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Women Pioneers
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failing health. Colonel Sibley fitted up as soon as possible a very large old house which was then situated some distance from the town, now the very center of the city opposite the Biddle house, and here they made their home for many years. At the time of the war of 1812, Mrs. Sibley bore herself with great courage and rendered great assistance, making cartridges and scraping lint for the wounded. At the time of the news of the surrender the humiliation felt by these courageous women was shown by an incident of which Mrs. Dyson, a cousin of Mrs. Sibley, was the heroine. As the American soldiers marched out of the fort, Mrs. Dyson took all the clothing and belongings, tied them up in a bundle, and threw them out of the window, declaring that the British should not have them. Mrs. Sibley applied to General Proctor after the surrender for permission to go to her family in Ohio, and this was finally granted her, and in the spring when Detroit was again given up to the Americans, she returned to her home. On the death of her grandparents, Commodore and Mrs. Whipple, in 1819, Mrs. Sproat was left entirely alone, so Mrs. Sibley made the journey to Marietta most of the way on horseback to remove her mother to Detroit, where she remained until her death in 1832. Mrs. Sibley's husband, Solomon Sibley, was one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the early territory of Michigan, and on his removal to Detroit he was made one of the first members of the territorial legislature. He was also United States commissioner and helped General Cass to negotiate the treaty with the Indians in which they surrendered a large portion of the peninsula of Michigan. He was a delegate from the territory of Michigan in Congress, District Attorney of the United States, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Michigan. He died on April 4, 1846, one of the most highly respected citizens of Detroit.