The Webb family has been around a long time; Shakespeare's grandmothers were both Webbs.  Webbs worked for George Washington as surveyors [I'm told] and many of the southeastern Webbs were surveyors; this caused confusion as they owned lots of land, much of which they obtained in lieu of pay for their surveying services.

     Nonie Webb from Jasper, Tenn. has done a lot of work on the family and sent me her record of the early Webb family the essence of which is below  [as of 04Jan.'09 there seems to be some question; I will follow up sometime soon]:

|John Webb #2 b. 1664 New Kent Co., Va.
|     William Webb baptized 9 Sep., 1694 St. Peter's Parish, New Kent Co., Va
|      m. Jane Martin at St. Peter's, Henrico Co., Va.
|      6 children incl: 

  [Nonie  now feels that, due to DNA evidence, the above are not directly related to Rev. John Webb.]

         John Webb (Rev.) B. 1740-2 Henrico, New Kent Co., Va.
         m. Sarah Byars b. 1742 Granville Co., N.C.
             8 sons, 3 dau. incl:
                  Jesse Webb Sr. b. 1760-4 N. C. d. 6-10-1835 Tenn.
                  m. Didama Townsend b. 18Nov.,1765, Pittsylvania Co., Va.

    Nonie, in July of 2008, sent me the note:

1. James' Parent's Family:

  Nonie lists the children of John Webb (Rev.) as:

 I've also seen the two unnamed children credited to Jesse's son James but I suspect the above list is correct.

 There is some confusion as John Webb's brother, Merry (Meredith?) Webb was in the area and some of the children may have been his; Jesse's will, linked here, gives some pretty good evidence, however.

 Didama's (I've seen it Didamia) background is recorded more than one place.  She is said to have some Cherokee connections and members of the family were on the "Trail of Tears" but I've never seen any proof.  The name was relatively popular at the time and was used for at least two more generations in the family.  Her demise is noted in the Stockton Record article linked here.

 Shirley Dalton has a website with many people from the area; her entry says:

 Mitch Jones has a website on which he has a page devoted to his wife's Millican ancestors.  In it, he includes a large number of Webbs as he feels that William Mullican's wife must be a Webb due to the closeness of the families despite other evidence.  As he has a lot of information [with references which I cannot check] I feel that this is a useful look into the Webb family.  This includes the following gems:

• William Mullican purchased land from Joel Webb [bro. just younger than Jesse] on the Seneca River in the Washington District of South Carolina.  I believe that this land was at one time in North Carolina but gives a location for the Greenville of Jesse's birth.

•  Speaking of William Mullican: "By 1805 he is in Lincoln County, Kentucky as he is on the tax list ... In the same tax district were Jesse, Joel and Townsend Webb".  Now this one is fun as the county seat of Lincoln County is Stanford which was the 1777 site of Fort Logan and was less than 40mi SSW "birdwise" of Boonesboro, Ky.  Now I wonder about the Logan Co. story which follows.  Lincoln Co. was bigger then than now.  Joel is likely Jesse's bro., Townsend must be James' son and our James Webb was b. 1806 but no conclusion is warranted.

•  "We feel he moved from Casey County in 1808-9 to Warren County Tennessee as on 17 Sept., 1810 he had his occupant claim of 177 acres of land surveyed on Mountain Creek adjoining James Webb."  Our James would be about 4 at the time; perhaps this James is the son of John Byars Webb, Jesse's bro.  Casey Co. is now to the SSW of Lincoln Co.

• Surveys of 1815 and 1817 were conducted in Warren Co., Tenn. with William Mullican and James Webb as chain carriers.  It is unlikely this is our James and it is interesting to me as the surveying techniques at the time were "metes and bounds" [from the creek to a 14" oak tree...] and I didn't think they used a "chain" [measuring tape now] so I learned something.

• William Mullican was appointed an appraiser of the estate of Didama Townsend Webb's father, Thomas Townsend.

• On the Warren Co., Tenn. 1812 tax list, he finds Webbs:   "James Jr. & Sr., Elisha, Julius, John B. Jesse Jr, Che(s)ley, Joshua, Jeremiah, John, Julian and John Sr."  Clearly, there is some sorting to do.  John B., Jesse Jr., Joshua, Chesley ok [tho wonder about Jesse Jr. who would be about 17].  Jeramiah and Julian I can't identify.  James Sr. & Jr. may not be closely related; the suffices could be used as a differentiator.

 The 1820 Warren County census lists Jesse Webb, John Webb twice (?), Joshua, other Johns, Ellis, Julius, James, William, John B.(yars) Webb and Chesley.  Jesse, John B., Joshua, probably James, Julius and Chesley are family, the others I don't know.  There are several Womacks, a family which has long been close to the Webbs and Byars; see family below.

