Rufus Adams Sibley (1841–1928) was an American businessman, best known as a founder of the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

Biography

Sibley was born in

Spencer, Massachusetts Spencer is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,992 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated pl ...

on December 3, 1841. After completing his education at the public schools in Spencer he taught school for two years, beginning at the age of sixteen. Following this he began working in a

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

as a salesman and bookkeeper. At age 22 he took a job as bookkeeper and cashier at a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

drygoods store. While working there he met Alexander Lindsay and

John Curr John Curr (c. 1756 – 27 January 1823) was an English mining engineer and inventor who was the viewer of the Duke of Norfolk's collieries in Sheffield, England from 1781 to 1801. During this time he made a number of innovations that contribute ...

who were to become his partners. The three formed a partnership called Sibley, Lindsay & Curr and opened a small store in Rochester called "The Boston Store" (no relation to the chain of the same name owned by

The Bon-Ton Bonton Holdings Inc. operating as Bonton () was an American department store chain and group founded in 1898. It operated in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Western Maryland, and throughout the Midwestern United States. The former York, Pennsy ...

). This was later renamed "Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Company." Rufus Sibley was president of the company from 1868 until his retirement in 1924. He died in Rochester on May 12, 1928, and is buried there in Mount Hope Cemetery. On October 10, 1870, Sibley married Martha A. Haven of

Charlton, Massachusetts Charlton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,315 at the 2020 census. History Charlton was first settled in 1735. It was established as a District separated from Oxford on January 10, 1755, and b ...

; the couple had two children who died in infancy, and one son, Edward R. Sibley. Martha died on November 18, 1883. On November 21, 1885, Sibley married Elizabeth Conkey of Rochester; the couple had two children: John R. Sibley and Elizabeth Sibley. Mrs. Elizabeth Sibley died on August 26, 1918. In addition to his business interests Rufus Sibley was involved in a number of social and charitable interests. He was an avid breeder of

Jersey Cattle The Jersey is a British breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney – now extinct – and the Guernsey. The milk is high in butterf ...

, which he raised at his "Moose Hill Farm" in Spencer, Massachusetts. He was president of the American Jersey Cattle Club. He was active in the Episcopal Church, and was deputy six times at the Church's General Convention. He was a member of the Genesee Valley Club, the Country Club of Rochester, and the Rochester Art Club. He served on the Executive Committee and was treasurer and president of the Board of Trustees of the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

. He was an honorary trustee of Hahnemann Hospital in Rochester, which later became the Genesee Hospital, and of the Rochester School for the Deaf. He was chairman of the board of the Rochester City Hospital (later Rochester General Hospital). He was vice-president of the Reynolds Library and served as president of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce.

References

External links

*
"Rufus Sibley" and "Sibley farms" in ''Spencer, a Sense of Heritage'', Tina Mase, ed.
1841 births 1928 deaths Businesspeople from Rochester, New York People from Spencer, Massachusetts {{US-business-bio-1840s-stub