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Collection Number: 01900

Collection Title: Webb Family Papers, 1795-1960

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1,200 items)
Abstract Persons represented include Alexander Smith Webb (fl. 1830s) of Person County, N.C., and his wife Cornelia Adeline (Stanford) Webb, daughter of U.S. Representative Richard Stanford (1767-1816) and Mary (Moore) Stanford; and five of their ten children, including: James Hazel Webb (1829-1902) of Person County; Richard Stanford Webb (1837-1901), Methodist minister and Confederate chaplain; Alexander S. Webb (1840-1928), Confederate soldier; William Robert Webb (1842-1926), Confederate soldier, teacher, founder of the Webb School at Bell Buckle, Tenn., and U.S. senator from Tennessee; and Susan Webb, teacher, of Randolph County, N.C. Family correspondence of Alexander Smith Webb and his wife, Cornelia Adeline (Stanford) Webb, of Person County, N.C., and of their children. Early papers include those of the Moore family of Bute (now Warren) County, N.C., especially of Sheriff William Moore, ca. 1760s. Antebellum papers include family correspondence to and from students at various schools and to other relatives. Civil War materials include letters from Alexander S. Webb, Jr., as a Confederate soldier in Virginia and a federal prisoner; from L. J. Webb as a federal prisoner; and from Richard S. Webb, a Confederate chaplain. Included in the latter are letters from Richard to his cousin, Jennie Clegg, during their courtship. Postwar materials concern family affairs and finances and include letters of Jennie Webb, daughter of Richard S. and Jennie (Clegg) Webb, while a student at Greensboro Female College; letters from son William Alexander Webb (1867-1919) while studying in Germany in the 1890s; extensive genealogical notes on the Davis, Moore, Russell, Smith, Stanford, Taylor, and Webb families; and notes on Abram's Plains, N.C., founded by the Webbs, Smiths, and Davises. Volumes include the diary, 1858-1865, of Susan Webb as a teacher in Randolph County, N.C.
Creator Webb family.
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Webb Family Papers #1900, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
In part, microfilm.
  • Reel 1: Items privately owned as of 1959.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. C. C. Thomas of Greensboro, N.C., in May 1944; Mrs. Oscar Albert of Winter Haven, Fla., in September 1951; Bruce Webb of Clearwater, Fla., in 1959 and 1960; Mrs. Robert H. Williamson of Fayetteville, N.C., in November 1960; W. E. Webb, Sr., of Statesville, N.C., in January 1963; Howard Lee Cannon of Wachovia Bank, Salisbury, N.C., in April and June 1964; Mrs. Guy L. Webb of Knoville, Tenn., in August 1968; William Pressley Davis of Stovall, N.C., in February 1974; Thompson Webb, Jr., of Waunakee, Wisc., in January 1995; and Larry J. Smith of Memphis, Tenn., in February 2003 (Acc. 99440).
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Staff, 1996-2004

Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, July 2004

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2021; Dawne Howard Lucas, July 2021

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Historical Information

Alexander Smith Webb, Sr., of Person County, N.C. married the daughter of U.S. Representative Richard Stanford (1767-1816). The couple had twelve children, among whom were: William Robert Webb, a Confederate soldier, teacher, founder of the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn., and U.S. senator from Tennessee; Richard Stanford Webb, an itinerant North Carolina Methodist minister; Sidney Webb, a merchant and farmer in Orange County, N.C.; and Alexander Smith Webb II, a Confederate soldier and justice of peace in Warren County, N.C., for more than 60 years. The senior Webb's nephew, Thomas Shapard Webb, was a major in the Confederate Army, attended the University of North Carolina (1858-1861), and practiced law in Memphis and Knoxville.

Richard S. Webb's son, William Alexander Webb, became president of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. His daughter Jennie attended the Greensboro Female College in 1899, as did his sister Henrietta in 1862. His other son Shipp was school superintendent in Concord, N.C.

Below is a partial family chart.

Also included are:

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Family correspondence of Alexander Smith Webb and his wife, Cornelia Adeline Webb, of Person County, N.C., and of their children. Early papers include those of the Moore family of Bute County, N.C., (now Warren County, N.C.), especially of Sheriff William Moore, ca. 1760s. Antebellum papers include family correspondence to and from students at various schools and to other relatives. Civil War materials include letters from Alexander S. Webb, Jr., as a Confederate soldier in Virginia and a federal prisoner; from L. J. Webb as a federal prisoner; and from Richard S. Webb, a Confederate chaplain. Included in the latter are letters from Richard to his cousin, Jennie Clegg, during their courtship. Postwar materials concern family affairs and finances and include letters of Jennie Webb, daughter of Richard S. and Jennie (Clegg) Webb, while a student at Greensboro Female College; letters from son William Alexander Webb (1867-1919), while studying in Germany in the 1890s; extensive genealogical notes on the Davis, Moore, Russell, Smith, Stanford, Taylor, and Webb families; and notes on Abram's Plains, N.C., founded by the Webbs, Smiths, and Davises. Volumes include the diary, 1858-1865, of Susan Webb as a teacher in Randolph County, N.C.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1765-1960 and undated.

