settled by the early 1850s. In one well-documented case, eight related families migrated to the area in 1853 from Illinois. Three of the four Gibson brothers in this group established homesteads about 4 mi 0 northwest of present-day Mansfield. This settlement, which became known as the Gibson Community, included a school and a church building by 1860.

When Ralph Sandiford Man and Julian Feild arrived around 1856 and built a grist mill