Oliver WEBBER (1797 – 1862) was Alex’s 4th Great Grandfather; one of 32 in this generation.

Oliver A. Webber Esq.’s birthdate of 1797 is estimated from the 1850 census.  His parents were Charles WEBBER Jr. and Ruth THATCHER.   He married Abigail HAWES on 17 Mar 1821 at Vassalboro Kennebec Maine.   After Abigail died, he married Sarah H. Bryant 22 Jan 1849.    He died 15 Jan 1862 in Vassalboro, Kennebec, Maine and is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, Vassalboro, Kennebec, Maine.

Abigail Hawes was born on 7 May 1800 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Mass.  Her parents were Isaac HAWES and Tamzin WING. Abigail died 14 Jan 1846 in Vassalboro and is also buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery.

Sarah H Bryant Webber  Sarah was born about 1809 or 1810 in Massachusetts. Her parents were Nathaniel Bryant (b. 1777 Mass. – ) and Mary [__?__] (b. 1778 Mass – ). She lived in the household in the 1850 and 1860 census.  In the 1850 census, Nathaniel and Mary lived in Gardiner, Kennebec, Maine.  Sarah’s mother, Mary Bryant (1778 – 1874) , age 81, lived in the household in 1860.

Children of Oliver and Abigail:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
1.	Esther H Webber	21 Apr 1822 Maine	Levi M. Webber	16 Aug 1888 Vassalboro
2.	Amanda Melvina Webber	ca. 1824 Maine	Michael Kennedy Jr 7 Apr 1851 Vassalboro	After 1880 Troy VT?
3.	Ira H. Webber	ca. 1826		27 Aug 1872 California, buried in Vassalboro
4.	Lucinda H. Webber	ca. 1828	George Andrew Hobbs	27 Mar 1872 Clinton, Kennebec, Maine
5.	Leigh Richmond Webber	5 Dec 1830 Vassalboro	Did not marry, but did go to Colby College	5 Jan 1866, consumption, at Insane Hospital, Augusta ME
6.	Gustavus Vacy Webber	c. 1833 Vassalboro	Mary Frances Richardson 20 May 1860 Waterville, Kennebec, Maine . Elizabeth M. Jones 4 Sep 1870 China, Kennebec, Maine	20 Jan 1917 Lakeview Cemetery, China, Kennebec, Maine
7.	Ellen Celeste WEBBER	3 Aug 1835	Guilford Dudley COLEMAN 9 Oct 1855 Vassalboro, Maine	31 Oct 1881 Anoka, MN
8.	Emma A. Webber	3 Aug 1835	Jacob Melvin Prescott bef. 1863	Between 1895-1900 Tama, Iowa
9.	Virgil H Webber	c. 1836 in Maine		1 Jul 1862 Gettysburg PA
10.	Herman Webber	Oct 1839 Vassalboro		10 Aug 1862 New York from wounds suffered at Fair Oaks VA

Both Prentiss Glazier and E.P. Webber lists Oliver A Webber but does not give parents. A According to Concerning the Cortright and Webber families in America 1925, Oliver had 84 first cousins and, so far, I’ve been able to identify 42 of  them.  See the page of his grandfather Charles B. WEBBER page for details about his cousins.

Oliver A. Webber was a Selectman in Vassalboro in 1841 and 1842.  He was a Justice of the Peace as well as a farmer and was sometimes titled Deacon.

John Wing of Sandwich Mass and his Descendants  1881

Abigail, who married Oliver Webber, lived in Vassalborough and died in 1845, aged 45. They had ten children, viz:Esther (Mrs. Levi Webber), who lives in Vassalborough and has no children; Amanda (Mrs.Kennedy), who lives in Troy, Vermont, and has four children ;Ira, who died in California in 1874; Lucinda (Mrs. Hobbs), who died in Clinton, Me., having had seven children; Richmond, who died in Augusta in 1866; Gustavus, who lives in Vassalborough and has seven children; Ellen (Mrs. Coleman), who lives in Anoka, Minn., and has four children; Emma (Mrs. Prescott), who lives in Illinois and has seven children. These last two are twins; Virgil, who died at Gettysburgh in 1863; and Herman, who died at New York in 1862.

My grandmother wrote:

I wish I remembereed more about Oliver Webber.  He had merchant ships, my mother referred to him as “merchant prince” wich was a typical Maine expression.  He was of Dutch descent and his family were early citizens of Manhattan Island when it was Dutch.  The Webber family throughout the country had a long and involved lawsuit over property in that area.  My Uncle Dana Coleman gave money to that for years (Unsuccessful)  [See my Thomas Webber page for details of this Webber family myth]

It is interesting to note that the first immigrant Webber in our line was in fact a Sea Captain.  Thomas  Webber (1639 – 1686)  was a fisherman and a sea captain. He was a mariner of Boston as early as 1644 if not sooner, and the master of the sloop “Mayflower”, while still resident in England in 1652.   By 1660 there were approximately 8 known ships bearing the name ‘Mayflower.’ His ship is not the same ‘Mayflower’ of 1620 .  In 1652 he sold about a quarter of this vessel of two hundred tons, and removed to Maine.