 The 1830 Warren County census lists a remarkable number of Webbs implying that many members of the family have come of age.  The Byars family has arrived and Womacks are there in force.

 The 1836 Warren County Tax List shows Jesse Webb 3 times with 100 acres, 39 acres and with 50 acres, and also:  Webb, Thomas J.  Other names associated with Webb on the tax rolls are: Mullican, Womack and Byars.  As the Jesse Webb properties were somewhat spread out there may have been another Jesse Webb in the area.

 The 1840 Warren Co. census shows most of the same players including James; our Jesse won't be there but others are.  Information on Warren County can be reached from my external links page.

 Jesse's will, a copy of which was sent me by Daine Hopmann, gives us some idea of our James Webb's siblings which, with the above caveat about Merry Webb,  I have as:

 The above are not in birth order; I can't do that.  Upon finding the names in the will, most of the spouses were found on various GenWeb forums on the web.  I had a bit of a problem with another James Webb being assigned to this family; there may have been an earlier James who died.  This info had made its way onto a CD-ROM of family trees with no way to correct it; the information was supplied by a gentleman in Fairfield Calif. who I could not locate.   The names Hopper, Womack, Byars and others were associated with the Webbs for quite a while.

 Our James birth provides a particular difficulty.  He was born 27 July, 1806 but he didn't remember where he was born and no record has been found.  Info found by Beryl Peoples had him born in Bonus Brunnel or Boone's Burial Kentucky but I don't know where the information came from.  It certainly sounds like "Boonesboro" which is a distinct possibility as it is just north of the Cumberland Gap.  Another theory that I like is that Jesse went to Logan County, Kentucky to look at some property with the Townsend family and James was born on the trip.  This sounds good as Nonie Webb said most of the Webbs came to Tenn. thru Georgia as the Appalachian ridge was [and still is somewhat] Indian territory. "September 1st, 1792 Logan County became the 13th Kentucky county."  He supposedly ended up in Warren County, Tennessee at an early age.  From the Warren Co. page:  

 Warren County later split into Warren, Grundy (?) and Marion.  This happened about 1843 so our Warren County area is large but McMinnville is in present Warren County.  We were thru there about 1999 and it is still pleasantly rural.

 In 1825, James m. (Nancy?) Anna Jones in Dry Creek, Warren Co., Tenn.  Anna has been occasionally listed as Nancy but I've often  seen it "Annie"; it appears that, at the time, Anna was a diminutive for Nancy.  Annie was from families that were on Long Island, N.Y. very early and she was b. perhaps 22 Jan., 1808 in Tenn.  The family is found on several school and tax rolls in the area along with Jesse Webb.

 One record of the kids (Joe Sissom or June Sherman) has:  

 Margie Gard Gray and Narda Gard McNally have much more on the families.  Comments on the family can be found in the Stockton Record article.

 I have included data culled from the 1830 Warren County census.  The underlines group families that were quite near each other in the listing.  The numbers indicate number of children from 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20 and then in 10 year increments, males - females.  For instance, John B.(yers) Webb and his wife would be 60-70 and there is a 15-20 year old male and a 20-25 year old female.  The Byars family would be Jesse Sr.'s mother's family.  Our James wife is Anna Jones Webb and her parents were Isaac and Anna Bayless Jones.  Isaac had a son 19 years old at the time and a 14 year old daughter, Violet Wilson Jones who would marry Sam Hand Jr. about that time.  Sam Hand had a sister, Mary Ascenith Hand who would marry into the Womacks; a family close to Jesse and Anna's.  The husbands of some of Jesse's daughters are listed also; seems the family were fairly close together.  The details are left as an exercise for the reader.  

 James started his family in Warren County.  On the 1830 census, we find the following Webbs: John, Jonathan, Alford G., Ashael, John, Byars, Jacob, James, Jesse Jr., James, Jesse Sr., James, Elisha, Julias, Chesley, John B., Joshaway (Joshua).  The James Webb next to Jesse Jr. has one boy and one girl under 5 and would, from the list above, seem to be our James.  Jesse Jr. would be a brother as might John.  Remember, these are heads of households.  There were 6 Womacks 3 Byars, and 1 Byers; the kids had a lot of aunts and uncles.

 Below are some of the Webbs from the 1840 Warren Co. census.  Many of the players are recognizable.  Our Jesse has died; one Jesse has a male 40-50 and the other has a male 30-40; wonder who is living with James and Chesley?  The Males in James' family are 20-30, 50-60 and 70-80; our James would be 34.  Interesting.  

