The Sibert Family of South Carolina and Alabama

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I-J-2. MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM LUTHER SIBERT, son of William Joshua Sibert³ (David², John David¹) [11]

William Luther Sibert was born on 12 October 1860 on his father's farm in Little Will's Valley, Etowah County, Alabama. [1][2][3] He died of a stroke on 16 October 1935, aged 75, in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky. [2] He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery; the inscription on his gravestone says, "William Luther Sibert / Major General / United States Army / USMA 1884 / 1860 ... 1935." [4] He married first Mary Margaret Cummings on 17 September 1887 in Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas. [5] She died on 21 May 1915, aged 52.

William married second Juliet Paschall Roberts on 6 June 1917 in Pittsburgh. [6] Juliette was the daughter of Thomas Paschall and Juliet E. (Christy) Roberts. [7][8] She was born on 1 December 1881 in Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and was baptized there on 18 December 1881 at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. [7][9] She died on 8 October 1918, aged 36, of pneumonia after contracting influenza at her home in Washington, D.C. [8][10][11] She is buried in the Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. [12]

William married third Evelyn Clyne Bairnsfather on 8 June 1922 in Bowling Green. [13] Evelyn was the daughter of John Hugh Macintosh and Elizabeth Sharks (Waddell) Bairnsfather. [14] She was born on 1 December 1881 in Edinburgh, Scotland. [12][14][15] She died on 22 October 1958, aged 76, at her home in Gadsden, Etowah County, Alabama and is buried in the Forrest Cemetery in Gadsden. [12][16][17] Evelyn emigrated to the United States on 8 September 1905 and was naturalized on 4 October 1919 in Cincinnati. [9] She was a nurse, and served during World War I. She was at the base hospital at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio from 16 February to 14 July 1918. She served in France at the demobilization station for discharging American Expeditionary Forces from 14 July 1918 to 15 March 1919. She was relieved from active duty on 24 April 1919. [9][15]

William entered the University of Alabama in 1878. He entered the U.S. Military Academy from Gadsden and graduated in June 1884. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of the engineers on 15 June 1884. Following graduation, he entered the Engineer School of Application at Willets Point. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 7 April 1888. He oversaw improvements in the lock and dam system on the Green and Barren Rivers near Bowling Green. Four years later, he was assigned to construct a new lock in the lock and dam system, which enabled ships to travel between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. Two years later, he had an independent command in charge of the river and harbor district at Little Rock. He was appointed to captain on 31 March 1896. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he was named chief engineer of the Eighth Army Corp; his primary responsibility was to oversee the rehabilitation of the Manilla & Dagupan Railroad. [1][3][18]

In 1900, William returned to the United States to take charge of rivers and harbors in the Louisville district of Columbia. He was soon reassigned to Pittsburgh to supervise improvements in the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. He was promoted to major on 23 April 1904. The New York Times commented that "[W]ithin a few years [he] came to be recognized as the most efficient river and harbor engineer in the country. There is hardly a navigable river east of the Rockies with the development of which one way or another he has not been identified." [3][19]

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Major Goethals to be the Isthmian Canal Commission chief engineer charged with building a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Major William Sibert was appointed one of his three engineers and assigned the extremely complicated task of building the Gatun Locks and the Gatun Dam on the Chagres River. In addition, William directed the construction of the breakwater in Colón Harbor and the excavation of the seven-mile-long channel from Gatun to the Caribbean Sea. On 21 September 1909, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. [3][19][20]

In 1914, William was sent to China to work on flood control; he returned after a few months to command the Pacific artillery in San Francisco. On 4 March 1915, a special act of Congress made him a brigadier general. Raising an engineer to such a position caused some resentment among those trained in warfare. On 21 May, his wife Mamie died of meningitis in San Francisco. [3][19][21]

When World War I came in 1917, General Pershing found the supply of line generals limited, and he selected William as his second-hand man and placed him in command of the First Division, A.E.F.: "a man who knew about hydrodymanic pressure and the calculus of Pascal's law but had no battlefield experince." William was summed for active duty on 26 April and promoted to major general in June. On 12 December, Pershing relieved William of his command and sent him back to the United States to serve as commanding general of the Southeastern Department of the Army at Charleston, South Carolina. [3][21]

In June 1918, William was named commander of the newly formed Chemical Warfare Service. The New York Times wrote, "If an army officer was to have control and direction of the Chemical Services, which includes some of the leading scientists of the country, no more competent man than General Sibert could have been found." William was later awarded the U.S. Army's Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Honor from the French government for his work in the Chemical Warfare Service during the war. [3]

William retired from the army on 4 April 1920 and moved to his farm near Bowling Green. In 1923, he led the Alabama State Docks construction project in Mobile. In 1928, he chaired an advisory board that was to investigate and report on the construction of the Boulder Dam—later the Hoover Dam—on the Colorodo River. [3][20]

biography from the Encyclopedia of Alabama

wikipedia article

Newspaper article

Obituary by Edward B. Clark: part one, part two

Children of William Luther Sibert and Mary Margaret Cummings:

I-J-2-a. Charles Martin Sibert was born on 12 August 1888 and died three days later in Newport, Campbell County, Kentucky. [12] He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, Campbell County, Kentucky. The inscription on his gravestone says: [12]

I-J-2-b. Colonel William Olin Sibert was born on 23 October 1889 in Bowling Green. He died on 12 December 1935 in Philadelphia. He married Elizabeth Carson.

