The Webbs - some documents and photos

Great Uncle John Leroy Webb and Grandfather "Bud" Webb, a repost

John Leroy Webb

I am sharing a photo of Great Uncle John Webb (1880-1938)  What do you read from this photo? At least a dashing student. I have no idea when it was taken.

My mother's father was his brother...Albert Bud Webb (1891-1919).  They were 2 of the 8 children born in Huisache (or the Anglicized version that is now on maps) Weesatche, Texas, in Goliad County.

Albert Bud Webb (my grandfather)

Here's Bud's draft card from June, 1917, when my mother was 2 months old.  It was apparently enough to keep him from going to the war.

(Source: Ancestry.com - not my relations!)

But unfortunately Grandfather Bud was killed by an electrical accident (bad wiring and being electrocuted) in 1919.  My mother remember it as being Christmas lights, but it happened in September, so it must have been some other wiring in the home. His business listing on his draft card said Restaurant, self employed. His death certificate said he was a restaurant proprietor, and the electrical accident was not occupational.

But back to Uncle John. He was older by 11 years than Bud.  His draft card in September, 1918 states he was a Postmaster and Clerk, for a mercantile business, partly owned by the Webb family. But he was already 39 by the time he registered for the draft.

Uncle John and Aunt Lizzy Webb, 1901

Uncle John's wife was Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hohn Webb (1883-1960) born in NY perhaps, and had parents born in  France.  They had 3 daughters, Anne Lorraine Webb Cross (1902-1949), Hazel Marguerite Webb Doughty Hinds (1908-1970), and Pearl Adelle Webb Hammerle (1918-2005).

In the 1900 Census, John was living with his 2-years-older brother, James, and listed himself as a salesman, while his brother was a bookkeeper. They lived next door (or perhaps in a building separately built on the same property) as their parents in Goliad County, TX. By the 1910 census he was living with a wife and his first 2 daughters, lists himself as a Postmaster, again in the same area of Goliad County, TX.

Between 1918 and 1920 his family had moved to San Antonio, TX, and he gave his occupation on the census as a traveling salesman of dry goods. By 1930 the census gives his sales as hosiery. He was living with his wife, now listed as born in Texas, and 2 daughters.  At this time the census tells us Aunt Lizzy's father had been born in Alcase-Lorraine, and her mother in NY.

So why go through all these details?  Well, my sons might like to know these 2 Webb men were both listed as tall on their draft cards, and having blue eyes, and light hair.  Granddad Webb had slightly balding hair in his 20s, while his older brother at 39 had light hair.

And since these are the genes which come from great grandfathers and uncles, it's nice to see that they could have lived a fairly long life for that generation.   Great Great Uncle John did die from stomach hemorrhage, at age 58.  With new medicines which treat ulcers, he probably could have lived much longer.  And working with electricity is much safer these days, as my son well knows!

Thanks for reading through all these family details.  I love pursuing the census and draft cards to find what the actual interviewer put down, even if it is different sometimes than it was on another one.  That's what makes genealogy fun for me.