 James headed west to Missouri in about 1844 or 1845; I would imagine that it was the normal reason. By 1842, James had 9 children of whom 7 were boys (John had died in the meantime) who would soon need land.  I've read ahead and found that John Bidwell who came to California in 1841said it was because all the good Missouri land was taken.  Also, crop rotation was not well known at the time and they may have exhausted their land for their particular crops; just speculation.   I don't know where all they were at any time but there is evidence that they spent much of their time in Benton Co., Mo.  The 1850 census has for Cole Township:  

 We note that Jesse is missing; I found the following:  

 It is possible that Jesse and Malinda were on their way to California but I doubt it.

 John Webb had died in Tennessee of diphtheria.  Only James Knox Polk Webb is unaccounted for.  I also included entries for W.[illiam] G.[aulding] Webb who was not to my knowledge related to James' family.  A family history I received from Marion Mossuto shows him to be the son of Anderson and Susanah Webb Lester Webb both of Tennessee.  W. G. was originally m. to Martha [?] McAllister and had two children, Susan Jane and Nancy America Webb.  A note in the Ancestry.com database says:  

    Not long ago, Ken Collins sent me a land patent for William G. Webb issued 10Mar.'1854 for the S.E. quarter of the S.E. quarter of Section 23 T 42N, R20 in Benton Co.  If I read correctly, this is sidehill and bottom land about 2 mi N. of  Mt. Hulda, Cole or Williams Twp.  Best to check it yourself.  It makes me suspect that the date was when the patent became official allowing him to sell it for cash to head west. Jesse and Malinda's marriage is our first mention of a tie to the Gard family but there is one previous.  In March 1848, two weddings took place involving the daughters of Samuel Hand and Violet Wilson Jones.  Now, Violet is the baby sister of James' wife, Annie Jones Webb.   I have seen various dates in early March for the weddings but don't believe it was a double wedding.  On 4 March 1848 Sarah Annetta Hand m. Charles Anthony Piner; on 8 March, Eliza Jane Hand m. George Washington Gard both in Dade County, Missouri.   Dade County is almost 100mi. South of Benton County and is where the Piner family moved from Callaway County, Mo.  I didn't find our Hand family in the Benton Co. Census; they may have been the family found by Ken Collins in Moniteau County Co. not too far E.N.E. of Benton County and they can be found in California.

 Indeed, Jesse and Malinda did head for California helped by Charles and John Gard who had made the trip before; the Gard story is recounted elsewhere.  Jesse clearly did well there and sent for his family.  The dates involved are not clear; the writeup in the Stockton paper quoted below contains a misprint on the date and that is that.  I believe that they could have come to California any time between 1849 and 1853 with 1851 my favorite at the moment.  The article says Jesse came to California, "got on his feet" and sent funds to his father.  Sending funds has quite an implication to me at that time.  Either way, most of the family arrived in the Stockton area in 1854.  The party would have included James' family and, presumably, W. G. and his two children by his first wife as well as two of his and Violet's children.  I would believe that Sam and Violet Wilson Jones Hand came with the Gard party in 1849 but I don't know.   On 26 Oct.,1854, according to my cousin "Robbie" [Thora Gard Weight], Nancy and Charles Gard were  

    From:  THENINERS@aol.com, Tue 7:27:

    G. B. Douglass was bro. of David Fulton Douglass, prominant in early California politics and namesake of the township.  I can find no relationship between him and the Douglass that m. Nancy's  sister Didamia [or the saloon keeper in Columbia].

 The above gives us a lot of information and leaves us with a few questions also; some of the questions may be answered with a better list of the census which I hope to include soon.

 Jesse Jr. and Malinda Gard Webb had been established for a while; we see their children are named for their relatives.  Malinda's bro. Joel is living with them.  The record I have from Jean Messick shows they had 11 children.  There were Messicks in the 1830 Warren Co. census and a Messick owned land near where Nancy Webb's father-in-law, Jeremiah Gard, farmed.

 The entry for John Webb is interesting to me as he is next to Charles and Nancy Webb Gard and I recently found who he is.  Karen Woxburg wrote:  

    Again, more information is in the section "Covered Wagon Baby"

    I have a photo scan of John I obtained from Robbie so I feel the family was close to him.  I'd guess that Thomas and Joseph are older brothers.  The kid's names, Jacob and George, show up in both the Webb and Gard families.  George is an interesting story being born on the trail; an article on his birth is included below.  Charles and Nancy Webb Gard's family is covered elsewhere.  Unfortunately, nothing in Marion Mossuto's information supports the possibility that Thomas, Joseph, John or William Webb are brothers of W. G. as I had originally suspected.

