Mary Easton Sibley

Mary Easton Sibley
Painting of Mary Easton Sibley by Chester Harding c1830s
Personal details
Born	(1800-01-24)January 24, 1800 Rome, New York
Died	June 20, 1878(1878-06-20) (aged 78) St. Charles, Missouri
Spouse(s)	George Champlin Sibley
Parents	Rufus and Alby Smith Easton
Occupation	early American pioneer and educator

Mary Easton Sibley (January 24, 1800- June 20, 1878) was an early American pioneer and educator.

Mary Sibley was born in Rome, New York on January 24, 1800, the daughter of Rufus Easton and Alby Abial Easton. She was the first of eleven children for the Easton family. Mary's father's family was from England and settled in Connecticut in the 1640s. The family helped found Hartford, Connecticut. Her mother's family was also from an educated colonial family. The two met in New York and married in 1798, when Alby was only fifteen years old.

In 1804, Sibley learned that his former law professor and attorney general of the District of Louisiana, Ephraim Kirby, had died. When the position became available, President Thomas Jefferson asked Sibley to consider the appointment. Sibley accepted and applied for a license to practice law in Indiana Territory. He set out for St. Louis. Easton would be attorney general of the largest land jurisdiction in the United States. By September 1804, the Sibley family had settled in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

In addition to his duties as judge, Easton was asked by President Jefferson to keep an eye on the Territorial Governor, General James Wilkinson, because he was suspected of collaborating with Vice President Aaron Burr to cause the western part of the United States to secede and form a separate country.

While little is known of Sibley’s early life, family records state that for a period she was sent to boarding school in Lexington, Kentucky. It is likely that Sibley attended Shelbyville Female Academy when she was fourteen or fifteen between 1813 and her marriage in 1815.

According to Sibley’s diaries, sometime prior to 1815 she had returned to her family in St. Louis. It was during this time that she would frequent dances with her friend. Mary met George Champlin Sibley one evening in 1814. Mary later said she first met George at a dinner party at her parents' house, but it is possible that the two met at a dance at one of the surrounding forts. George knew Mary's father and the two had collaborated on a business or legal matter previously, though the extent of this collaboration is not known. Rufus Easton was a land speculator and George Sibley was interested in developing the area around Fort Osage. While little is known about Mary and George's courtship, after they met, George only had eyes for Mary. Mary was only fourteen years old, while George was thirty-two. They married on August 19, 1815.