In the twenty-first century, it can be difficult to grasp the very idea that the Gibson House had more servants than family members in 1880. It seems wildly luxurious— and with thirteen people sharing those back stairs, really crowded! Today I’ll be looking at the servants of the Gibson family, and what their roles were. Records about the Gibson House servants are frustratingly scarce. The best records we have are the 1880 census and Rosamond Gibson’s memoir. By combining this documentation with general historical trends, we can piece together a picture of domestic servant life in the Gibson House.
