Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-09-02
A HUGE FAMILY.


| the DESCENDANTS OF Old BENJAMIN Webb
Thirty Birthdays Every Day the Year
Around---curiousc ompllcations.
There is an entire county in the
eastern part of Kentucky which is
populated by the descendants and
relatives of q angle family The
original Webb family consists of more
| than eight hundred direct descendants,
while the number of those who are
more or less closely related to them by
marriage is considerably more than
twelve thousand. The family has up
to the present time practically filed
Letcher County, and has commenced
to overflow the boundary lines into
the adjoining counties.
This remarkable population, says q
corresponds mt of the New York W. rld,
traces its ancestry directly to Ben
jamin Webb, who settled in this sec
ton nearly century ago. At the
present time there are still living six
of his children.
The most numerous branch of the
family is descended from Jason Webb,
who is now in his seventy eighth
year. Other children have families
nearly as large, however. Jason lives
in the house, now sixty years old, in
which he began housekeeping and
raised a family of nineteen children.
OF this remarkable family sixteen are
still living. The next generation,
which consists of $50 grandchildren,
are all living There are besides 80
great grandchildren and 60 great
great grandchildren, all ofwhom are at
present living within ten miles of ia
son.
1t will occur to most people that a
family of such remarkable proportions
must give rise to many complications.
The descendants of old Benjamin
Webb have for one thing been obliged
to select about eight hundred names
for their children, and the entire
family has been obliged to go through
the ordeal of agreeing upon more
than twelve thousand names. Com
pared with this task the work of nam
ing the streets of an entire city like
New York would be trifing.
If each member of the family should
attempt to give presents at Christmas
to all the other members the expense
would be something startling.
In the immediate family there is an
average of nearly three birthdays
celebrated every day. The entire
family, it may readily be calculated,
might celebrate thirty birthdays every
day in the year.
One of the most remarkable of the
original family is Uncle Miles, who
though seventy-five years old, is about
markable old man has fourteen chill
dren, all of whom are married and
have large families. He is unable to
tell the exact number of descendants
who should be credited to him, but
thinks that conservative estimate
would place the number of grand
children at 100, great grandchildren
seventy-tive, and great-great grand
children at about forty.
The oldest living member of the
family is Aunt Polly, who is eighty
two years old. Her branch of the
family tree comprises eight living
children. seventy grandchildren, forty
five great-grandchildren, and twenty
two greatgreat-g grandchildren. Her
little sister, who is known as the
worker of the family, is but seventy
three years old. Her branch, which
includes five generations, is made up
of some ninety-eight members.
The entire population of Letcher
County, it is claimed, can trace their
ancestry very clearly back to but four
families, who were the first to settle
in this section. These families were
the Crafts, Adamses and Halbrookes,
and, of course, the Wcbbs. The de-
scendants have married and inter
married in "A most perplexing manner.
Only very few of them have ever
seen railroad train.
The little county, as might be i'm
agined, is in reality small kingdom,
over which the elder Webbs are polit-
ical monarchs. Whenever a Webb
wishes to hold any Office in the coun
ty the result is a foregone conclusion.
Such a condition of affairs does not,
it is very safe to say, exis in any other
State in the Union.