My Genealogy Hound

Judson L. Sibley, who has served as treasurer of Oakland County, since January, 1903, has long been one of the foremost business men of the county and is at the present time a resident of Pontiac. Mr. Sibley was born on his father’s farm joining the village of Wixom, in Commerce township, Oakland County, in 1846, and is a son of Alonzo Sibley, deceased, a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this work. Our subject was reared and primarily educated in that section of the county, then attended Hillsdale College, from which he was graduated in 1871. He then took a commercial course at Mayhem College at Detroit, completing the same in the remarkably short period of four weeks. Returning home he formed a partnership with W. C. Wixom in the grain, produce and lumber business and for a period of nearly 30 years it was recognized as one of the strong firms of the county, and was only terminated by the death of Mr. Wixom in 1901. Mr. Sibley has taken an active part in politics for many years. He served 16 years as justice of the peace and was supervisor for seven years, resigning the latter office in 1903 to accept that of county treasurer. He has held numerous offices and was defeated but once in his candidacy for an office, going down in a landslide when a candidate for Representative. He is president of the Wixom Canning Company, and has other extensive interests. He has been administrator for many large estates and has very successfully conducted an insurance business. He has a farm of 130 acres in Commerce township and carries on a large berry business near Walled Lake, being one of the largest fruit growers in the county. His fine residence at Wixom was recently destroyed by fire, and Mr. Sibley with his family now resides at Pontiac.

Judson L. Sibley was united in marriage with Lucia Banks, a daughter of F. Henry Banks, who was a prominent farmer and early settler of Oakland County. Mr. Banks sold his farm in 1873 and removed to Northville, Wayne County, Michigan, where he died. Mrs. Sibley has a sister and two brothers, as follows: Dr. S. Gertrude Banks, who was one of the first lady graduates from the medical department of the University of Michigan, and has been successfully engaged in practice at Detroit since 1875; Thomas P. Banks, of Detroit, who is a veteran of the Civil War; and Charles Banks, also a veteran of the Civil War, who is a resident of Novi township, Oakland County. Mr. and Mrs. Sibley have one daughter and three sons, namely: Gertrude, who is married and lives in Lyon township; Harry, who expects to begin the study of medicine in the University of Michigan in the fall of 1903, and is now assistant to his father in the county treasurer’s office; Wesley, a graduate of the Detroit High School, who is in the office of the Detroit Iron & Copper Works; and Standish, named for Capt. Miles Standish, from whom Mrs. Sibley is descended, who will enter Pontiac High School in the fall of 1903. Harry Sibley, who also is a graduate of the Detroit High School, is a member of the Walled Lake Base Ball Club and has attained the reputation of being one of the best pitchers in Oakland County. Religiously, our subject and his wife are members of the Free Will Baptist Church. Both are well known in the county and are held in high esteem for their many estimable traits of character.