When Joseph James Gibson was born in 1788, in Halifax, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, his father, George William Gibson, was 33 and his mother, Mary Randall, was 38. He married Mary Polly Simpson in 1808, in Northumberland, Ontario, Canada. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 30 April 1880, in Brighton, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 92, and was buried in Brighton, Northumberland, Ontario, Canada.