James Davis "Jim" Webb
James
Davis “Jim” Webb
From Childhood in Alabama to Pioneering in Texas
By Shirley D. Webb
(From
interviews with Lena Faye Webb Ballinger, Mary Lou Webb Gilleland, Stella
Stewart Webb and Lanny Webb & from genealogy research and family records)
J.D.”Jim” Webb left
home at an early age and never talked much about his family.
When genealogy research was begun, the reason for this became apparent.
He was born in Butler County, Alabama, on September 11, 1861.
Butler County is in the central part of the state not far from Montgomery
which was the capital of the Confederacy.
His father, John Webb, died when Jim was only 16 months old.
The Civil War had just begun so Jim’s mother had the added problem of
living in a war zone and being responsible as head of her household.
Probate documents reveal that his mother, Apalaney Kennedy Chandler, was
the 2nd wife of John Webb. She
had 4 children by her first husband and 3 sons by John Webb.
James Davis “Jim” Webb was the youngest of those 3 sons.
John Webb, Jim’s father,
was born in Georgia in 1797, the son of Charles Webb.
John married 1) Sarah Chivers and had seven known children:
Elizabeth, Enoch, Harriet, Sarah, James Ross, Lydia and Martha.
The couple split for unknown reasons although family rumor says it
involved “another man”.
John
married
John
Risby Webb (18 Sep 1855 – 1 Jan 1941), Evans Rutherford Webb (25 Jul 1857 –
20 Mar 1939) and James Davis Webb
(11 Sep 1861 – 12 Sep 1944).
When the Civil War ended,
Apalany Webb had some of her property stolen by the Union soldiers and
eventually moved to Limestone County, Texas, where other neighbors and friends
had also moved – to start a new life.
Jim Webb was living with one of his half-sisters in Limestone Co., and
felt left out of the family, he later told one of his grandsons.
He met George Farnsworth who befriended the young man.
The two of them later bought some property in West Texas and moved to
Floydada.
Jim Webb married Araminta
Farnsworth, George’s oldest daughter.
They were married on January 14, 1890 in Limestone County but soon moved
to Floyd County in the Texas Panhandle.
One son said the house was so cold in the winter that his father declared
“If I could ever move from here, I will”.
In 1906 Jim went to Yoakum County and bought 13 sections of land.
The year was good, the grass was green and thick & tall.
They thought it was a dream come true.
But, it was only a dream because the next year things were very dry and
were never that good again.
With his father-in-law, Jim then moved to Frio County but wished he was
back in West Texas, he later said.
By this time, Jim and Minta
had a nice family of 3 sons and a daughter.
Mary Lillian Webb was born Nov 18, 1891, Elma Davis Webb came along on
July 12, 1893, George Evans Webb was born in January 1895 but only lived a few
days. On August 26, 1897, Oran
Ewart Webb was born and on October 23, 1905, the youngest of their children,
Alton, was born.
After Jim left Frio County
to return to West Texas, he lived in Post and in Brownfield, renting land to
farm in order to pay the taxes on the Yoakum County land.
He bought 13 sections in that county in 1906 and was able to sell four
sections but not the other 9. On
March 20, 1921, his son, Oran, married Stella Victoria Stewart whom he had met
while the Webb family lived in Dilley, Frio County, TX.
Stella and Oran moved to Haskell, Texas, where they set up housekeeping.
Oran’s brothers, Elma and Alton, lived with them for a while.
Then Elma married Lena Faye McCurdy on September 21, 1923 and moved to
Yoakum County. Alton went to
live with his parents.
Sad events hit the Webb
household in 1925. Lillian,
first born of Jim's & Araminta’s children, became ill during an
influenza epidemic and died. The
family came from around the state for her funeral.
Almost immediately after that, Araminta became ill and died one week
later. The family stayed over
to attend her funeral. Lillian
and Araminta are buried at the Brownfield Cemetery.
In March of 1929, Alton
married Melba M. Cornelius and his father, Jim, soon married again to Grace
Youree in July of that same year.
Both families lived in Brownfield.
When James Davis “Jim”
Webb died in 1944, he did not know what a legacy he was leaving for his
surviving children, his sons: Elma, Oran and Alton.
When oil was discovered on the 9 sections of Yoakum County land in 1951,
each son had 3 sections. The
oil wells were steady producers and gave the family security for their later
years.
Jim Webb was widowed twice,
his second wife, Grace, died in Brownfield in 1940.
He soon became ill, himself, and was cared for by Elma and Lena Faye for
a while. His death came
in 1944 and he was laid to rest beside Araminta and Lillian at Brownfield
Cemetery. Their large
gravestones are right by the entrance to the cemetery and are a greeting to
those who visit.
Jim Webb was a good man, a
gentle provider, and a man who made it on his own after a childhood of unhappy
events. The property he
acquired in Yoakum County is still partly owned by his descendants.
Copyright
2003 © Shirley D. Webb
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