Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-08-11
Miseellansuus 8eading.
10000 IN ONE FAMILY.
Most Remarkable Genealogical Tree In
the World.

Most Remarkable Genealogical Tree In
the World.
From the st. Louis Republic.
With hardly an exception every res.
ident of Letcher, little county in
eastern Kentucky, is related, directly
or indirectly, to the Webb family,
which makes that family, without
doubt, the most remarkable one in the
United States. There are 6 surviving
children of Benjamin Webb, the origi-
nal settler, and their immediate de.
scendants are legion. They are az fol.
lows: Aunt Lefty, aged 80, who has
80 grandchildren, so great grandchil'
dren and an even dozen great-great.
grandchildren.
Aunt Polly, 80 years of age, who
has 8 living children, 70 grandchil'
dren, As great-grandchildren and al.
most half as many great-great-grand.
children. She married very early in
life and her husband was killed in the
war.
Jason, who is but 7S years of age, is
proud of the fact that bis descendants
outnumber any of his brothers or sis
ters. In the same house where he now
lives-built more than so years ago
he began Housekeeping, and there were
10 children born to him. Sixteen Of
them are still living. He has 15C
grandchildren, 80 great grandchildren
and 60 great-great grandchildren, all
of whom live within 10 miles of the
old gentleman.
Uncle Miles has seen the SHOWS oi
IS 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 widower
and he is thinking seriously of again
marrying. He has IA children, all
married and having large families. He
cannot tell the exact number, but
merely estimates them. A reasonable
estimate, he says, gives him 100 grand
children, rs great grandchildren, and
40 great-great grandchildren.
Aunt Sally, though 73 years old, is
known as a worker. Her husband,
aged 7S is still living. They have 13
children, 80 grandchildren, 60 great
grandchildren, and 90 great-great
grandchildren.
Uncle Wiley is the boy of the fami-
ly. He is II, and has been widower
for seven years. He has II Children,
IS grandchildren, 80 great. grandchil-
dren, and the old gentleman regrets
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 800 of their
descendants, and of the $4,000 popu-
lation of the county it is said the de-
gree of consanguinity can be traced
easily enough to prove them all rela-
tives of each other. The way in which
all the inhabitants came to be related,
either directly or indirectly, to the
Webb family is as follows: The first
settler in that district was Benjamin
Webb, a man with prolific family,
who moved to the wilds of Kentucky
from Ashe county, North Carolina,
about 1889 or 1890. Soon after three
families-the Crafts, Adamses and Hal
brooks settled near Webb, and men,
bers 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 this
innovation in his life is still source of
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 man
aged the farm, and it was no ordinary
sight to see her on her way to mill
with a bushel of corn on her shoulder.
The father of these old people, Benja-
min Webb, was first cousin of the
noted pioneer, Daniel Boone. He was
an eccentric 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
county is a small kingdom, over which
the elder Webbs are political mon
archs. Should a Webb aspire to an
Office the result is easily foretold.
There undoubtedly is not another such
state of affairs existing in any locality
in tho country