"The founder of this family, The Reverend John David Sibert, came to America not long before the Revolutionary War when a young man. He married a Miss Wilmore of Virginia. The South Carolina Census of 1790 shows John Sybert, Orangeburg District, with a wife, one daughter and two sons. Later he bought a farm on Hard Labor Creek, Abbeville District, South Carolina, now in McCormick County, and was the pastor of St. George's Lutheran Church, near his farm.1 This church was made of logs and daubed with mud. According to Bernheim's 'German Settlements and the Lutheran Church in the Carolinas,' page 305, this church was commissioned in 1788, and on page 309, he states that this church 'had already ceased to exist in 1871.' Later the Reverend Sibert was pastor of the Tranquil Methodist Church which was built about one mile north west of the St. George's Church on the present Troy-Edgefield road, and the site may be easily located today by a few graves with unmarked stones in the old church yard.2 John Cook of Jasper Co., Miss. stated that when he was a small boy he heard the Reverend Sibert preach in this church, and that his German accent was so strong that he could hardly understand him. Harmon Gable who lived to be over one hundred years old, told his son who is now living in this locality that he had often heard the Reverend Sibert preach, clad in long hose and knee breeches with silver buckles at the knees. David Sibert said that his father, the Reverend Sibert, was a Revolutionary soldier, and on one occasion he became separated from his command and hid in a hollow log from the Tories in the neighborhood until he was almost famished.
The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, Vol. II by Allen D. Candler, page 364-5 shows the following: 'In Council Savannah 21st August 1782.
The Board met according to the adjournment.
Present, His Honor the Governor
Jonathan Bryan
Jenkin Davis
Benjamin Lewis
John Lindsay
The petition of John Sebert being read and considered. Therefore ordered, that Col. James Jackson be directed to furnish the said Sebert with his pay and discharge agreeable to the terms of his enlistment.' ...
The date of the death and the exact place of burial of the Reverend Sibert is not known. When his son, David Sibert, married Elizabeth Cook and left Abbeville District, S.C. for St. Clair County, Alabama, in 1820, his father and mother were left in the care of David's brother George Sibert, who cared for the old couple until their deaths." [1]

ii.

2. David Martin SIBERT (John David¹) was born in Oct 1793 in South Carolina [1] and died on 11 Jul 1873 [1]. He is buried in the Duck Spring Cemetery in Attalla, Etowah Co., AL. [Cemeteries]

"David Sibert in the year 1819 went to St. Clair Co. Alabama took an up land in the neighborhood of the present site of Asheville and built a house. He returned to Abbeville District, South Carolina, and married Elizabeth Cook, oldest child of Henry Philip Cook and his wife Margaret Susanna (Lightfoot) Cook on Nov. 29, 1820.” [1] Elizabeth’s birth date is unclear; census ages vary and the date suggested by her tombstone is too late to be consistent with the ages of her children. She died on 8 Aug 1863.

The 1820 Census has David living in Abbeville with one male 16 - 18 and two females under 16. “He began his long journey to his farm in St. Clair Co., Ala. with his wagons, household goods, cattle, and the necessary tools for pioneer life. He took with him his mother-in-law, then the widow of her second husband, Henry Clark, and their charming young daughter, Martha Clark. They stopped in Georgia in 1821 and made a crop, arriving in St. Clair Co., Ala. early in the year 1822. At their first meeting Curtis G. Beeson fell in love with Martha Clark, and they were married on July 29, 1822 at the home of David Sibert. David Sibert and his brother-in-law, Curtis G. Beeson, lived near neighbours in St. Clair County.” [1]

David received a deed from John Cook on 28 Apr 1825 in Huntsville, AL. [Vital Records 1]He served on a jury on 6 Nov 1827 in St. Clair Co., AL. In 1830 the Siberts lived in St. Clair. In the household were one man between 30 and 40 (David), one woman between 30 and 40 (Elizabeth), two boys between five and ten (John and Henry), three boys under five (George, Jasper and Hiram), two girls under five (Martha and Mahulda) and a female slave between ten and 24.6

The Siberts moved to Big Wills Valley, DeKalb Co. about 1836. [1] “David Sibert purchased from the Cherokee Indians a village with about 80 acres of cleared land around it, located in Big Wills Valley about two miles west of Keener, Ala. The pride of the village was a large log house covered by thatch. The trees for this house had been hacked down by the Indians with stone axes and the bark peeled off. David Sibert and his family moved into this house and began a pioneer life again. He and his two oldest sons, John W. and Henry built the first mill in Wills Valley on Will's Creek. The mill stones for grinding wheat and the bolting cloth were purchased in France and shipped to Mobile and up the river to Wetumpka and were hauled about a hundred and fifty miles to the mill site. The mill stones for grinding corn were made from the millstone grit rock found in Lookout mountain nearby. The building was a two-story structure made of hewn timbers and sided first with split laths. The mill had turbine wheels which were made by John W. and Henry Sibert. In order to supply the inhabitants of the Wills Valley with flour and corn meal the mill had to be operated day and night and frequently on Sundays. Flour was turned out by this mill until 1918 when it was abandoned by the owner.” [1]

In 1840 the Siberts lived in De Kalb. The household consisted of one man 40 - 50(David), two boys 15 - 20 (John and Henry), one boy 10 - 15 (George), two boys 5 - 10 (Jasper, who was actually about 13 and William), one woman 40 - 50 (Elizabeth), two girls 10 - 15 (Martha and Mahulda), one girl 5 - 10 (Julia) and one girl under 5 (Mary). On 1 May 1845 David purchased 280 acres of land in Huntsville, AL.2 On 1 May 1848, he purchased another 40 acres there. On 2 Sep 1850 he purchased a further 40 acres. According to the census, in 1850 David was a 57-year-old farmer with real estate worth $3,000 living in De Kalb.5 He was living with Elizabeth, who was 62, Julia A. who was 18, William, who was a 16-year-old farmer who had attended school that year and Mary A. who was 11 and had attended school that year. In 1850 He owned eight slaves in Division 25, De Kalb, AL. According to the census, in 1860 David was a 66-year-old farmer with real estate worth $3,500 and a personal estate of $18,969 living in District 3 (Duck Spring) De Kalb. He was living with Elizabeth, who was 68 and Julia, who was 27.7 In 1860 David owned ten slaves in Division 25, De Kalb, AL.8 In 1870 David was 76-years old and retired. He had real estate worth $4,000 and a personal estate of $100. He lived with his daughter Mary and her family on his farm. Mary’s husband William Beeson later bought the farm from him.

David played a major role in the Methodist church in Wills Valley10 “[He] was an enterprising citizen, a good farmer, and he owned several slaves. He was a Local Methodist preacher. He died in his home July 16, 1873, and is buried beside his wife, Elizabeth Cook, in Duck Springs Cemetery in Big Wills Valley about 12 miles north of Gadsden.” [1] The 1850 census says the neither David nor Elizabeth could not read and write; the 1860 census says that only Elizabeth could not read and write. David signed his name in his real estate transactions, so perhaps the 1850 census is incorrect about David.