I-J-2-c. Major General Franklin Cummings Sibert was born on 3 January 1891 in Bowling Green. He died on 24 June 1980 in Escambia, Florida. He married Helen Mildred Rogers.

I-J-2-d. Professor Harold Ward Sibert was born on 9 May 1892. He died on 17 December 1973. He married first Marjorie Ann Doster. He married second Esther Florence Traver.

I-J-2-e. John Tracy Sibert was born on 28 May 1894 in Detroit. [12] He died on 31 June or December 1894 in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas and is buried in the Little Rock National Cemetery. [12][33]

John Tracy's interrment form says he died on 31 December 1894. However, a gravestone says: [12]

I-J-2-f. Major General Edwin Luther Sibert was born on 2 March 1894 in Little Rock. He died on 16 December 1977 in McClean, Fairfax County, Virgina. He married Laura Carey.

I-J-2-g. Martin David Sibert was born on 11 September 1898 in Little Rock. He died on 29 April 1960 in Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama. He married first Hannah White. He married second Velma Lorene Martin.

I-J-2-h. Mary Elizabeth Sibert was born on 18 August 1899 in Fort Totten, Long Island, New York. She married Edmund Sewall Smith, Jr.

Endnotes:

1. Edward B Clark., William L. Sibert: The Army Engineer (Philadelphia: Dorrance & co., 1930), 17, 24.

2. "Kentucky, U.S., Death Records, 1852–1965," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1222) > Death certificates, 1911–1965 > 1935 > film 7019819: all counties, image 3000, death certificate for Gen. William L. Sibert.

3. C.J. Schexnayder, "William Sibert," online article, Encyclopedia of Alabama (http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3371).

4. "William Luther Sibert: Major General, United States Army," Arlington National Cemetery (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/wlsibert.htm), photo of gravestone.

5. "Texas, Select County Marriage Records, 1837–2015" database with images Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1222) > Cameron > 1887, image 88, marriage certificate for William Luther Sibert and Mary Margaret Cummings, 17 September 1887, Brownsville, Texas.

6. "Major General Sibert Married in Pittsburgh," Twice-A-Week Messenger, 16 June 1917, p. 5.

7. "Pennsylvania and New Jersey, U.S., Church and Town Records, 1669–2013," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2451) > PA-Franklin > Chambersburg > Episcopal > Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, image 36, baptism record of Juliet Paschall Roberts.

8. "Mrs. William L. Sibert," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wednesday, 9 October 1918, p. 4.

9. "U.S., Passport Applications, 1795–1925," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1174) > Passport apps., 2 Jan. 1906–31 Mar. 1925 > 1920 > roll 1110, images 98–99, application for Evelyn C. Bairnsfather.

10. "District of Columbia Deaths, 1874-1961," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7TL-H97 : accessed 21 June 2024), Juliette Roberts Sibert, 08 Oct 1918, District of Columbia, United States; citing reference ID 246490, District Records Center, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 2,115,882.

11. Violet Woolford's Diary

12. Find a Grave, database with images, FindaGrave (21 June 2024), memorial pages for

13. "Gen. W.L. Sibert Weds Georgia Girl," News Democrat (Paducah, Kentucky), 9 June 1922, p. 3.

14. "Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564–1950," database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60143), birth record for Evelyn Clyne Bairnsfather.

15. "Ohio Soldiers in World War I, 1917–1918," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7895) > B, image 73, entry for Evelyn C. Bairnsfather.

16. "Alabama, U.S., Episcopal Diocese of Alabama Church Records, 1837–1970," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61748), death record for Evelyn Clyne Bairnsfather Sibert.

17. "Mrs. Evelyn Sibert," Macon Telegraph, 30 October 1958, p. 28.

18. "U.S., Military and Naval Academies, Cadet Records and Applications, 1800–1908," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1299) > Military academy registers, 1867–1894 > vol. 19, image 1.

19. "General Sibert, Who Commands our First Camp in France," New York Times, 1 July 1917, p. 57.

20. "Army Registers, 1798–1969," database with images, Fold3 > 1886, p. 43. "Army Registers," 1934, p. 941.

21. Theo Emery, Hellfire Boys (New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2017), 97, 182.

photo of marker: Historical Marker Database (https://www.hmdb.org)

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© A. Buiter 2014

08-Jul-2024 2:55 PM