BIO: James A. Sibbett, Cumberland County, PA

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http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                             CHAPTER XXXIX. 

                        BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG.

434  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

  JAMES A. SIBBETT, ex-prothonotary, auctioneer, Mechanicsburg, is a 
representative of one of the old families of Cumberland County, Penn.  
His grandfather, John Sibbett, born near the city of Armagh, County 
Armagh, Ireland, was a shoe-maker by trade; he and his brother Robert 
were the only sons of their father.  Robert Sibbett was one of 

435  BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG.

the "united men" in the rebellion against the "united men" in the 
rebellion against England, but did not come to America; his brother, 
John, when a young man, came to America and settled in Chester County, 
Penn., in 1788; was married here to Miss Bridget Montague, and came to 
Cumberland County, Penn., in the spring of 1823 or 1824, locating at 
Churchtown; a short time thereafter he moved to Mount Holly Springs; he 
was a member of the first Presbyterian Church of Carlisle.  To Mr. and 
Mrs. John Sibbett were born three daughters and seven sons:  John and 
James (twins), Robert, Samuel, Andrew, Thomas, Aaron, Molly, Jane and 
Elizabeth.  John, the eldest, born near West Chester, Chester Co., 
Penn., in 1792, married Miss Annie Lightfoot, who was born in Maryland 
in 1801, and who moved with her parents to this county about 1807; he 
came to this county about 1817, and, being a shoe-maker, made the first 
pegged shoes in Cumberland County, making his own pegs.  He died August 
7, 1832.  His widow died February 4, 1857.  They had seven children, 
two living:  Elizabeth, born August 20, 1820, residing in 
Mechanicsburg, is a member of the Church of God, and James A., the 
youngest, born in what is now Jacksonville, Cumberland Co., Penn., 
March 7, 1832.  He worked on the farm, attending school winters, until 
he was eighteen, when he began to learn the tailor's trade at 
Churchtown; was married, May 29, 1856, in Mechanicsburg, to Mrs. Jane 
Stroop, who was born in New Bloomfield, Perry County, May 20, 1834, 
daughter of Conrad and Sophia (Shober) Roth, old settlers of Perry 
County.  Mr. and Mrs. James A. Sibbett are members of the Church of 
God.  They have had six children:  Robert E., an employe of the 
Cumberland Valley Railroad at Bridgeport, Penn.; Charles L., who died, 
aged twelve months; Curtis A., a painter of Mechanicsburg, married to 
Mrs. Mary Koser; Harry L., Kate A. and Lizzie.  At the breaking out of 
the late war of the Rebellion our subject became a member of Company A, 
One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and 
remained in the army until honorably discharged in October, 1863, when 
he returned home, and in the spring of 1864 came to Mechanicsburg, soon 
after being employed in the quartermaster's department at Harrisburg, 
under Maj. Richenboch until the close of the war.  He then engaged with 
W. Y. Johnson & Bro., forwarding agent, who owned individual cars, for 
two years; then resumed his trade of tailor until 1880, when he was 
appointed census enumerator for the Third Ward of Mechanicsburg, by 
Hon. J. Simpson Africa.  In 1881 Mr. Sibbett was nominated and elected, 
by the people of Cumberland County, prothonotary of the county for 
three years, since which time he has been engaged as auctioneer.  He is 
a member of the I. O. O. F. and the encampment; a member of Capt. 
Colwell Post, No. 201, G. A. R., Carlisle.  In politics he is a 
Democrat.  He has a nice residence on North Market Street, 
Mechanicsburg, where he and his family reside.