About 1,000 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Primarily correspondence of Webb family members, especially the children of Alexander S. Webb, Sr., and Cornelia Webb (Addie). Early papers include those of the Moore family of Bute (now Warren) County, N.C., especially of Sheriff William Moore, ca. 1760s. Antebellum papers include family correspondence to and from students at various schools and to other relatives. Civil War materials include letters from Alexander S. Webb, Jr., as a Confederate soldier in Virginia and a federal prisoner, from L. J. Webb as a federal prisoner, and from Richard S. Webb, a Confederate chaplain. Included in the latter are letters from Richard to his cousin, Jennie Clegg, during their courtship. Postwar materials concern family affairs and finances and include letters of Jennie Webb, daughter of Richard S. and Jennie (Clegg) Webb, while a student at Greensboro Female College; letters from son William Alexander Webb (1867-1919), while studying in Germany in the 1890s; and extensive genealogical notes on the Davis, Moore, Russell, Smith, Stanford, Taylor, and Webb families and notes on Abram's Plains, N.C., founded by the Webbs, Smiths, and Davises. Volumes include the diary, 1858-1865, of Susan Webb as a teacher in Randolph County, N.C. Also included are school reports for some of the children and scattered business papers of various Webb family members.

Folder 1

1797-1844

Folder 2

1845-1846

Folder 3

1847-1849

Folder 4

1850-1852

Folder 5-6

Folder 5

Folder 6

1853-1857

Folder 7

1858-1859

Folder 8

1860

Folder 9

1861

Folder 10

1862

Folder 11

1863

Folder 12

1864

Folder 13

1865

Folder 14

1866

Folder 15

1867

Folder 16

1868

Folder 17

1869

Folder 18

1870-1872

Folder 19

1873-1876

Folder 20

1877-1879

Folder 21

1880-1882

Folder 22

1883-1885

Folder 23

1886-1887

Folder 24

1888-1889

Folder 25

1890-1892

Folder 26

1893-1895

Folder 27

1896-1899

Folder 28

1900-1919

Folder 29

1920-1960

Folder 30-35

Folder 30

Folder 31

Folder 32

Folder 33

Folder 34

Folder 35

Undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Legal Papers, Receipts, Family History, and Other Materials, 1765-1949 and undated.

About 200 items.

From 1766 to 1782, there are summonses, warrants, bonds, bills, list of taxable items, and other materials apparently pertaining to the Sheriff's Office of Bute (now Warren) County, N.C., where William Moore was sheriff in 1769. Also included are indentures, receipts, pamphlets, and clippings, some of which pertain to Thomas Shapard Webb (1840-1930). There are also some family history materials and an audio tape of a speech about William R. Webb.

Folder 36

1765-1795

Folder 37

1796-1869

Folder 38

1870-1949

Folder 39

Undated

Folder 40

Clippings

Audiotape T-1900/1

T-1900/1: Speech of Frederick H. Weaver

Frederick H. Weaver speech with remarks by William E. Webb and George M. Webb at the unveiling of a historical marker for William R. Webb (Sawney) in 1962.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Volumes, 1802-1995.

4 items.
Folder 42-43

Folder 42

Folder 43

Volume 1, 1802, About 1,100 pp.

Moore family bible with bookplate of Stephen Moore and four pages of family records from the Moore, Stanford, and Webb families.

Folder 44

Volume 2, 1858-1865, 11 p.

Diary of Susan A. Webb while teaching in Randolph County, N.C.

Folder 45

Volume 3, 1973, 85 p.

"Abram's Plains 1765," a typed volume of genealogical and other records of the Webb, Smith, and Davis families, relatives of Samuel Smith (1729-1800) and his wife Mary Webb Smith (1740-1827), the founders of Abram's Plains in Granville County, N.C. Included are typed genealogical notes, charts, pictures, photocopies of documents, biographical materials, and other items.

Folder 46

Volume 4, 1995.

"Stories from the files of Thompson Webb," typed volume of stories Thompson Webb (1887-1975), founder and headmaster of the Webb School in Claremont, Calif., compiled by his son, Thompson Webb, Jr., and grandson, Thompson Webb III. Some stories are about his father, William Robert Webb (Sawney) (1842-1926), founder and headmaster of the Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tenn., and Thompson Webb's childhood in Bell Buckle.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Portfolios, 1798-1894 and undated.

2 items.

Two large portfolios entitled "Webb Family Record," compiled by William James Webb. Included are genealogical data, wills, receipts, documents, and letters transcribed onto printed pages titled "Webb Family Record--John Webb-Amy Booker branch." John Webb (1747-1826) married Amy Booker (1752-1835) and moved to Granville County, N.C., sometime around 1777-1782. Many items are copies.

Folder 47-49

Folder 47

Folder 48

Folder 49

Portfolio 1, undated, 150 p.

Manuscript pages containing genealogical data and typed copies of wills, receipts, and other relevant documents.

Folder 50

Portfolio 2, 1798-1894 and undated, 100 p.

Manuscript copies of Webb family letters including a series of "Kentucky letters" of the Webbs.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 5. Pictures, undated.

1 item.
Image Folder PF-1900/1

Photograph, undated.

Richard Stanford (1767-1816), member of Congress, father of Adeline Stanford, and father-in-law of Alexander Smith Webb.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Microfilm.

1 item.
Reel M-1900/1

Microfilm

Items privately owned as of 1959.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

Photograph (PF-1900/1)

Audiotape (T-1900/1).

Microfilm (M-1900/1)

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