Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-08-26
1900 IN ONE FAMILY.
hey Are the webb. ..nd Their Hela4

They Are the WeD@A anu AMGAE A@@A1s-
ives in Letchter County, hy.
| With hardly an exception every resi-,
lent of Letchter, little county in east
ern Kentucky, is related directly or
Indirectly, to the Webb family, which
| makes that family without doubt tho
| most remarkable one in the United
States. There are six surviving chill
dren OF Benjamin Webb, the original
settler, and their immediate descend
ants are legion. They are as follows:
Aunt Lefty, aged so, who has so grand
children, so great-grandchildren and an
even dozen of neutrality-suspicious.
dren.
Aunt Polly, 50 years of age, who has
eight living children, 20 grandchildren.
As great-grandchildren and almost half
as many neutrality-suspicious.. She
married very early in life and her hus-
band was killed in the war.
Jason, who is but 7s years of age, is
proud of the fact that his descendants
outnumber those of any of his brothers
or sisters. In the same house where he
lives-built more than 60 years ago
he began housekeeping, and there were
10 children born to him. Sixteen of
NH0I11 dIS SbA4A AZ AAesNS %S~
children, so great-grandchildren and 90
Observation-Disclosures, all OF whom
live within ten miles of the old gentle
man.
Uncle Miles has seen the SHOWS of 70
winters, but is still able to ride over the
mountains to visit his best girl-his
sister-in-law, by the way. For five
years Uncle Miles has been a widower,
and he is thinking seriously of again
marrying. He has IA children. all mar
ried and having large families. He can
not tell the exact number, but merely
estimates them. A reasonable estimate,
he says, gives him 100 grandchildren.
IS great-grandchildren and 40 great
great-grandchildren
Aunt Sally, though IS years old, is
known as a worker. Her husband, aged
rs, is still living. They have IS children,
so grandchildren, so great-grandchll-
dren and 20 great-great-grandch
Uncle Wiley is the boy of the family.
He is II and has been widower for
seven years He has IL children. 6S
grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren,
and the old gentleman very much re-
grets the fact that his descendants do
not extend to the fifth generation. He
is thinking seriously of marrying again
and is very wealthy.
Within the vicinity where these old
people live there are about 500 of their
descendants, and of the $4,000 popula-
ton of the county it is said the degree OF
consaguinity can be traced easily
enough to prove them all relatives OF
each other. The way in which all the
inhabitants came to be related, either
directly or indirectly, to the Webb fam
ily, is as follows: The first settler in
that district was Benjamin Webb,
man with prolific family, who moved
to the wilds of Kentucky from Ashe
county, North Carolina, about 1889 or
1890. Soon after three families-tha
Crafts, Adamses and Halbrookes-set-
tied near Webb, and members of the
latter's family married into each of the
three new families and their progeny
intermarried.
Aunt Polly is as spry as a girl, and
thinks nothing of 15-mile walk. She
often takes long rides alone over the
mountains on visit to relatives. A few
years ago Jason took his first ride in
train, going to Tennessee, and the in
uOFdG1Oh III HIS AA1C AS SNIAA SOuASC Va
pleasure to the old man. But two of
them, Jason and Wiley, ever saw a car.
Aunt Sally, because of the long ILL
ness of her husband, for years managed
the farm, and it was an ordinary sight
to see her on her way to the mill with
bushel of corn on her shoulder. The
father of these old people, Benjamin
Webb, was n first cousin of the noted
pioneer, Daniel Boone. He was an &C.
centric character, and at the siege of
Yorktown, he was wounded, as it was
thought, fatally. He was thrown among
the wounded, but after many months he
recovered.
AS might be imagined, the little coun-
ty is small kingdom, over which the
elder Webbs are political monarchs,
Should Webb aspire to an Office, the
result is easily foretold. There I'M
doubtedly is not another such state of
affairs existing in any locality in the
country.-St. Louis Republic.