1863, Gibney displayed considerable promise at second base. He established himself as one of the club’s leading strikers, batting third in the lineup and scoring 15 runs.12

Although Gibney apparently still intended to return to Mary Louise Murray in Delaware, his baseball career was advancing in New York. In 1864, he joined Gotham Junior teammates Ed Beadle and George Wright—a future National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee—on the senior club. The trio joined a Gotham team that already included George’s older brother Harry Wright, also a future Hall of Famer and one of 19^th-century baseball’s most influential figures, and a battery composed of pioneering pitcher Dick Thorn and catcher Patsy Dockney, one of the premier power hitters of his day.13

The 21-year-old Gibney began the 1864 season batting near the bottom of the Gothams’ lineup but worked his way into the top half of the order by season’s end. He played second base in at least nine games, and he and George Wright tied for the club lead with 19 runs scored for the 3–7–1 Gothams.14

The following year brought several changes for Gibney, both on and off the ballfield. By the spring of 1865, he and Mary Louise Murray had married.15 Remaining in Jersey City made it convenient for Gibney to continue practicing and playing at nearby Elysian Fields in Hoboken, the home grounds of the Gothams and several other clubs.

When the Gothams’ season opened in May, Gibney was one of only five returning starters.16 He started at second base in five straight games from June through early August, scoring 13 runs. After the August 1 game, however, Gibney left the club and moved 90 miles south, where only eight days later he appeared in a match for the Olympic Club of Philadelphia.17

Gibney’s departure from his hometown and the Gothams, a club with which he had played for two and a half seasons, was likely influenced by a combination of personal and baseball considerations. The move to Philadelphia brought Gibney and his expectant wife, Mary Louise, considerably closer to her family in Delaware. The Gothams, meanwhile, were struggling against stronger competitors and lost several top players. At the same time, Philadelphia was experiencing an explosion of interest in baseball as the Civil War drew to a close, affording Gibney ample opportunity to continue pursuing the game.

Like the Gothams, the Olympic Club of Philadelphia began as an early bat and ball club—arguably the nation’s first, with roots extending back to 1831. The Olympics originally played Philadelphia town ball but by 1860 adopted the New York game of baseball as played by NABBP clubs, although they did not join the national association.18

Gibney was among a number of transplanted New York-area players who carried their experience with the organized game to other parts of the country. Philadelphia clubs were notable beneficiaries of this migration of talent.19 The 1865 Olympics offered a striking example, adding three former Gotham players: Gibney, Dockney, and George Wright.20

The Olympics lost their first four matches of the season before Gibney began playing with them in August. During his two months with the club, he scored 11 runs and recorded 12 hands lost while appearing at several positions, including second base, third base, and catcher.21 Despite his respectable performance, the Olympics continued to falter, and by November Gibney had moved to another Philadelphia club.22

Gibney’s next stop did not even require a change of home grounds. On November 11, he made his first appearance with the Keystone BBC, which played and practiced on grounds they leased from the Olympics at 25th and Jefferson streets in North Philadelphia.23 Gibney’s Keystone debut came 43 days after his final appearance with the Olympics on September 29, an interval that may have reflected the NABBP rule restricting players from representing a new club for 30 days after changing membership.24 The Keystones, Philadelphia’s second entrant in the NABBP and the city’s strongest club behind the Athletics, presented Gibney with a more competitive opportunity.25

The Keystone lineup featured Philadelphia men Elias Cope, Ned Cuthbert, and Fergy Malone, along with Gibney’s former Gotham teammate John Hatfield. Gibney started the Keystones’ final two games of the season, playing first base and center field and batting in the bottom half of the lineup. He crossed the plate seven times and accounted for only three hands lost.26 In early December, Gibney represented the Keystones in a pair of season-ending pickup games at the Athletics’ grounds, giving him the opportunity to play alongside some of the region’s finest ballplayers.27

In January 1866, the Gibneys welcomed their son James into the world, punctuating a year of considerable change with more changes still to come.28 During the offseason, the family relocated from Philadelphia to Wilmington, where they took up residence in the home of James Bradford, Mary Louise’s maternal uncle. Bradford, a well-connected retailer who operated a paint, oil, and glass business, apparently provided Gibney with employment for a time. Gibney subsequently worked as a clerk for Wilmington merchant Henry F. Pickels, although the circumstances and precise timing of that employment remain unclear.29

Bradford was active in several Wilmington business associations whose members included merchants, leading businessmen, lawyers, and civic leaders. Several of those same associates were members, directors, and supporters of Delaware’s first organized baseball outfit, the Diamond State BBC, formed in September 1865.30 Diamond State was part of a large wave of new ball clubs that formed across the country in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, as the last of the soldiers returned from the battlefields. The Wilmington club’s first and second nines were drawn largely from the city’s commercial and professional classes, including young merchants, clerks, lawyers, and the sons of established businessmen and professionals. Wilmington had no organized baseball club before Diamond State, so most of these local players appear to have entered the club with little or no previous experience in organized club play.31

From its beginnings, however, Diamond State appears to have harbored ambitions beyond merely providing recreation for its members. Amid the postwar baseball boom, clubs increasingly became vehicles for community identity and civic pride. A first-class nine could carry a city’s name beyond its borders, foster social and commercial connections with other urban centers, and enhance a community’s standing within the rapidly expanding baseball fraternity.32 Since Diamond State was composed largely of novice local players, developing a stronger nine would be essential to competing beyond the city.