In the 1830 census,  Guildford Dudley COLEMAN’s grandfather Joseph COLEMAN  is recorded right next to Oliver Webber.  Samuel Sturgis is recorded on the other side. Maybe GD first met Ellen when he visited his grandfather.

In the 1840 census, Oliver was a farmer in Vassalboro with 13 people living in his household.  Dudley COLEMAN, his brother Charles Coleman and his father Joseph COLEMAN were all close neighbors.

Oliver was a farmer. In the 1850 census, his farm was valued at $1,800.   In  the 1860 census, his farm was 100 improved acres, 40 unimproved acres and was valued at $2,800.  He had 4 horses, 3 milch cows, 4 working oxen, 5 other cattle.  The livestock was valued at $530.  He had 110 bushels of indian corn and 17 bushels of oats.

Oliver A. Webber was appointed guardian of Mary Webber, Susan B. Webber (later Susan B. Lowell), Sarah H. Webber, all minors, when Dorothy Webber of Hallowell died (probate records dated 4 Apr 1852. Dorothy was  the widow of Horatio Nelson WEBBER, who died 25 Dec 1839.  Charles E. Webber was “heir of age.”

Children 

1. Esther Webber

Esther’s husband Levi Webber was born in May 1815 in Vassalboro, Maine.  He was her fourth cousin,  His parents were Ephraim Webber (b. 27 Sep 1794 China, Maine – d. 28 Feb 1865, China, Maine) and Mary Esther Chadwick (1794 – 1865)  His grandparents were Lewis Webber and Keziah Hatch. His great grandparents were Joseph Webber Jr. and Sarah Sedgeley . His 2nd great grandparents were Joseph Webber Sr. and Mary Lewis.  He shared his third great grandparents Samuel WEBBER and Deborah LITTLEFIELD with Esther.  Levi died 15 Feb 1899 in Vassalboro.

They farmed in Vassalboro in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 censuses.

Child of Esther and Levi:

i.  Henry W. B. Webber (May 1855 in Vassalboro, Maine – aft 1920 in Massachusetts); m. 17 Apr 1888 in Augusta, Maine to Leona E Hale (Sep 1861 in Vienna, Kennebec, Maine – Aft. 1930 census Reading, Middlesex, Mass)

In the 1900 census, Henry was a carpenter in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1920, he was a carpenter with a cabinet shop in Reading, Mass.

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2. Amanda Webber

Amanda’s husband Michael Kennedy was born about  1824 in Troy, Orleans, Vermont . His parents were Michael Kennedy (b. 1799 Ireland) and Anne Holden (b. Vermont.)

 In the 1850 census, Michael was living with his father Michael, his father’s second wife Frances  (b 1803 Vermont) and half? brother Charles in Troy, Orleans, Vermont.

In the 1870 census, Michael and Amanda were farming in Troy, Orleans, Vermont.

Children of Amanda and Michael Kennedy:

i. James Kennedy (1852 – After 1870 Census)

I’m not certain if this is our James, but he meets all the criteria (year and state of birth, father from Vermont, mother from Maine) In the 1920 census James C Kennedy was working as a civil engineer in general practice in Yerington, Lyon, Nevada. His wife Emma [__?__] was born about 1866 in Michigan. Their granddaughter Patricia Porter (age 5) was living with them.

Working backwards, in the 1910 census, James was a mining engineer for the department of state engineering in Rhyolite, Nevada. This time his wife was listed as Emogene and he had been married for five years. This time his date of birth is listed as 1856 which could mean he is a differnt James Kennedy. . Emogene has a daughter from a previous marriage named Ruth M. Hall (b. 1890 Indiana). James’ daughter Edith was born in Colorado in 1891. James daughter Elizabeth was born about 1892 in Florida. Their mother was also born in Florida.

Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nye County Nevada. It is located in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the eastern edge of Death Valley. The town began in early 1905 as one of several mining camps that sprang up after a prospecting discovery in the surrounding hills. During an ensuing gold rush, thousands of gold-seekers, developers, miners, and service providers flocked to the Bullfrog Mining District. By 1907, Rhyolite had electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house, and a stock exchange. Scholarly sources generally place it in a range between 3,500 and 5,000 in 1907–08.

Ruins of Cook Bank Building in Rhyolite Nevada

Rhyolite declined almost as rapidly as it rose. After the richest ore was exhausted, production fell. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the financial panic of 1907 made it more difficult to raise development capital. In 1908, investors in the Montgomery Shoshone Mine, concerned that it was overvalued, ordered an independent study. When the study’s findings proved unfavorable, the company’s stock value crashed, further restricting funding. By the end of 1910, the mine was operating at a loss, and it closed in 1911. By this time, many out-of-work miners had moved elsewhere, and Rhyolite’s population dropped well below 1,000. By 1920, it was close to zero.

