Henry Hastings SIBLEY, Congress, WI (1811-1891)

SIBLEY Henry Hastings , a Delegate from the Territories of Wisconsin and Minnesota; born in Detroit, Mich., February 20, 1811; attended the Detroit Academy and also studied under private tutors; studied law; moved to Sault Ste. Marie in 1828 and engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1829, when he moved to Mackinac and entered the service of the American Fur Co.; justice of the peace in 1831; moved to the mouth of the Minnesota River in 1834 and engaged in fur trading; elected as a Delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin to the Thirtieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the disqualification of John H. Tweedy and served from October 30, 1848, to March 3, 1849; upon the formation of the Territory of Minnesota was elected as a Delegate to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses and served from July 7, 1849, to March 3, 1853; declined to be a candidate for renomination; member of the Territorial Legislature of Minnesota in 1855; member of the constitutional convention of Minnesota in 1857, and served as president; Governor of Minnesota 1858-1860; regent of the State university 1860-1869 and president of the board of regents 1876-1891; served in the Union Army as brigadier general of Volunteers from 1862 until he was honorably mustered out April 30, 1866; moved to St. Paul, Minn.; interested in banking, railroads, and other public corporations; president of the St. Paul Gas Co. in 1866; president of the Minnesota Historical Society 1879-1891; unsuccessful candidate for election to the Forty-seventh Congress; appointed by President Arthur in 1883 as president of the commission to settle damage claims of the Ojibway Indians resulting from the construction of national reservoirs; died in St. Paul, Minn., February 18, 1891; interment in Oakland Cemetery.

Bibliography

Jorstad, Erling T. ``The Life of Henry Hastings Sibley.'' Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1957.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present