Joseph Crocker "Joe" Sibley, Jr. (February 18, 1850May 19, 1926) was an American livestock breeder, farmer, and politician who represented northwestern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for five terms.

Biography

Early years

Joseph Crocker Sibley, Jr., known to his family and friends as "Joe," was born in

Friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept of ...

, Allegany County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on February 18, 1850."Joseph C. Sibley,"
in ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-date.'' His father, Joseph Crocker Sibley, Sr., was a medical doctor; his mother, the former Lucy Elvira Babcock, was a school teacher in the years before marriage."Joseph C. Sibley's Career One Replete with Activity,"
''News-Herald'' ranklin, PA vol. 49, no. 10,409 (May 19, 1926), pg. 11. His parents instilled a love of reading in him at a young age and he read precociously from the age of 6, quickly tackling books intended for a more advanced readership. In 1859 the Sibley family moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, a small town located in Erie County, New York. Joe attended the county schools and the local academies in the New York communities of Springville and Friendship. Sibley's father died in 1866, spelling the end of his student days a year or two later. His bookish nature made Sibley a natural choice to work as had his mother as a school teacher, but he taught for only one year before leaving the profession. He took a job as a clerk in a dry goods store and harbored the dream of going to college to become a physician, going so far as to study medical books in his spare time. Sibley ultimately decided against this course of action, however. In March 1870, Sibley married the former Metta Evalina Babcock, also hailing from the town of Friendship. The couple would remain married for over 40 years, raising two daughters together, with Metta dying on July 26, 1911.

Business career

Sibley determined to enter the oil-refining business and by 1873 he had managed to develop a new specialized product, a signal oil for railway use with superior illuminating property to the lighting oils then being used in the industry. He launched a company to manufacture and market this product, the Signal Oil Works. Sibley continued to innovate with petroleum refining and later developed a highly successful oil for valve lubrication. In 1882 Miller and Sibley went into the livestock breeding business, launching a company called Miller & Sibley. The firm proved successful, gaining recognition in the breeding of horses and cattle. Race trotters were a particular specialty for the company, with Miller & Sibley owning as many as 250 head at the company's high point, some of which were worth thousands of dollars. In 1902 Sibley formed a new venture in partnership with his brother-in-law Charles Miller, the Galena-Signal Oil Company. This venture proved successful, and Sibley and Miller became wealthy as a result. Galena Oil later became part of the

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

combine, and then part of the corporations now known as

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...

and

Valvoline Valvoline Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of Valvoline-brand automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. It also owns the Valvoline Instant Oil Change and Valvoline Express Care chains of car repair centers. , it is the second ...

Political career

Sibley launched a political career at an early age, winning election as mayor of Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 1879 at the age of 29. The election of 1892 marked Sibley's entrance onto the national political stage. He was initially nominated for Congress by the

Prohibition Party The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movement. It is the oldest existing third party ...

, who expected that the Democratic Party would soon follow suit by nominating him as their candidate in that district.William P.F. Ferguson, "Joseph Crocker Sibley," ''News-Herald'' ranklin, PA vol. 14, whole no. 14,910 (May 24, 1926), pg. 11. Although not a total abstainer from alcohol, the newcomer Sibley won the respect of the Democratic establishment for his political courage by pointedly refusing to drink at a private banquet hosted by local brewers in the district, declaring that "I have been trusted by the Prohibitionists with their nomination, and I will not be false to the confidence which they have placed in me, not even in secret and not even as the price of a seat in the House of Representatives." The Democratic Party nominated Sibley nonetheless as its candidate in the 26th Congressional District, as did the People's Party. Sibley proved to be an indefatigable campaigner in his first race for office, delivering as many as six speeches in a single day and developing strong oratorical ability. A local newspaper in a laudatory biography published after his death recalled that

It was at once recognized that he was a reasoner, a wit, a man of affairs, an orator, and best of all, a strong, courageous man with a big heart and helpful impulses.... The election returns showed that he had not only overcome the big hostile majority with which at the start he had been handicapped, but also that he had piled up for himself the surprising plurality of 3,387 over his principal competitor...

Sibley's upset victory in November 1892 won him a place in the Fifty-third Congress. In Washington the freshman Congressman emerged as a leading critic of the

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from th ...

and advocate of unlimited coinage of silver.See, for example, his published speech of August 18, 1893
''Speech of Hon. Joseph C. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, in the House of Representatives, August 18, 1893.''
Washington, DC: George R. Gray, 1893; ''passim.'' Sibley was also an advocate of depoliticizing the tariff question and an early advocate of a constitutional change which would have limited the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

to a single 6-year term of office. He was the unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic and People's Parties for reelection in 1894, failing to win once again in the election of 1896. Sibley managed to win his second of five terms in Congress as a Democrat in November 1898, becoming a member of the

Fifty-sixth Congress The 56th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1899, ...

. In 1900 Sibley switched his allegiance to the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

and in November was elected as a Republican to the

57th United States Congress The 57th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1901, to ...

. He would gain reelection in 1902 and 1904 to the Fifty-eighth, and Fifty-ninth Congresses, respectively. He served as chairman of the House Committee on Manufactures during the Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Congresses. He declined renomination in 1906, however, opting to return to private life. A return to politics was planned for 1910, when Sibley was nominated once again for Congress, running for what would have been his sixth term in Washington. His plan was short-circuited by a severe heart attack in that year, however, leaving Sibley unable to campaign and he was forced to resign the nomination, thereby effectively ending his political career.

Death and legacy

During his later years, Sibley resumed his former manufacturing and agricultural pursuits at his well-known estate, "River Ridge Farm," located near Franklin, Pennsylvania. He was remarried in December 1913 to the former Ida Rew of Franklin, Pennsylvania. His health began to decline further during the middle 1920s, with Sibley suffering a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

in 1925. On the morning of May 19, 1926 at 9:10 am while at home at River Ridge, Sibley was stricken by a massive

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

."Joseph C. Sibley Dies Suddenly at River Ridge Farm,"
''News-Herald'' ranklin, PA vol. 49, no. 10,409 (May 19, 1926), pg. 1. Sibley died instantly from this cardiac event; he was 76 years old at the time of his death. A large funeral service was held for Sibley at the First Baptist Church of Franklin, with four ministers helping to conduct the ceremony and a local newspaper publisher delivering the eulogy, in accordance with Sibley's specific request."Funeral Large, Yet Marked by Great Simplicity,"
''News-Herald'' ranklin, PA vol. 14, whole no. 14,910 (May 24, 1926), pg. 11. Sibley's body was interred in Franklin Cemetery.

Footnotes

Works

''Speech of Hon. Joseph C. Sibley, of Pennsylvania, in the House of Representatives, August 18, 1893.''
Washington, DC: George R. Gray, 1893. * ''Observations and Experiments with the Mammoth French White Jerusalem Artichoke to Date of April 1, 1924: River RIdge Farm, Joseph C. Sibley, proprietor.'' Oil City, PA: Derrick Publishing Co., 1924.