James Kennedy lived on Esmeralda Street in Rhyolite, Nevada

In the 1900 census, James was a mining engineer in Election District 13, Carbon, Wyoming living with five other men. He is listed as widowed.

ii. Alden Kennedy (1854 – Between 1860 – 1870 Census)

iii. Frank Olin Kennedy (1858 Troy, VT – After 1920); m. Augusta Melvina Crafts (30 Sep 1858 Lowell, Vermont – )

In the 1910 census, Frank was a farmer in Bradford, Orange, Vermont. In the 1920 census, Frank was retired in Bradford, Orange, Vermont.

iv. Mary E. Kennedy (1864 – After 1880 Census)

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3.  Ira Webber  was a sailor in the 1850 census.

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4. Lucinda Webber

Lucinda’s husband George Harrison Hobbs Jr. was born 21 Apr 1822 in Canaan, Somerset, Maine. His parents were George H Hobbs (1794 – 1880) and Elizabeth (Betsey) Lunt (1792 – 1874). George died 20 Nov 1900 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

Some sources state that Lucinda married Elbridge I. Wyman on 12 Mar 1859 – Penobscot, Maine and they had at least one son: Frederick Lincoln Wyman (15 Jul 1861 in Hampden, Maine – Jan 1907)

However, that conflicts with the dates of Lucinda’s and George Hobbs marriage and their children born from 1852 to 1866.

In the 1880 census, George was divorced and taking care of five children ages 4 to 20 while farming in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine.

The divorce is curious because Lucinda died in 1872, just two years after the 1870 census when she was still with George, however, the letter “d” is very clear in the marital status column on the census form. It looks like George had another wife. In his daughter Della’s marriage record, her mother is shown as Ada. Della was born about 1875.

In 1883 George married Ruth P. Gerald (Oct 1833 Canaan, Somerset, Maine – ). She first married 5 Feb 1853 – Somerset, Maine to David A Ramsdell (1832 – 1874)

Children of George and Lucinda many of which were named for Lucinda’s siblings:

i. George E Hobbs (May 1852 in Maine – 30 Apr 1903 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine); m. Hattie M. Norton (1853 Maine – Bef. 1900)

In the 1880 census, George and Hattie were living with Hattie’s daughter from a previous marriage Ruby Sears (b. 1875

In the 1900 census, George was widowed and living with his father and Ruth in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine.

ii. Eda E Hobbs (abt 1852 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine – 7 Nov 1876 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine

iii. Oliver A Hobbs (abt 1854 in Canaan, Somerset, Maine – 19 May 1886)

iv. Lamont Montague Hobbs (abt 1857 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine – 18 Jul 1879 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine) Lamont was a farmer. Cause of death drowning

v. Ashla Hobbs (1859 –

vi. Herman Webber Hobbs (Jul 1860 in Maine – 31 Mar 1927 in Anoka, Minnesota); Herman’s namesake uncle died of Civil War wounds in 1862. m. 1890 to Delia A Starkey (Dec 1870 in Minnesota – 10 Apr 1941 Anoka, Minnesota)

In the 1900 census, Herman was living with his father-in-law and working as a hostler in a livery stable in Anoka, Minnesota. In the 1910 census, Herman was a teamster for a bus line in Anoka and had his wife, four children and his mother-in-law at home.

Delia was the seventh child of eight born to John Marvin Starkey [1827 NY – 1907 MN] and Adelia Ann Gay [1829 NY – 1913 MN]. She married Herman Hobbs in about 1890. They had five children: Gladys Marie [Peterson], Herman F., Harlan Clyde, Edna Mae, and Maurice M.

vii. Virgil Webber Hobbs (15 Jul 1862 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine – 1 Oct 1943 Mattawamkeag, Penobscot, Maine) Virgil’s namesake uncle was killed at Gettysburg a year after he was born. m. 1890 to Rosine Gelou (15 Jan 1869 in French Canada – 1956)

In the 1900 census, Virgil was a station agent in Mattawamkeag, Maine.

In 1889 the International Railway of Maine was completed between Megantic, Quebec, Canada to Mattawamkeag, where it interchanged with the Maine Central. The parent company of the International Railway, Canadian Pacific, obtained running rights from Maine Central for Mattawamkeag to Vanceboro where it regained CPR trackage in New Brunswick. This placed Mattawamkeag on the transcontinental mainline of the Canadian Pacific, running from Saint John to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Railroad Street in Mattawamkeag from a 1910 postcard

viii. Ellsworth E Hobbs (abt 1865 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine – 24 Nov 1888 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine)

ix. Laforest Hobbs (Aug 1866 in Clinton, Kennebec, Maine – 28 Aug 1937 Jay, Maine); m. 01 Mar 1898 in Jay, Maine to Nina Maude Bean (24 Apr 1880 in Maine – 31 Oct 1968 in North Jay, Franklin, Maine)

In the 1910 census Laforest was a millwright in a sawmill in Jay, Franklin, