St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-13
The SibIey Ancestry.

If DR.. Vests book is open to adverse
criticism at all, the only criticism that
can be considered well founded would
relate to the amount of space devoted to
the ancestry of the SibleyS. 1t makes
but little difference to the general
reader whether mans ancestors
reached back TO the Norman conquest
or not, so long as the man himself per-
formed his duty and enShrined his men,
DRY in the hearts of his cOuntrymen.
Still blood will tell, and it is a matter
of interest to all MinnesOtianS to know
that the man whose chivalrouS bearing
has ever been the pride of his fellow
citizens can trace his ancestral line
back to a brave old Saxon family who
resisted Norman invasion eight
lev. the hero of Minnesota, and the sub
ject of DR.. Vests well written sketch.
was born in Detroit, Feb. 20, 1911.
He was the fourth child and second
son of an honorable sire, Chief Justice
SOloman Sibley, of Detroit. whose wife,
Sarah Whipple SprOat, was the only
daughter of Col. ElOeneyer Sproat. an
accomplished officer in the Continental
army, and granddaughter of Commo-
dOre Abraham Whipple, of the CONT
mental navy. The Sibleys were origi-
nally Massachusetts people, whose an
cestOrs were among the earliest Ameri-
can pioneers, and from them have de-
seconded multitude of men and women
of high distinction, adjoining the annals
of the nation in all the various walks of
private and public life. Gen. Sibley
came of equally good stock by his
mothers side. DR.. West relates the fol-
lowing anecdOte of his maternal great
grandfather:
June 10, 1872, the Gaspee, chasing the
Newport packet, grounded, by blunder
of the pilot. the packet escaping capture.
Capt. Whipple at once organize d an
expedition of eight l0ngbOats, and
pulling away from the shore, rOwlocks
and oars untitled, captain at each
tiller. himself in the lead, with paving
stones, boulders, clubs, few muSkets,
some ball and p0wder-hOIn or two,
made for his majeSty's vessel at about
haIf-past 10 o'clock at night. Silence
was enjOined. and the boats approached
the sloop. When within sixty yards the
sentinel hailed, "WhO comes there?"
No answer. Again, "Who comes there?''
No answer. A third time, and now
from the mouth of the British COM
mander himself. who had mounted the
gunWale, ''WhO comes there? Stand
off! You can't come abOardi" Then
the voice of Nhipple rang out in stem
forian tones through the stiffness of
the night, ~ am sheriff of Kent county.
] have a warrant to arrest you. Sur
render. or I'll make your Hand me
that musket," said one of the boats
crew to another. and instantly shot
brought the British captain, mOrtally
wounded. down to the deck. BY this
time the boats were alongside. the brave
Rhode Islanders boarded the vessel.
? hurled their paving stones, captured
the crew, and applying the torch to the
vessel, sailed hOmeward, the bright
flames of the burning sloop spreading
and mounting alOft in vivid contrast
with the blackneSs of night around
them. History has baDtiZed this first
naval engagement as 1.-The Lexington
of the Seas Sir James Wallace, loyal,
as a matter Of course, to his majesty,
George H.. and learning who led the
assault on the Gaspee, sent, as admiral
of his maiesty'S fleet, the following note
to Capt. Whipple:
You, Abraham Wbipple. on the 10Th day
of June 1872, burned his majesty's vessel
the Gaspee, and l viii hang you at the yard
arm. JAMES WALLACE.
To which Whipple promptly replied,
with lacOnic glee:
Sir James Wallace-Sir: Always catch a
man before you hang him.
ABRAHAM WHIPPLE
This incident shows the kind Of stuff