Solomon Sibley

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Solomon Sibley (October 7, 1769 – April 4, 1846) was an American lawyer and politician in the Michigan Territory who became Detroit's first mayor. Born in Sutton, Massachusetts, he studied at what is now Brown University and began practicing law in 1795. He moved to Detroit in 1797, where he was one of only two lawyers. He helped set up Detroit's government and, under the 1806 charter, served as the town’s first mayor. He worked to strengthen Michigan's defenses before and during the War of 1812, even leading a rifle company as Detroit defended against the British. After the war, he was Auditor of Public Accounts (1814–1817) and the first U.S. Attorney for the Michigan Territory (1815–1823). He served as the territory's Delegate to the U.S. Congress from 1820 to 1823, while still holding his attorney job. He helped negotiate the 1821 Treaty of Chicago with Native American tribes. In 1824, President Monroe appointed him to the Michigan Territorial Supreme Court, and he was chief justice from 1827 to 1837, resigning because of deafness. He married Sarah Whipple Sproat Sibley, and they had eight children, including Henry Hastings Sibley, the first Governor of Minnesota. Sibley died in Detroit and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery; his widow later built the Sibley House on Jefferson Street.