Tracing the Paternal Lineage of Richard Webb of Chester County, Pennsylvania: A Progress Report

Tracing the Paternal Lineage of Richard Webb of Chester County, Pennsylvania: A Progress Report by Donald J. Martin, Ph.D. A MONG THE English Quakers to immigrate to colonial Pennsylvania was Richard Webb of the city of Gloucester. He produced a certificate to the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends on the 28th day of the 6th month, 1700, from a Quarterly Meeting held at Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, dated the 27th day of the 6th month, 1700.' With Webb came his wife, Elizabeth, a distinguished minister2; their children; Mary and Rachel Webb, his unmarried sisters; John Webb, who was probably his younger brother; and the children of his deceased brother. Joseph Webb, with their mother, Hannah, arid step-father, John Lea.3 Richard Webb settled in Birmingham Township, Chester County, by 1704, and, in 1705, represented that county as a member of the Assembly. Between 1711-1718, he served as a Justice of the Peace in Chester County, and died there in 1719. His will, dated 2 March 1719, names his widow, Elizabeth, and the following children: Sarah, wife of William Dilworth; William; Mary, wife of George Brown; Esther, wife of Jacob Bennett; Joseph; Benjamin; Daniel; and james.4 Richard Webb has been identified as the eldest child of Richard Webb (Sr.) and his wife, Mary, residents of the city of Gloucester. 'Albert Cook Myers, Quaker Arrivals at Philadelphia, 16824750: Being a List of Certfficates of Removal at Philadelphia Mpnthly Meeting of Friends (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1%9) p. 33. 2 For a detailed account of the ministry of Elizabeth Webb, see Willard Heiss, Quaker Biographical Sketches of Ministers and Elders, and Other Concerned Members of the Yearly Meeting of Philadelphia, 1682-1880. (pp. 98-101). 3.1. Smith Futhey, History of Chester County, With Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Philadelphia, L. H. Everts, 1881), p. 760. 4 Details on Richard Webb's children and their families is beyond the scope and purpose of this paper. A wealth of data is available in the Quaker records, manuscripts, and county records of Pennsylvania. 115 1 16 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine They were parents of the following children, all born presumably in the city of Gloucester:5 i Richard b. 19. 1. 1656 ii Mary b. 30. 6. 1659 iii John b. 23. 6. 1661. He is believed to have been the same John Webb who married Ann Horrod of Gloucester on 18. 6. 1691.6 iv Joseph b. 17. 11. 1663. He married Hannah NN by whom, he had the following chlidren, all born in Gloucester:7 iv-a Hannah b. 31. 3. 1687 iv-b Mary b. 26. 9. 1688 iv-c Ann b. 12. 8. 1691 v-d Sarah b. 21. 3. 1693 v Micah b. 1. 3. 1665 died 2. 6. 1676 vi Sarah b. 18. 12. 1666 vii James b. 27. 2. 1670 viii Rachel b. 27. 1. 1673 ix Daniel b. 21. 9. 1676 Richard Webb (Sr.) may be the same Richard Webb whose religious persecution in Gloucester is mentioned in Besse's A Collection of the Sufferings of the People Galled Quakers (pp. 211, 217). His wife was probably Mary Hayward, nee Hollyday,8 of Painswick, Gloucester-. shire, whom he married 29 August 1655 at Rodborough, Gloucestershire. Richard Webb (Sr.) of Gloucester Monthly Meeting was buried 19. 7. 1683. Richard Webb (Sr.) was probably the infant by that name who 5 "Register of Books of Marriages, Birth, and Burials which have been kept for the Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends of Gloucester in the County of Gloucester, England", These records may be found on microfilm #812,214 at the Genealogical Department Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. 'Cf. Gilbert Cope Collection. See also William Henry Egle, editor, Minutes of the Board of Property of the Province of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, 1893) p. 218. 8 Eric Roe, comp., Gloucestershire Marriage Index 1625-1675. The original entry in the marriage register is faint and difficult to interpret. Mary Hayward may have been a widow at the time of her marriage to Richard Webb, and her maiden name-Holliday (or Halyday)T--was recorded at the time the entry was made as an afterthought by the scribe. Interestingly, one Thomas Hayward, "by an Indorsement on the Release, dat. 1 I th jarfry, 17)0, assigned the Said 250 acres and all his Interest in the Said Deeds to Richard Webb and Elizabeth Webb, his wife, in Consideration of 9 stet-1'g, paid in England ," (Egle, op cit., p. 517.) What relationship, if any, Thomas Hayward was to Richard Webb OF to his wife, Elizabeth, has not been determined. Tracing the Paternal Lineage of Richard Webb 117 was baptized 8 February 1637 at Minchinhampton, the son of Richard Webb (and his wife, Elizabeth [1, named as the widow of Richard Webb whose will was proved 4 March 1658/59 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury), and grandson of William Webb of the hamlet of Hawcombe (sometimes Holcombe), parish of Minchinhampton. The will of this William Webb, on file at the County Record Office in Gloucester, was proved in 1634. Presumably, the family had resided in the parish of Minchinhampton for several generations for, in 1'547, a fine in lands in Hawcombe was passed by John Hyett to William Webb "whose descendants have been since settled there, and have formed several distinct houses."9 All of the available indexes at the British Museum, the Family Archive at the Society of Genealogists, the calendars and indexes in the Public Record Office, the records of Friends' House, wills for the Webb family proved for the County of Gloucester at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, and the Webb cases in Chancery have been searched in an effort to establish the Webb line as has been presented here. The research to date has been painfully slow, laborious, and not infrequently expensive. Until all documents, particularly those remaining to be meticulously studied in the County Record Office in Gloucester and in other local record offices, have been researched and the infinite number of messages and clues for us in them analyzed, the above work must be considered to be hypothetical rather than definitive in nature—a "working paper" if you will. To deprive this study of the highest standards of completeness is to ignore material which may actually lead us in another direction—the right direction. Arthur Twisden Playne, A History o the Parishes of Minchinizampton and Avening (East ate, Gloucester: John Bellows, 1915). 9