Diamond State did not have to look far for a seasoned player. Andrew Gibney joined the club on April 6, 1866, bringing with him more than two years of high-level competitive baseball experience.33 Whether Bradford played a direct role in bringing Gibney into Diamond State is unknown, but his extensive business ties to club members and directors could have provided a natural conduit between the experienced ballplayer and the ambitious young organization. Such connections were becoming increasingly important in postwar baseball, as the movement of talented players between clubs became intertwined with personal relationships, patronage, and employment.

Gibney’s own recent history reflected the growing mobility of ballplayers; he had appeared for four clubs in three cities over the nine months between his departure from the Gothams in August 1865 and his debut with Diamond State. Whatever the circumstances or motivations behind Gibney’s moves, the pattern bore the appearance of what was known in baseball circles as “revolving”—the movement of players from one club to another. While the practice was becoming more common by the mid-1860s, some purists regarded revolving as contrary to an amateur ideal that emphasized personal integrity, loyalty to one’s club, and representing the local community.34

In addition to Gibney, Diamond State strengthened its nine in the spring of 1866 by bringing another former Keystone, Fergy Malone, to its membership. The pair formed the club’s principal battery, with Malone pitching and Gibney behind the bat. Serving as captain and leadoff striker, Gibney scored a club-high 70 runs and recorded nine home runs against only 28 hands lost in 13 games. Diamond State compiled a 14–1 record against Delaware and Pennsylvania competition, its lone defeat coming against the Brandywine BBC of West Chester, Pennsylvania, in a match Malone missed. Diamond State defeated every Delaware opponent it faced and, by season’s end, claimed the title of champion club of Delaware.35

Gibney returned to Diamond State for the 1867 season, but his batterymate did not. Malone left Wilmington after his lone season with the club and returned to Philadelphia, where he joined the newly formed Quaker City BBC.36 The season proved contentious, with disputes surrounding several key matches complicating the competition for the Delaware championship. Gibney captained Diamond State in all five games the club completed and played a central role in an August 1 championship dispute with the Wawaset BBC of Wilmington that resulted in Diamond State claiming a victory by forfeit. Batting leadoff, he scored 19 runs and hit two home runs against just 13 hands lost. Diamond State stood at 3–2–1 when an August 12 tie with the Thorn BBC of Philadelphia proved to be Gibney’s final appearance for the club.37 There is no evidence that the season’s disputes prompted Gibney to leave Diamond State, although they may have formed part of the circumstances surrounding his departure.

By September, Gibney had moved to the nation’s capital and joined the National BBC, an NABBP member and Washington’s premier nine.38 The Nationals’ directors included several men who held prominent positions in the U.S. Treasury Department, and the club strengthened its roster by securing government employment for talented players recruited from elsewhere.39 Gibney appears to have benefited from this arrangement. Although the precise date of his appointment has not been discovered, Gibney was already employed as a messenger in the Treasury Secretary’s office by January 1868, when newspapers reported his promotion to a first-class clerkship.40

Such arrangements occupied an increasingly conspicuous gray area in a game that officially remained amateur. Until 1869, NABBP rules prohibited clubs from paying or otherwise compensating players, yet leading clubs increasingly used money, employment, and other inducements to secure talented players. Gibney’s move to Washington and nearly simultaneous employment in the Treasury Department occurred squarely within this transitional period, when the amateur ideal remained in the rulebook even as the practices of clubs such as the Nationals anticipated the openly professional era to come.41

Gibney joined a Nationals club that had already established itself among the country’s leading nines in 1867, compiling a 26–2 record through September and earning acclaim as the “champions of the South” following a successful western tour in July that took them as far as Chicago.42 He was initially brought to Washington as a prospective replacement for slugger George Fox, who was expected to resign from the club but ultimately remained.43 The Nationals added Gibney nonetheless, and he made his first appearance on October 8 in an unofficial contest against a picked nine, the first of three such exhibitions he played that month. His official debut came October 19, after which he appeared in each of the Nationals’ six remaining October matches, starting four in center field and two at second base. Batting fourth throughout, Gibney scored 14 runs against 20 hands lost. It is unknown whether his absence in the Nationals’ final two games in November can be attributed to performance or some other circumstance.44

The Nationals entered the 1868 season a markedly different club, having lost seven players from the previous year’s roster, while Gibney was among the few holdovers. The club was unable to replace the talent they lost, dropped the championship series to the Maryland BBC of Baltimore, and ended up playing only eight documented match games. Gibney appeared in five, playing second base in four and center field in the other. He batted fourth in every game except one and scored 14 runs against 13 hands lost.45

Away from the ballfield, Gibney continued to advance in his government career. In August 1868, he was promoted from a first- to second-class clerkship in the Treasury secretary’s office.46 Although the family had been living in Washington for more than a year, Mary Louise was in Wilmington by the spring of 1869 under circumstances that remain unclear. She died there at the home of her uncle, James Bradford, on April 9, at age 24. Her death left the 25-year-old Gibney a widower with their three-year-old son, James. According to a later family account, Andrew was initially unable to care for the boy on his own, and James was taken into the Bradford household.47

By 1869, the NABBP could no longer preserve the fiction that baseball remained a strictly amateur undertaking. Player compensation, roster raiding, and competition for skilled players had become increasingly common, and the Association responded by establishing separate amateur and professional classes.48 The Nationals were among only 12 clubs that declared themselves professional that season, placing Gibney among the first generation of ballplayers to compete openly under the professional designation.49 The Cincinnati Enquirer proclaimed the Nationals “stronger than ever” and, like the hometown Red Stockings, “determined to win if that consummation can be brought about by a free expenditure of money and the bringing together of a good nine.”50

