Crawford Co., AR - Biographies - William Henry Harrison Shibley

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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William Henry Harrison Shibley,of the firm of Shibley, Bourland & Co., 
was born in 1840 in Ralls County, Mo., and is a son of Henry and Eliza 
Ann (Boyd) Shibley. Some time previous to the Revolutionary War John 
Shibley immigrated to America from Switzerland and settled in New 
York. He was the father of Henry Shibley, who was born in 1762 and 
died in 1853. In 1788 he married Elizabeth Shoults, and in 1792 moved 
to Montgomery County, settling upon land which is now owned by his 
descendants. His son, Jacob B. Shibley, was born in 1793; in 1814 he 
married Elizabeth Parks, and in 1818 moved to Luzerne County, Penn. In 
the winter of 1835 he went to Ralls County, Mo., and in 1843 moved to 
Adair County, where he died in 1872. His son, Henry, the father of our 
subject, was born in 1815, in Montgomery County, N. Y., in 1839 
married Miss E. A. M. Boyd, and reared a family of seven sons and one 
daughter, all of whom are married. He is the grandfather of thirty-
three children. In 1840 he moved to the northwestern part of Adair 
County, and commenced merchandising at Shibley's Point, in connection 
with which he engaged in milling. In 1860 he located four miles east 
of Van Buren, and is now the owner of 120 acres. For fifteen years he 
was a teacher in this county. Having lost his wife in 1883, he has 
since made his home with our subject. Mrs. Shibley was born in 1818, 
and was the mother of eight children: W. H. H., John S., M. D., of 
Paris; Lemuel S., farmer, of Green Forest, Carroll County; Edna E., 
wife of James M. Baxter, deputy sheriff; George W., of Van Buren; 
Albert B., of Van Buren; David P. and Jacob I., farmers, near Van 
Buren. Our subject accompanied his parents to Crawford County in 1860, 
and in 1862 enlisted in the Confederate army as a private, in Company 
G, Twenty-second Regiment Arkansas Infantry. He served three years, 
and participated in the battles at Prairie Grove, Saline River and 
Helena. He was made second lieutenant after the last named battle, 
then first lieutenant, and at the time of the surrender at Fort Smith 
was acting adjutant of the regiment and commanding his company. In 
1866 he married Esther A. Cook, who was born in Dearborn County, Ind., 
in 1843, and is the mother of the following children: Harry B., David 
C. W., Mary E., William A. and Leah A. Mr. and Mrs. Shibley belong to 
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he has been ruling elder 
one year. Mr. Shibley was the chief clerk of Mr. D. C. Williams in his 
store for ten years prior to 1868, the firm then becoming Shibley, 
Wood & Co. In 1887 Mr. Shibley sold his interest to Wood Bros. & 
Southmayd, and in February, 1888, became president of the Van Buren 
Canning Company. He was the prime originator of the company and is its 
general manager. July 1, 1888, the company of Shibley, Bourland & Co. 
succeeded T. D. Bourland & Co. in the wholesale grocery and commission 
business. Mr. Shibley is one of the first business men of Van Buren, 
is stockholder in the Van Buren Ice and Coal Company, and a director 
and stockholder in the Crawford County Bank, having [p.1192] assisted 
in the organization of both enterprises. He is also treasurer of the 
Van Buren Building and Loan Association and the Van Buren Land and 
Improvement Company. He is a Democrat in polities, and has frequently 
been a member of the city council and school board. He is a member of 
Van Buren Lodge No. 6, F. & A. M., and Van Buren Chapter No. 3, R. A. 
M., and is High Priest of the latter, and Grand Master of Second Veil 
in the Grand Chapter of Arkansas. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shibley take an 
active interest in temperance, and are usually found with the most 
earnest workers in the promotion of this commendable virtue. The 
Sunday-school, too, receives a full share of their attention and 
encouragement. 

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