William Kibbe A.D. 1813 - 1878

William Kibbe was born in Minehead Vermont on January 3, 1813. William was the second son of Gauis Kibbe and Nancy Kidd. When William was an infant(1814), his family moved to Buffalo New York where they lived for about five years. In early 1819, after his father Gauis obtained a land grant in Attakapus Louisiana, they made plans to move the rather large Kibbe family to Louisiana. By all accounts that number was over thirty people. To get to Louisana, they planned to travel by river. They traveled to Orleans Point, New York which is the headwaters of the Allegheny River by wagon. There they built several lumber rafts. On these they put all of their personal belongings and building materials they would need to build housing, along with a couple of cows and some other livestock. On these rafts, they set sail (or "row "as it where) down the Allegheny River until it flowed into the Ohio River, then they followed the Ohio River. When they reached Cincinati, winter had fallen upon them and they waited here for the river to thaw out enough to continue their journey. Then they resumed their trip down the Ohio River until it flowed into the Mississippi River. They traveled the Mississippi down about halfway through Louisiana to where the Atchafalya River meets the Mississippi River, they took this turn onto the Atchafalya River. They traveled this waterway and landed at Attakapus Island at the Bayou Teche region of Saint Mary Parish just east of what is now known as New Iberia Louisiana. The trip was an incredible journey through uninhabited lands hostile indian encampments and severe weather conditions on a raft. The journey covered a distance of over 2500 river miles and took two years to complete. The ages of the Kibbe family members that made the journey ranged form over 65 years to the new born twins of Mary Kibbe and Major Valentine Bennet . The trip however proved very costly for the Kibbe family for within weeks of their arrival in Loisiana, Gauis Kibbe had died. Several members of the Kibbe family succumbed to a fever, including Gauis' daughter Mary Kibbe and one of her twin daughters Mary Jane. The trip had left the family exhausted and those that died just could not acclimate to the South Louisiana weather. The Kibbe began their task of building their plantation at Atakapus . William was 6 when the trip began and arrived in Louisiana at 8. William went to college and obtained a law degree. He later married Louisa S. Campbell and they started raising their two children on the plantation. In 1833, William moved his family to Texas, apparently in the Liberty county area. In March 1836, William joined the Texas Revloutionary Army to defend Texas from the invasion of the Mexican General Santa Anna. He joined Captian Logan's company under the command of General Sherman as a second sargent in the infantry. On the morning of April 20th 1836, his company was ordered to flank Santa Anna's line and attack behind enemy lines. During this attack, William's grey horse was killed from under him and William's leg was trapped under the dead horse. Two Mexican soldiers approached him with the intention of killing him. After some discussion between them. they decided to spare William's life because he was a "very old man", as indicated by his long white hair and long white beard. This was a Mexican honorable custom to show respect for age. What they did not know was that William was 23 years old at the time. The Kibbe trademark blonde hair had fooled the Mexicans and saved Willaim's life. Willaim was however trapped under the fallen horse for some time until rescued by the advancing Texas troops. When his company moved out on May 9th, Willaim was unable to travel due to his wounds and was granted an eight day medical leave to heal before he rejoined his company. For his service to the Texas Republic, Willaim was awarded a small land grant in Momtgomery County along Caney Creek which is now southeast of Conroe Texas. Shortly after William returned to his Texas home, his wife Louisa died. So Willaim returned to the Louisiana plantation with his two children. There he married Louisa's sister Keziah Campbell. This marriage produced four children. In 1844, William moved to Perry's Bridge Louisiana and moved his law practice there. On March 25th 1844, Vermillion Parish was established. Lousiana Goveror A. Mouton appointed Willaim as the first parish judge of Vermillion Parish. Form then on William was known as Judge Kibbe. In 1867, Willaim was elected as the first mayor of Abbyville Louisiana. where he then lived and practiced law. In 1878, Judge William Kibbe died at the age of 65 on August 15th 1878 in Abbyville. If you visit the San Jacinto monument in Lynchburg Texas, the site of the "Battle of San Jacinto", you will see William Kibbe honored for his service to the Texas Republic.