The revamped Nationals played an aggressive schedule, including 16 matches against professional clubs and 10 against amateur organizations, but success proved elusive. Through the first half of the season, the club posted a 6–9 record, with only two victories over professional opponents. Gibney is documented as having appeared in at least 12 of those games, primarily at second base, while also playing three games at third and one behind the plate. Batting in the middle of the lineup, he scored 27 runs, hit one home run, and recorded 41 hands lost.51 When the Nationals embarked on a northern tour through Philadelphia and New York on September 16, Gibney did not accompany the club. By early October, he had joined the rival Olympics of Washington, then the “champions of the South,” although he did not appear in any of their season’s remaining games.52 When the Nationals’ scorer compiled the club’s final statistics for the 1869 season, Gibney was judged to have been the “best in batting.”53

By 1870, the National Association of Base Ball Players had become an unwieldy organization of more than 500 member clubs, while the widening divide between professional and amateur organizations increasingly strained the Association’s ability to represent both. The season proved to be the last for the NABBP. Its leading professional clubs broke away the following year to establish the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, baseball’s first professional league.54 For Gibney, 1870 would likewise mark the end of the road as a competitive ballplayer.

The Olympics gave Gibney the opportunity to play for Washington’s leading club while continuing his position at the Treasury. The arrangement was a familiar one. Olympic leaders had earlier adopted a recruiting strategy employed successfully by the Nationals, using Treasury Department clerkships to lure and maintain talented players.55 In 1870, Gibney remained a regular in the Olympics’ starting nine, playing alongside Harry Berthrong, Davy Force, Al Reach, and Nick Young.

Gibney batted leadoff in at least 17 of the club’s first 20 games, including 14 against professional opponents. He scored 34 runs against 57 hands lost and demonstrated his versatility in the field, appearing seven times in right field, six at second base, and three at third. The Olympics held a modest 10–10 record when Gibney made what proved to be his final appearance with the professional nine on July 16.56

Gibney’s withdrawal from professional baseball coincided with significant changes in both his personal and professional life. Shortly after he married Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Gardner in January 1870, she became pregnant with their daughter Louisa Mary.57 Gibney’s four-year-old son James also joined the newly formed household.58 His career at the Treasury was also advancing. During 1870, Gibney joined the office responsible for the Treasury Building, which underwent an administrative reorganization that summer; by the following year, he was serving as Assistant Superintendent.59 Although no contemporary source explains Gibney’s decision to leave professional baseball, the timing suggests that a new marriage, a growing family, and the demands of an advancing federal career may all have contributed to his withdrawal from the Olympics’ professional nine.

Yet Gibney was not quite finished with baseball. In August, he caught for a picked nine in a practice game against the Olympics, and the following month appeared behind the plate for the Olympics’ amateur nine.60 His final possible appearance on the diamond came in October, when a player identified only as “Gibney” played left field for the newly-organized Erie BBC of Jersey City and was singled out for play “of the first order.”61 Whether the player was Andrew Gibney cannot be established, but the appearance in his hometown—where his father still resided—offers the tantalizing possibility that his playing career ended where it had begun.62

With his playing days behind him, Gibney continued his career at the Treasury Department, eventually returning to a clerkship. He remained with the department through at least 1875, but by 1877 had disappeared from the Treasury registers and soon returned to his native Jersey City, where he was again employed as a clerk.63 His remaining years were brief. After contracting tuberculosis, Andrew Gibney died in Passaic, New Jersey, on April 15, 1880, at just 36 years old. He was buried in his family’s plot at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City.64

In many respects, Gibney’s journey from the amateur clubs of New York through Philadelphia and Delaware to the professional ranks in Washington mirrored the transformation of baseball itself during the 1860s. He was one of the many ballplayers whose movement carried the New York game into new communities and helped lay the foundations of the national professional sport that followed.

Acknowledgments

This biography was first reviewed and fact-checked by Fred List. It was thereafter reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Brian Dunn.

Photo credit

Andrew Gibney’s portrait was extracted from a circa 1866 team carte de visite of the Diamond State Base Ball Club of Wilmington, photographed by T.E. Sexton. Courtesy of the SABR-Rucker Archive.

