Frances Eliza (Campau) Sibley (abt. 1854 - abt. 1935)

Born about 11 Nov 1854 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, USA

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about 10 Dec 1935 at about age 81 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan, USA

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Biography

Married Frederick Trowbidge Sibley on 12 April 1877

"Frances Eliza Campau was affectionately known as “Frankie,” and she grew up in the finest style Detroit of 1854 had to offer. She was the sixth child of the union of Alexander Macomb Campau and his wife, Eliza Stringham Throop, Frances was a direct descendant of Jacques Campau who came to Detroit in 1708 from Montreal, Canada.

She grew up playing on Belle Isle which her family owned. Frances also spent many summers with her ever-growing family, including twenty-three grandchildren, at her cottage at Pointe Aux Barques, a resort in the thumb area of Michigan.

With her marriage to Frederick Trowbridge Sibley in 1877, two cultures were united – the French Campaus and the English Sibleys.

She was, by all accounts, a strong and caring woman who not only faced scandal when her husband was forced to leave Detroit under the suspicion of embezzlement, she raised six daughters, largely on her own. She was very involved with The Women’s Exchange, where women could buy and sell homemade crafts, earning some financial independence from their husbands.

Frances continued to live in her father’s home, raising her daughters, and saw them all properly married. She also served as treasurer for A.M. Campau Real Estate, her father’s real estate company.

She died on December 10, 1935 at the age of 81. Funeral services were held at Christ Church, Detroit on E. Jefferson, next door to the Sibley House. She is buried in Detroit’s Elmwood Cemetery."

File File: Media Format: jpg. Frances Campeau.

Sources

• Barnabas Campau and his descendants, page 11
• http://sibleyhousedetroit.com/the-campau-family/