Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

For preservation purposes, please use microfilm (Misc. Reels 2700-2719)

Preferred Citation

Webb-Smith Family Papers, 1703-1929. Accession 34635, Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Anne Hagerty Warner, Warsaw, Virginia.

Biographical/Historical Information

The Webb and Smith families resided in Essex and King and Queen Counties, Virginia, and Kentucky and North Carolina. James Webb was born on 5 December 1705. He married Mary Edmondson in 1731. He died on 11 April 1771. They had four sons, James (1734-1773), William (1745-1809), John (1747-1826), and Thomas (1751-1783), and two daughters, Mary (1740-1827) and Elizabeth (1754-1830) who lived to maturity.

James Webb was born on 2 July 1734. He married Mary Smith in 1757. He was a justice of the peace for Essex County, a signer of the Northern Neck Association against the Stamp Act in 1766, as well as a planter with interests in several grist mills on Piscataway Creek near Tappahannock. He died in December 1773. William Webb was born 1 May 1745. He married Frances Young. They resided at Tallyho in Granville County, North Carolina. He died in 1809. John Webb was born on 18 January 1747. He married Mary Booker in 1772. They also resided in Granville County. He died in 1826. Thomas Webb was born on 27 February 1751. He was a successful merchant in the West Indies. He never married. He died in England in 1783. Mary Webb was born in 1740. She married Samuel Smith. They resided in Granville County. She died in 1827. Elizabeth Webb was born on 30 June 1754. She married 1) Philip Vass and 2) Thomas Shepherd. They lived in Granville and Person Counties, North Carolina, and later Halifax County, Virginia. She died in 1830.

James Webb and Mary Smith had four sons and three daughters: 1) Francis Webb was born in 1759. He married Frances Walker in 1786. They had eight children, including James Webb (1792-1856), a federal judge, secretary of state of Texas, and minister to Mexico. Following his wife's death in 1809, Francis Webb removed to Georgia, and died in Hancock County in 1811. 2) James Webb was born in 1762. He married Dorothy Throckmorton on 22 July 1790. They resided first at "Harewood" in Essex County, and later at "Smithfield" in King and Queen County. He was an attorney. They had no children. He died in 1832. 3) William Webb was born in 1768. He studied medicine in Philadelphia. He married three times. He settled in Winchester, Clarke County, Kentucky, and died in 1845. 4) George Webb married Patsy Lane in 1798. He settled in Illinois. 5) Mary Webb married Albion Throckmorton. They moved to Berkeley County, Virginia. Following her husband's death, she resided in Wichester, Clarke County, Kentucky. She died there. 6) Lucy Webb was born in 1761. She married James Gray in 1778. They resided in Kentucky. 7) Jane Meriwether Webb married William J. Tunstall. They lived in Henry and Pittsylvania Counties, Virginia, and later moved to Kentucky. She died in 1828.

Scope and Content Information

Papers, 1703-1929, of the Webb and Smith families of Essex and King and Queen Counties, Virginia, and Kentucky and North Carolina. The bulk of the collection covers the years 1770-1850. Includes correspondence, court records, estate papers, wills, accounts and receipts, subject files, account books, fee books, memorandum books, ledgers, and oversize items. The majority of the papers relate to James Webb (1762-1832).

Series I: Correspondence - The correspondence consists mainly of incoming letters to James Webb, as well as some copies of his outgoing letters. Most of it is business or financial in nature, first relating to his partnership in a mercantile business with his brother Francis Webb (1759-1811), and later concerning his law practice in Essex and King and Queen Counties, which he started around 1790. The latter correspondence includes information on pending lawsuits, requests for advice and information from clients, the obtaining of judgments against individuals who acted as security for loans, the issuing of executions, and the settlements of various estates. There is a substantial amount of correspondence relating to the settlement of the estate of his uncle Thomas Webb (1751-1783) who was a merchant in the West Indies, and who died in England. Thomas Webb was in partnership with Rawleigh Colston (d. 1823), the latter of whom was also his executor. The estate was tied up in lawsuits from the time of Thomas Webb's death in 1783 all the way up until 1831. Other topics in the correspondence include family matters, such as births, marriages, and deaths, health, business activities, and social life, relating to James Webb's siblings, aunts and uncles, and cousins, many of whom resided in Kentucky and North Carolina. Of note are letters from his brother Francis Webb (1759-1811) relating to his activities in Georgia, his brother William Webb (1768-1845) concerning his medical studies in Philadelphia, and from his nephew James Webb (1792-1856) regarding his relocation to Key West in 1829 to assume his duties as Judge of the United States Court for the Southern District of Florida. There is also a great deal of information concerning his relatives in Kentucky and their dire financial situations, and his assistance to them.

Series II. Court Records - The court records contain suit papers, judgment extracts, and clerks' and sheriffs' fee bills pertaining to lawsuits in which James Webb was the attorney, or was a party to the suit. Many of these records are from Virginia counties whose court records for this time period are no longer extant. The suit papers are arranged by court in which the suit was brought. There is a large amount of information concerning the lawsuit with Rawleigh Colston and the settlement of the estate of Thomas Webb. The judgment extracts include the name of the court in which the suit was brought, the style of the suit, the judgment issued, and costs incurred. They are also arranged by court. The clerks' and sheriffs' fee bills contain the date, name of the individual or estate being charged, the service that was performed, and the costs. These are also arranged by court.

Series III. Estate Papers - Like the court records, the estate papers include information on individuals from counties whose records for this time period no longer exist. The types of records found in this series include accounts, bonds and promissory notes, clerks' and sheriffs' fee bills, correspondence, executions, inventories and appraisements, judgment extracts, receipts, suit papers, sales, copies of wills, and other miscellaneous information. The estate papers are arranged alphabetically by surname. There is a large amount of material relating to the estates of Robert Banks, Hugh Campbell, James Campbell, Sarah Campbell, Robert Mann, George Pottie, and James Smith.

Series IV. Wills - The wills include both original and copies of wills from the counties of Essex, King and Queen and Middlesex Counties. They are arranged by county, and thereunder alphabetically by surname.

Series V and VI. Accounts and Receipts - The accounts and receipts are arranged chronologically by year. There is also a group of orders for payment or goods.

Series VII. Subject Files - The subject files contain a variety of information. Included in this series are copies of legislative acts, advertisements, affidavits, agreements, bills of lading, bills of sale, bonds, deeds, fifas, guardians' accounts, issue and chancery dockets, letters of dismissal, memoranda, opinions, powers of attorney, promissory notes, surveys, tax receipts, and other material.

Series VIII. Account Books, Fee Books, Memorandum Books, and Ledgers - The account books, fee books, memorandum books, and ledgers contain financial information of both a personal and business nature. The account books contain detailed daily notations of expenses incurred. The fee books relate to charges made to law clients. The memorandum books contain notes Webb made concerning both his law practice and the operation of his plantations. The ledgers concern his law practice. There are name indexes to some of them.

Organization

Organized into the following nine series: I. Correspondence; II. Court Records; III. Estate Papers; IV. Wills; V. Accounts; VI. Receipts; VII. Subject Files; VIII. Account Books, Fee Books, Memorandum Books, and Ledgers; IX. Oversize.