Sources

Books and Articles

• Boyd, Andrew, comp., The Wilmington Directory for 1865–’66 (Wilmington: Boughman, Thomas & Co., 1865).
• Boyd, William H., comp., Boyd’s Directory of Washington and Georgetown (Washington: William H. Boyd, 1869).
• Brann, Henry A., “St. Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware,” in Historical Records and Studies, Vol. VII, ed. Charles George Herbermann (New York: The United States Catholic Historical Society, 1914).
• Catalogue of the Officers and Students of St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City, for the Academic Year 1857–1858 (New York: Thomas Holman, 1858).
• Catalogue of the Officers and Students of St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City, for the Academic Year 1858–1859 (New York: Thomas Holman, 1859).
• Catalogue of the Officers and Students of St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City, for the Academic Year 1859–1860 (New York: Thomas Holman, 1860).
• Chadwick, Henry, ed. Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, Annual Edition for 1865 (New York: Beadle and Company, 1865).
• Chadwick, Henry, ed. Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, Annual Edition for 1866 (New York: Beadle and Company, 1866).
• Circular of St. Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware, Being a Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the College, for the Session 1860–61 (Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1861).
• Circular of St. Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware, Being a Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the College, for the Session 1861–62 (Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1862).
• Costa, Isaac, comp., Gopsill’s Jersey City & Hoboken Directory, for Year Ending April 30, 1870 (Jersey City: John H. Lyon, 1870).
• Costa, Isaac, comp., Gopsill’s Jersey City & Hoboken Directory, for Year Ending April 30, 1879 (Jersey City: Jersey City Directory Company, 1879).
• Divine, William J., comp., The Wilmington City Directory, 1867–8 (Wilmington: William J. Divine & Co., 1867).
• Gilbert, Thomas W. How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed (Boston: David R. Godine, 2020).
• Gough, John Francis. Mary’s in Jersey City: A History of the Parish, 1859–1938 (New York: Burr Printing House, 1938).
• House Executive Documents, 41^st Congress, 3^rd Session, Ex. Doc. No. 141, “Clerks Employed in the Treasury Department” (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1871).
• Morris, Peter, William J. Ryczek, Jan Finkel, Leonard Levin, and Richard Malatzky, eds. Base Ball Founders: The Clubs, Players and Cities of the Northeast That Established the Game (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2013).
• Morris, Peter, William J. Ryczek, Jan Finkel, Leonard Levin, and Richard Malatzky, eds. Base Ball Pioneers: The Clubs and Players Who Spread the Sport Nationwide, 1850–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2012).
• Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth of September, 1871 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872).
• Ryczek, William J. When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006).
• Shiffert, John. Base Ball in Philadelphia: A History of the Early Game, 1831–1900 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2006).
• Snyder, John F. The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries, 1606–1968 (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Geological Society, 2004).
• Stryker, William S. Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861–1865. 2 vols. (Trenton, NJ: John L. Murphy, 1876).
• Thorn, John. Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011).
• Ulman, H. Charles. Lawyers’ Record and Official Register of the United States (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1872).
• The United States Treasury Register, Containing a List of All Persons Employed in the Treasury Department (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1875).
• Wright, Marshall D. The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2000).

Newspapers

• Brooklyn Daily Union.
• Brooklyn Eagle.
• Cincinnati Enquirer.
• Jersey City American Standard.
• Jersey City Daily Courier and Advertiser.
• Jersey City Times.
• New York Clipper.
• New York Sunday Mercury.
• New York Times.
• Philadelphia City Item.
• Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Philadelphia Sunday Mercury.
• Smyrna Times.
• Washington Chronicle.
• Washington Daily National Intelligencer.
• Washington Evening Star.
• Washington National Republican.
• Washington Post.
• Wilmington Delaware Republican.
• Wilmington Delaware State Journal and Statesman.
• Wilmington Delaware Tribune.
• Wilmington Morning News.

Online Sources

• Ancestry.com.
• FamilySearch.org.
• Findagrave.com.
• HowBaseballHappened.com.
• Newspapers.com.
• NJStateLib.org.
• OurGame.MLBlogs.com.
• Protoball.org.
• SABR.org.

Archives and Documentary Materials

• Delaware Historical Society (Wilmington, Delaware), Diamond State Base Ball Club manuscript files (1865–1867).
• National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1762–1984.
• New Jersey State Archives (Trenton, New Jersey), State of New Jersey, Certificate of Death for Andrew Gibney, April 15, 1880.
• New Jersey State Archives (Trenton, New Jersey), Civil War service records, 1861–1865, including the Alphabetical Roll of New Jersey Volunteers, Registers of Commissioned Officers, Registers of Volunteers, Compiled Lists of Soldiers, and United States Regular Army Records.

Personal Correspondence

• Deeben, John, archivist, A1 Reference Branch, National Archives and Records Administration. Email correspondence with the author, August 17, 2026.
• Stearns Medich, Catherine, reference archivist, New Jersey State Archives. Phone call with the author, August 17, 2026.

Notes

1 FamilySearch.com, New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660–1931 (Salt Lake City, UT: FamilySearch.com, 2009–2010); Find a Grave, “Andrew Gibney,” memorial 208956785, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/208956785/andrew-gibney, accessed August 22, 2026; John F. Snyder, The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries, 1606–1968 (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Geological Society, 2004), 148. The 1850 United States Census for Van Vorst Township, Hudson County, New Jersey, enumerated October 16, 1850, identifies Ireland as the birthplace of Patrick Gibney, a 40-year-old gardener, and his wife, Margaret, age 35, and New Jersey as the birthplace of their only child, Andrew, age 7.

2 John Francis Gough, St. Mary’s in Jersey City: A History of the Parish, 1859–1938 (New York: Burr Printing House, 1938), 13; “The Catholic Churches,” Jersey City Times, June 10, 1873: 1.

3 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City, for the Academic Year 1857–58 (New York: Thomas Holman, 1858), 7 and 40; Catalogue of the Officers and Students of St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City, for the Academic Year 1858–59 (New York: Thomas Holman, 1859), 7; Catalogue of the Officers and Students of St. Francis Xavier’s College, New York City, for the Academic Year 1859–60 (New York: Thomas Holman, 1860), 8, 18, and 42.

4 Jersey City Daily Courier and Advertiser, May 20, 1859: 2; Jersey City Daily Courier and Advertiser, May 28, 1859: 2; Jersey City Daily Courier and Advertiser, July 25, 1859: 2; Jersey City Daily Courier and Advertiser, August 2, 1859: 2; New York Sunday Mercury, May 13, 1860: 5; New York Clipper, May 26, 1860: 44; Jersey City Daily Courier and Advertiser, June 25, 1860: 2.

5 W. Emerson Wilson, “Recollections of a Civil-War Romance,” Wilmington Morning News, August 14, 1965: 6; Circular of St. Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware, Being a Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the College for the Session of 1860–61 (Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1861), 9; Circular of St. Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware, Being a Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the College for the Session of 1861–62 (Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1862), 9.