 The family next door, that of Violet and William Webb, also expanded to about 11 children.  Among the descendants are Marion Mossuto who contributed quite a family history and Ken Collins who also contributed information for this note.  The family soon moved to the Hanford in Tulare county near the "Mussel Slough Massacre" area tho I've not been able to find any connection.  Ken Collins found tax/voter records of Wm. Marion and George Washington Gard and Mark and Samuel Harlan Hand in the Hanford area in 1890.

 David Gard's family is shown as I had it in the database and the remaining Webb entries were there also; I don't remember where I got them so I would consider them indicative of no more than that there were other Webbs in the area.  In the area of the gold mines there are many Webbs listed; these I would assume are miners, mostly Welsh.  A Stockton Record newspaper article on the event of James' 100th birthday gives the best information I have of his family.  Some more detail is on my Webb Statistics page.

 The next information we have on James Webb's family seems to me to be an "upheaval".  I found in the "Great Register of San Joaquin County", the San Joaquin County Library in Stockton has the several pound original, a story of the family leaving the area:  

 Rather interesting; most of the family with Charles and Nancy Webb Gard and Joel Gard (who never married) headed out to the Los Baños area where Alexander, Isaac, Jesse, Sam and Thomas as well as Charles and John Gard patented land.  James did so also with Miller and Lux.  Now "Miller and Lux" is another story; they are said to have claimed that they could run cattle on their own land from Mexico to Oregon.  It does imply that James Webb was into the cattle business which makes sense as there were all sorts of hungry miners in the hills nearby.

 Merced Co. census, 1870

    From the census it appears that James can't write [but can read] and Wm. George, Eliz. & Mary are at school.  I'm not sure whether James is staying with Isaac or Isaac is staying with James.

 Later I received information:

Re: Webbs, Gards 1870s
Author: Alma Alma   Date: 24 Feb 2002 7:09 PM GMT     Classification: Query
In Reply to: Webbs, Gards 1870s  by:  Gard Meddaugh
  "Here's what I was able to find..hope it helps....Alma"  

    That's what it said; I don't understand it all. Most of the above is the Webbs moving to Merced County. Some of the above might be kids.   I need to find when they left and when they got back to San Joaquin Co. as get back they did.   William Webb may have been the Webb of Webb's station but I don't think so.  Then, I found in the next Great Register of San Joaquin Co.: 

    So, we have a couple of Gards back [I didn't know they left] and most of our Webbs.  Wm. Marion Gard is David's son; he m. Violet Webb's dau. Lou Olivia Webb,  Joseph may have been the one living with John and Mary next to George and Violet; Hugh being from Ark. where John left from to go to California may be related.   William Harrison Webb is Wm. G. and Violet Webb's son, James Washington Webb I don't know.  As there were other Webbs in the area, possibly related to William G. Webb [who came to Calif. from Arkansas] I'll guess this explains them.  The Re. R. sounds like they were reinstated but the number doesn't seem to correlate with anything I've found.  

    The V. Webb would be Violet whose husband had died.  Charles and Isabell are younger kids but the two youngest, Lousia and George, are missing.

    As far as I know, nothing of the California part of the 1890 census exists.  The 1900 census may give more info.  The Stockton Public Library sent me the following obit. from the Stockton Record dated June 3, 1909:

    This has him b. 27 Jul 1806.  My mother remembered a relative 104 years old; rounding error?   Mapquest does not recognize a Fair Oaks avenue..  Irie must be Ira; [accent?] and the punctuation, etc., is theirs.  The Stanleys were the publishing family.  

    The Stockton Lib. was not able to find an obit for Annie Jones Webb.

    I was unable to find James in the 1900 census but Isaac and Nancy  E. were in Douglass Twp, he 69 & she 70.  If James were with them, I'd expect to see him;  where was the nonogenerian?

    In 2008 we went to the Linden Cemetery, a small, well kept, cemetery just north of the high school.  There we found the grave marker of James and Anna with a simple stone that looked recent.  There were quite a few Webbs there including Jesse and Wm. G. & Violet and we were told that there were several more without markers.

   The Stockton Record article and the sources below do not mention the ventures into Merced County.   James Webb d. 2 July, 1907 [I'd rather believe the account from the paper as the lib. included the paper's date] at Fair Oaks; this is near E. Main and South E. Streets. in Stockton.  More about Nancy Webb can be found in my bio. of Charles Gard.  I have never known any of our Webb family.  My mother, my aunt Norma and cousin Robbie all knew Nancy.  My mother knew of a relative that lived to be over 100 years old but she never let on that she knew who.  James would have died when she was about 6 years old and living in Mendocino City so I don't believe she would have met him.

The next articles, Jesse's will, the Stockton Record article and the statistics page will give the finish to this note.

    Karen Woxberg wrote me: