In his time, Nathan Bourne Gibbs was a well known local businessman in the town of present day Bournedale. The home that he and his wife lived in once stood between the mill race and herring run at the northwest corner of Bournedale Rd. and Old Herring Pond Rd. From there, he ran a small grocery store from a covered basement on the east side of the house. He at one time ran a livery service from the barns which once stood behind the house. He partnered with his brother, Alexander Gibbs, who ran a grocery business in New Bedford. He also was a syndicate investor in whaling ships and expeditions based in New Bedford.
His friend, the Rev. Mr. Craft at the Unitarian church spoke of his departed friend shortly after his passing:

Obituary. --the following extract from a discourse recently delivered by Rev. MR. Crafts in the Unitarian church of Sandwich, refers to the decease of Nathan B. Gibbs, Esq. heretofore recorded in our columns:--
"But a few days have elapsed since another of our number has been taken from us:--one, who, indeed, a stay and a staff, by his experience and large heart, not only to this society, but to others, also, in their various relations in life. In him we have had an example of integrity and of lofty principle. His high sense of moral responsibleness was evinced by the correctness of his life, and by his faithfulness to the various trusts reposed in him.
"He was modest as he was upright. He was the embodiment of amiableness. Free from the dark spirit of the selfish and the morose, he ever found pleasure in making others happy, and appeared to have the injunction "not to live for one's self alone" ever before him. And even now does he seem to rise before me with his sunny countenance, and benignant eye, through which the ingenuous thoughts and beaming affections shine forth to gladden all around. His ear was ever open to the wants of the afflicted, and his charitable spirit ever sympathized with the unfortunate and oppressed. Many a kind word and deed, known only to the immediate circle in which he moved, will long and gratefully be treasured up in the hearts of those whom they have blessed. Of him it may be said, "When the ear heard him then it blessed him, and when the eye saw him, then it gave witness to him, because he delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him, and he caused the widow's heart to sing for joy."
"But it was, perhaps, in the bosom of his family that his modest worth and unobtrusive virtues shone the brightest. Preeminently he was he formed by the dispositions and qualities of his heart, for the retirement and happiness of the domestic circle. He was, indeed, its light and joy. Aspiring to no posts of ambition, to no miserable rewards of political strife, he loved his own beautifully quiet and rural retreat, and the respect and sympathies of friends, far more than these.
"In his departure we lose one of our most experienced and beloved parishioners-a pillar and an ornament of this congregation. Ever has he continued a steady supporter of our religious institutions, and a regular attendant upon our services of worship. I need not tell you how ready he was, by his counsels and his purse, to promote the welfare of this society, nor remind you of that cheerfulness with which he contributed to what, as he believed, would best promote Christian truth and righteousness."-----


Date: Friday, April 20, 1849 Paper: New-Bedford Mercury (New Bedford, MA) Volume: XLII Issue: 2169 Page: 3, accessed at genealogybank.com