6 Henry A. Brann, “St. Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware,” in Historical Records and Studies, Vol. VII, ed. Charles George Herbermann, LL.D. (New York: The United States Catholic Historical Society, 1914), 81, 84–87.

7 Wilson, “Recollections of a Civil-War Romance.”.

8 Wilson, “Recollections of a Civil-War Romance.”.

9 New Jersey State Archives, “Civil War Service Records, 1861–1865,” database compiled from William S. Stryker, Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861–1865, 2 vols. (Trenton, NJ: John L. Murphy, 1876). A search of the database found no Andrew Gibney among New Jersey Civil War servicemen and no Gibney serving with the 4th New Jersey Infantry. In August 2026, a New Jersey State Archives reference archivist specializing in Civil War records confirmed to the author that Stryker’s compilation accounted for servicemen appearing in the Archives’ Alphabetical Roll of New Jersey Volunteers, Registers of Commissioned Officers, Registers of Volunteers, Compiled Lists of Soldiers, and United States Regular Army Records. Separately, the National Archives and Records Administration searched the original Registers of Enlistment, 1798–1914 and corresponding Enlistment Papers, 1798–October 31, 1912, in Record Group 94 and found no Andrew Gibney matching the subject’s biographical information. NARA identified two other men of that name: an Irish-born Andrew Gibney from County Meath who enlisted May 1, 1858, and an Andrew Gibney born in Liverpool, England, who enlisted May 19, 1863. NARA concluded that the latter is likely the man whose register entry bears the notation “Deserted Nov 4 – 63.” Neither matches the New Jersey-born subject of this biography. National Archives and Records Administration correspondence between archivist John Deeben and the author, August 17, 2026; telephone conversation between the author and archivist Catherine Stearns Medich, August 17, 2026. The possibility that Gibney served under an assumed name or an alternate rendering of his name cannot be excluded, although no evidence has been located to suggest that he did so.

10 New York Sunday Mercury, August 30, 1863: 6.

11 John Thorn, “New York Base Ball Club (a.k.a. Washington BBC, Gotham BBC),” in Peter Morris et al., eds., Base Ball Founders: The Clubs, Players and Cities of the Northeast That Established the Game (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2013), 46–56; Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2000), xi and xii.

12 New York Sunday Mercury, August 30, 1863: 6; New York Sunday Mercury, October 4, 1863: 6; New York Clipper, October 10, 1863: 202; New York Sunday Mercury, October 11, 1863: 6; New York Sunday Mercury, October 25, 1863: 6. According to Protoball.org, https://protoball.org/Gotham_Jr._Club_of_New_York (accessed August 9, 2026), the Gotham Junior BBC played at least 11 games in 1863. Newspaper box scores and game accounts list Gibney’s name in five of those games, so his statistics are incomplete.

13 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 91; John Thorn, “Dick Thorn,” Our Game, https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/dick-thorn-211894a296f9, accessed August 9, 2026; John Thorn, “New York Base Ball Club (a.k.a. Washington BBC, Gotham BBC),” in Peter Morris et al., eds., Base Ball Founders: The Clubs, Players and Cities of the Northeast That Established the Game, 57, 59, and 61; Tom Gilbert, “Hired Man: The Story of Bad Patsy Dockney,” How Baseball Happened, https://howbaseballhappened.com/blog/hired-man-the-story-of-bad-patsy-dockney, accessed August 9, 2026.

14 Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 91. While Wright shows the 1864 Gothams played only 11 games (a 3–7–1 record), a comparison of Protoball.org, https://protoball.org/Gotham_Club_of_New_York (accessed August 9, 2026), with contemporary game accounts in the Brooklyn Eagle, Jersey City American Standard, and New York Clipper shows a total of 12 Gotham games. Only nine box scores were included among the descriptions of those 12 games; thus, the club’s and Gibney’s compiled season statistics for 1864 are incomplete. Note that Protoball misidentifies three additional Gotham games (i.e., July 12, August 19, and August 25), which the box scores demonstrate were actually played by the Gotham Juniors.

15 Ancestry.com, death certificate for James Bradford Gibney, accessed August 9, 2026. James was the only child of Andrew Gibney and Mary Louise Murray. His death certificate indicates that he was born in Philadelphia on January 19, 1866, which indicates that Andrew and Mary Louise were likely married before May 1865.

16 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 91, 103.

17 Henry Chadwick, ed., Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, Annual Edition for 1865 (New York: Beadle and Company, 1865), 54; Brooklyn Eagle, June 7, 1865: 2; Brooklyn Eagle, June 17, 1865: 2; Brooklyn Eagle, July 15, 1865: 2; New York Clipper, July 22, 1865: 114; New York Times, August 3, 1865: 8; New York Clipper, August 5, 1865: 132; New York Clipper, August 19, 1865: 146; New York Clipper, September 2, 1865: 164; Brooklyn Eagle, September 8, 1865: 4. The newspaper box scores conflict with Beadle’s statistics for Gibney with the Gothams. According to the box scores, Gibney scored 13 total runs (Beadle shows 12) and had 15 hands lost (Beadle has 12). He did not play in the June 6 game versus the Enterprise BBC of New York.

18 Thomas W. Gilbert, How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed (Boston: David R. Godine, 2020), 138.

19 Gilbert, How Baseball Happened, 228.

20 John Thorn, “An Unanticipated Fourth Entry: An Essay on the Olympic Ball Club of Philadelphia from 2007,” Our Game, https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/an-unanticipated-fourth-entry-8cf99c1fa0ab, accessed August 11, 2026. The article identifies several new Olympic members in 1865, including Dockney and Wright, but does not list Gibney. Whether Gibney never formally completed the membership process or his name was simply omitted from the surviving record is unknown.

