William Franklin Sibley, MD. Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Frances Ball Turner ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** History of Louisiana by Chambers. Vol. III, pg. 293 WILLIAM FRANKLIN SIBLEY, M.D. Through a period of nearly thirty years Doctor Sibley has practiced medicine in Natchitoches Parish. He has been honored in his profession as an official in medical organizations, has earned by his service the esteem of a large community, and is a very busy and useful citizen. His home is at Robeline. Doctor Sibley was born in Ward One of Natchitoches Parish, December 11, 1869. His grandfather, William L. Sibley, came to Louisiana from Mississippi three years before the Civil war, and was a pioneer in Sabine Parish. He died during the war between the states. Robert D. Sibley, father of Doctor Sibley, was born in Mississippi and was a child when brought to Louisiana. He is now seventy-nine years of age and his home is a small farm adjoining the town of Robeline. When the war broke out between the states he was a student in Bethel Academy, and he ran away from school to join a regiment of Louisiana Cavalry. He was in the army four years, two years on scout duty. After the war he married Mary Scarborough, member of one of the prominent old pioneer families in the vicinity of Spanish Lake in Natchitoches Parish. Her father was Josiah Scarborough. After his marriage Robert D. Sibley remained in the Scarborough locality for about one year, then went to Calcasieu Parish and spent two years rafting logs down the river to the saw mills at Lake Charles. He then resumed farming in the Spanish Lake locality for one season and from there moved to a farm five miles south of Robeline just at the edge of Sabine Parish. This was hs home for many years, and when he retired he moved to his present county home near Robeline. He has been an active member of the Baptist Church, and a Mason. His first wife died at the age of thirty-three, the mother of five children: Dr. William Franklin, who was ten years old when his mother died; Robert Elmer, who died in childhood; Annie Hasseltine, wife of Dr. J. M. Slater, at Glenmora, Louisiana; Ada Jane, wife of J.F. Cane, of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana; and Blanche, wife of C.M. Ellzey, a farmer near Robeline. After the death of his first wife Rober D. Sibley married Florence Mobley, a woman of most splendid character, who endeared herself not only to her own but to her step-children as well. She became the mother of the following sons and daughters: Lonnie C., in the oil business at Eldorado, Arkansas; Sam J. secretary and treasurer of the Louisiana State Normal College; Edwin, who died when twenty-one years of age, being at that time employed in a Robeline mercantile establishment; Vance, in the oil business at Eldorado, Arkansas; Lizzie, wife of Dr. Glass of Robeline; May the wife of Fisher Middleton, a railroad man at Provencal, Louisiana; Gertie, wife of Jack Middleton, of Pineville, Louisiana; Pearl, wife of Ivy Sweeney, an accountant at Shreveport. William Franklin Sibley after the common schools entered the Masonic Institute at Fort Jesup, and later attended Baylor University in Texas. He took his professional work in the Memphis Hospital Medical College, graduating in 1897. Since then he has taken a number of post-graduate courses at Tulane University. With the exception of two years at Alexandria, Doctor Sibley has practiced steadily at Robeline since graduating. His work has been both in country and town, and his experience began in days before the general use of telephones, automobiles and hard roads. Doctor Sibley married Mary A. Glass, daughter of John P. Glass, of Natchitoches Parish. She received her education at Fort Jesup. The five children of Doctor and Mrs. Sibley are: Ethel, wife of Robert J. Talbert, a planter at Keatchie, Louisiana; Inez, wife of W.B. Talbert, a traveling salesman for a wholesale grocery company; W.F., Jr., who left college at the age of seventeen and volunteered at Shreveport, was assigned duty in the artillery and after going overseas was transferred to the ammunition train as a motor truck driver, and for three months was on the battle front, including two great campaigns, St. Mihiel and Argonne, but was never wounded; Ruby, wife of H.B. Ake, Jr., vice president and manager of the Guarantee Insurance Company at the branch office in Alexandria; and John D., aged eighteen, a student in the Louisiana College at Pineville, a youth who weighs 175 pounds and is one of the star players on the college football team. Doctor Sibley is president of the Natchitoches Parish Medical Society, was president of the Natchitoches-Red River Society and president of the Eighth Congressional District Medical Society when it was disbanded during the World war. He is now vice-president of that society, representing Natchitoches Parish. Doctor Sibley is a thoroughly domestic man, and when not attending to his professional duties is always to be found in the environment of his home. He is a Royal Arch Mason at Robeline, member of the Masonic Council at Natchitoches, and the Scottish Rite Consistory at New Orleans; his Knight Templar membership is with the Shreveport Commandery.