HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D.                  19
any rate, it was the sort of stuff of which the stalwarts of yore
were made; men who knew how to take off the head of a king,
demolish a throne, dismiss the commons at will, clear the seas
of pirates, and demand cessation of persecution against the
Piedmontese, the guns of Cromwell threatening to pulverize
the castle of St. Angelo. Of such stuff, doubtless, were the
New England Sibleys.
Plainly, the Salem Sibley and the Charlestown Sibley are
different persons. That they were of the same connection,
there can be no doubt. That they crossed together, at the
time of the " Winthrop Fleet," is admitted by all writers
except Savage, whose doubt is based simply on the fact that
he had not seen the original record. He does not question
Felt's statement that "John Sibley, Salem, came over with
Higginson, 1629," but simply intimates that he has "not
seen the evidence."1 He adds this, however, "John Sibley,
Charlestown, 1634, wife Sarah, freeman May 6, 1634, spelled
with "e" in first syllable, died November 30,1649." The evi-
dence we have, therefore, is that of contemporary history,
official records of churches, courts, and colony, and uncontra-
dicted universal tradition.2 It is certain that two Sibleys are
found as early as 1634, or within three years of 1630, the one at
Charlestown, the other at Salem, both uniting with the church
the same year, and one declared to be the sixteenth on the
list of members in the First church at Salem, the earliest
Protestant church in the New World. Official records furnish
public notices of both. This, and the facts that both were
selectmen so soon, land owners in many different places,
prominent and influential in public affairs, argue their
association with the 2,000 who came over in the fleet to make
a "firm plant." And the universal tradition, uncontradicted
for more than two and a half centuries, is more than enough
to establish a claim, which, were its evidence applied to the
investigation of an ancient title deed, would be deemed con-
clusive. The testimony of Prince that some of the company
made Salem their home, while others made Charlestown, is
not without significance for our inquiry.     The questions of
1  Savage's Genealogical Diet., Vol. IV, pp. 93, 94; Hist, of Union, by J. L. Sibley, p. 496.
2  See Hotten's Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Politi-
cal Rebels, Serving Men, Maidens pressed, and others, who went from Great Britain to the
American Plantations, 1600-1700, N. Y. 1874.   Introd., pp. 31, 24,28.