21 Henry Chadwick, ed., Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, Annual Edition for 1866 (New York: Beadle and Company, 1866), 54; Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 1865, 2; New York Clipper, August 19, 1865: 147; Philadelphia Inquirer, August 25, 1865: 4; Philadelphia Inquirer, August 28, 1865: 4; Philadelphia City Item, September 16, 1865: 2; Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, September 24, 1865; New York Clipper, October 14, 1865: 212. Gibney umpired two games in Philadelphia while he was associated with the Olympics.

22 Protoball.org, “Olympic Club of Philadelphia,” https://protoball.org/Olympic_Club_of_Philadelphia, accessed August 12, 2026.

23 New York Clipper, August 19, 1865: 147; New York Clipper, June 1, 1880, 261.

24 Henry Chadwick, ed., Beadle’s Dime Base-Ball Player, Annual Edition for 1866, 17; New York Clipper, October 14, 1865: 212.

25 John Shiffert, Base Ball in Philadelphia: A History of the Early Game, 1831–1900 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2006), 45; Protoball.org, “Keystone Club of Philadelphia,” https://protoball.org/Keystone_Club_of_Philadelphia, accessed August 13, 2026.

26 Brooklyn Eagle, November 15, 1865, 2; Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, November 19, 1865. In the language of early baseball, a “hand lost” was an out made at bat or as a baserunner.

27 Philadelphia Inquirer, December 4, 1865: 4; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 7, 1865: 4; New York Clipper, December 9, 1865: 274.

28 FamilySearch.org, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, City Births, 1860–1915, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBY8-XLL, accessed August 13, 2026; FamilySearch.org, Pennsylvania, Births and Christenings, 1709–1950, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HW2N-9J2M, accessed August 13, 2026. Taken together, these two records indicate that James Bradford Gibney was born to Andrew and Louisa Gibney at 12^th Street above Fulton Street in Philadelphia on January 19, 1866.

29 W. Emerson Wilson, “Recollections of a Civil-War Romance,” Wilmington Morning News, August 14, 1965: 6; Wilmington Delaware Republican, advertisement for James Bradford’s paint, oil, and glass store, January 1, 1866: 3; Wilmington Delaware Republican, April 30, 1866: 2; Wilmington Delaware Republican, Delaware Savings Bank advertisement, September 6, 1866: 4; Wilmington Delaware Republican, “Died in Jersey City,” April 17, 1880: 1. Wilson, apparently drawing upon family material associated with Mary Louise Murray Gibney, stated that Andrew “worked for a long time for his wife’s uncle,” James Bradford. Wilson’s account contains errors elsewhere in its reconstruction of Gibney’s life, however, and should be treated cautiously. A contemporary April 30, 1866, advertisement sought employment for an unidentified “young man as clerk or assistant book-keeper” who had worked as an assistant bookkeeper for the Philadelphia wholesale drug and paint firm of French, Richards & Co.; prospective employers were directed to James Bradford and James Woolley as character references. The description is consistent with Gibney’s age, recent relocation from Philadelphia, and association with Bradford, but no evidence presently identifies Gibney as the advertiser. Gibney’s 1880 obituary independently confirms that he was “at one time a clerk for Mr. H. F. Pickels.” Bradford and Pickels also served together as managers of the Delaware Savings Bank in 1866, demonstrating a documented business connection between the two men.

30 Wilmington Delaware State Journal and Statesman, September 12, 1865: 2; Wilmington Delaware Republican, June 18, 1866: 3; Wilmington Delaware Republican, September 10, 1866: 2; Private Cash Book of the Treasurer of the Diamond State Base Ball Club, Diamond State Base Ball Club Records, 1865–1867, Delaware Historical Society, Wilmington, Delaware. The Wilmington Delaware State Journal and Statesman reported in September 1865 that the Diamond State BBC had been organized in Wilmington and identified its newly elected officers; the club’s surviving minutes likewise refer to an earlier September organizational meeting. Bradford’s business associations overlapped substantially with Diamond State’s membership and leadership. In September 1866, Bradford served as a director of the Mechanics Loan Association alongside William Bush, Samuel M. Harrington, George W. Bush, William W. Lobdell, E. T. Taylor, Thomas D. Webb, and Benjamin Nields, all of whom are identified as members or directors in Diamond State’s treasurer’s book. Bradford also served on a June 1866 excursion committee of Wilmington “merchants and business men” that included Harrington, George W. Bush, and William H. Pierce, each of whom also appears in the club’s records.

31 Private Cash Book of the Treasurer of the Diamond State Base Ball Club, Diamond State Base Ball Club Records, 1865–1867, Delaware Historical Society, Wilmington, Delaware; Andrew Boyd, comp., Wilmington Directory for 1865–’66 (Wilmington: Boughman, Thomas & Co., 1865); William J. Divine, comp., Wilmington City Directory, 1867–8 (Wilmington: William J. Divine & Co., 1867). Names of the club members are included in the treasurer’s cash book. The occupational and family backgrounds of Diamond State BBC’s first- and second-nine players were reconstructed from the 1860 United States Census, the Wilmington city directories for 1865–’66 and 1867–8, and contemporary newspapers. No organized baseball club is known to have existed in Wilmington before Diamond State’s formation in September 1865; consequently, the club’s local players—all Wilmington young men—would have had limited opportunity to acquire previous experience in organized club play.

32 John Thorn, Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 135.

33 Meeting Minutes of the Diamond State Base Ball Club, Diamond State Base Ball Club Records, 1865–1867, Delaware Historical Society, Wilmington, Delaware. Gibney’s first name was misidentified as “Anthony” by the recording secretary.

34 Thomas W. Gilbert, How Baseball Happened, 255–56; William J. Ryczek, When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006), 140.

35 Scorebook of the Diamond State Base Ball Club, Diamond State Base Ball Club Records, 1865–1867, Delaware Historical Society, Wilmington, Delaware; Wilmington Delaware Republican, May 28, 1866: 2; Wilmington Delaware Republican, July 19, 1866: 3. Gibney’s season statistics were compiled from the individual match scores in Diamond State BBC’s 1866 scorebook as well as a May 24 match against the Wawaset Base Ball Club of Wilmington, the only game of the season not included in the surviving scorebook, for which a box score appeared in the May 28 Wilmington Delaware Republican.

36 Wilmington Delaware Tribune, May 2, 1867, 3.

37 Scorebook of the Diamond State Base Ball Club, Diamond State Base Ball Club Records, 1865–1867, Delaware Historical Society, Wilmington, Delaware; Wilmington Delaware State Journal and Statesman, July 9, 1867, 2; Smyrna Times, July 10, 1867, 2; Wilmington Delaware Tribune, July 18, 1867, 2–3; Wilmington Delaware State Journal and Statesman, August 6, 1867, 2; Wilmington Delaware Tribune, August 8, 1867, 3; Wilmington Delaware Tribune, August 15, 1867, 3. Gibney’s season statistics were compiled from the individual match scores in Diamond State’s 1867 scorebook and the August 12 match against the Thorn BBC of Philadelphia. The August 12 match and Diamond State’s July 4 game against the Excelsior BBC of Milford, Delaware, are the only games from the season not included in the surviving scorebook; contemporary newspaper accounts document both contests, including a box score of the Thorn match in the August 15 Wilmington Delaware Tribune. The club’s August 1 contest with Wawaset was not played after a dispute over player eligibility; Diamond State claimed the game by forfeit.

38 Washington Chronicle, September 21, 1867, 1; Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 139.

39 Peter Morris, “Nationals of Washington,” in Peter Morris, William J. Ryczek, Jan Finkel, Leonard Levin, and Richard Malatzky, eds., Base Ball Pioneers: The Clubs and Players Who Spread the Sport Nationwide, 1850–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2012), 272–73; John Thorn, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, 136–37; Washington Post, March 31, 1889:  10. In an 1889 reminiscence, former National BBC member E. F. French recalled that “every member of the team was provided with a Government office,” which he characterized as a means of providing salaries for their services as ballplayers while the club itself did not directly pay them.

40 Washington National Republican, January 16, 1868, 3; William H. Boyd, comp., Boyd’s Directory of Washington and Georgetown (Washington: William H. Boyd, 1869), 251.

41 Gilbert, How Baseball Happened, 255–56, 335.

42 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 139–42.

43 Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, September 15, 1867; Brooklyn Daily Union, September 18, 1867: 2; Washington Chronicle, October 8, 1867, 4. Although the Philadelphia Sunday Mercury article indicates that Gibney was brought in to replace George Fox, newspaper box scores show that Fox continued to play for the Nationals through the end of the 1867 season and into 1868.

44 Washington Chronicle, October 9, 1867: 1; Washington Chronicle, October 10, 1867: 2; National Republican, October 10, 1867: 3; Washington Evening Star, October 14, 1867: 3; Washington Chronicle, October 17, 1867: 1; Washington Chronicle, October 18, 1867: 1; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, October 23, 1867: 3; Washington Evening Star, October 25, 1867: 3; New York Clipper, November 2, 1867: 235–36; Washington National Republican, November 12, 1867: 3; Washington National Republican, November 14, 1867: 3; Washington Chronicle, December 11, 1867: 4.

45 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 144, 208; William J. Ryczek, When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865–1870 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006), 155; Washington Chronicle, May 18, 1868: 4; Washington National Republican, May 28, 1868:  3; Washington Chronicle, June 4, 1868: 4; Washington National Republican, August 1868, 3; Washington National Republican, August 5, 1868:  3; Washington Chronicle, August 11, 1868, 1; New York Clipper, August 29, 1868: 168; Washington National Republican, September 11, 1868: 3; Washington National Republican, September 22, 1868: 3; Washington Chronicle, September 25, 1868: 1; Washington National Republican, October 8, 1868: 3; New York Clipper, October 10, 1868: 211; New York Clipper, October 17, 1868: 221. The Nationals’ roster changes were determined by comparing Wright’s rosters for the club’s 1867 and 1868 seasons. Contemporary reports indicate that the Nationals entered the season planning an extensive schedule, issuing or accepting challenges involving numerous clubs from the East, West, and Washington-Baltimore region. Much of that proposed schedule apparently did not materialize. Surviving reports document several disruptions. During a late July and early August scheduling dispute with the Olympic Club, the Nationals cited the absence from Washington of several members of their preferred nine in declining proposed playing dates. In September, the Nationals suspended all match games until after September 20 out of respect for club president Colonel Frank Jones following the deaths of three members of his family. These circumstances help explain portions of the Nationals’ abbreviated schedule, although no evidence has been located that fully accounts for the substantial reduction from the schedule contemplated at the beginning of the season. Wright’s 1868 entry for the Nationals contains an apparent inconsistency: although it lists nine games, it credits the Nationals with a 7–3 record. One of the nine contests listed was a friendly game between the Nationals’ first nine and the National Junior BBC rather than a match game against another club. A reconstruction from surviving contemporary box scores located by the author identifies eight match games against other clubs, in which the Nationals compiled a 5–3 record. Gibney appeared in five of those matches, playing second base in four and center field in one, and scored 14 runs against 13 hands lost. The club record and Gibney’s individual figures were compiled from contemporary box scores and therefore differ from Wright’s published totals.

46 Washington National Republican, September 1, 1868: 3. The U.S. Treasury’s clerical classifications in 1868 went from first-class ($1,200 annual salary) up to fourth-class ($1,800 annually).

47 Wilmington Delaware Tribune, April 15, 1869: 3; W. Emerson Wilson, “Recollections of a Civil-War Romance.”

48 John Thorn, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, 136–44; Thomas W. Gilbert, How Baseball Happened, 335–39; William J. Ryczek, When Johnny Came Sliding Home, 248. The professional character of the Nationals’ earlier arrangements was acknowledged even within their own ranks. During the NABBP’s 1868 convention debate over professionalism, former National Harry McLean referred to his experience as a paid player while arguing in support of the amateur position.

49 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 240, 251–52.

50 Cincinnati Enquirer, April 6, 1869, 3.

51 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 251–52; Washington Chronicle, May 26, 1869, 4; Washington National Republican, June 26, 1869, 4; Washington National Republican, July 3, 1869, 4; New York Clipper, July 3, 1869, 100; Washington Evening Star, July 8, 1869, 4; Washington Chronicle, July 31, 1869, 4; Washington Chronicle, August 18, 1869, 4; Washington Chronicle, August 21, 1869, 4; Washington Chronicle, August 24, 1869, 4; Washington National Republican, September 1, 1869, 4; Washington National Republican, September 2, 1869, 4; Washington Evening Star, September 4, 1869, 4; New York Clipper, September 4, 1869, 173; Washington Evening Star, September 14, 1869, 4; New York Clipper, September 25, 1869, 194; New York Clipper, October 2, 1869, 202 and 205; Washington Chronicle, October 4, 1869, 4; Washington Chronicle, October 9, 1869, 4; New York Clipper, October 9, 1869, 210; Washington Chronicle, October 19, 1869, 4. The foregoing individual statistics for Gibney were compiled by the author from extant contemporary box scores and differ from the season totals reported by Marshall D. Wright. Box scores for the Nationals’ games against the Jefferson BBC on July 2 and July 7 could not be located and could not be included in this compilation.

52 New York Clipper, October 9, 1869, 210.

53 Washington National Republican, January 8, 1870, 4.

54 Marshall D. Wright, The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870, 284–85.

55 Peter Morris, “Olympics of Washington,” in Peter Morris et al., eds., Base Ball Pioneers, 265.

56 Washington National Republican, May 3, 1870: 4; Washington National Republican, May 14, 1870: 4; Philadelphia Inquirer, May 17, 1870: 2; Washington National Republican, May 20, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, May 24, 1870: 4; Washington National Republican, June 1, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, June 7, 1870: 4; Washington National Republican, June 8, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, June 11, 1870: 4; Washington National Republican, June 15, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, June 18, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, June 23, 1870: 4; Washington National Republican, June 25, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, June 28, 1870: 4; Washington Evening Star, July 5, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, July 9, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, July 12, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, July 14, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, July 16, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, July 17, 1870: 4. Gibney’s totals were compiled from extant contemporary box scores. The Olympics’ game against the Star BBC of Brooklyn on June 10, 1870, ended prematurely in a forfeit, while the box score for their victory over the Rosedale BBC of Washington on July 15 could not be located; Gibney’s participation in either contest could not be determined.

57 Washington Chronicle, January 26, 1870: 2; St. Matthew’s Church, Washington, D.C., Certificate of Baptism for Mary Louisa Gibney, December 3, 1936, recording baptism October 23, 1870; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed August 22, 2026.

58 1870 United States Federal Census, Washington, District of Columbia, Second Ward, 465, dwelling 3281, family 3470, Andrew Gibney household; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed August 22, 2026.

59 House Executive Documents, 41^st Cong., 3d sess., Ex. Doc. No. 141, “Clerks Employed in the Treasury Department” (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1871), 6; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth of September, 1871 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 26. In the legislative appropriations act approved July 12, 1870 (Act of July 12, 1870, ch. 251, 16 Stat. 230, 236–37), Congress funded a newly designated “Superintendent’s Branch of the Secretary’s Office” but made no appropriation for the superintendent position previously held by George C. Rice. Gibney subsequently served as Assistant Superintendent in the reorganized office.

60 Washington Chronicle, August 25, 1870: 4; Washington Chronicle, September 11, 1870: 3.

61 Jersey City Times, October 18, 1870: 2.

62 Isaac Costa, comp., Gopsill’s Jersey City & Hoboken Directory, for Year Ending April 30, 1870 (Jersey City: John H. Lyon, 1870), 141. The directory lists the residence of Patrick Gibney, Andrew’s father, as 225 North First Street, Jersey City.

63 H. Charles Ulman, Lawyers’ Record and Official Register of the United States (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1872), 16; The United States Treasury Register, Containing a List of All Persons Employed in the Treasury Department (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1875), 10; Isaac Costa, Gopsill’s Jersey City & Hoboken Directory, for Year Ending April 30, 1879 (Jersey City: Jersey City Directory Company, 1879), 270.

64 State of New Jersey, Certificate of Death for Andrew Gibney, April 15, 1880, New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey; Find a Grave, “Andrew Gibney,” memorial 208956785, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/208956785/andrew-gibney, accessed August 22, 2026.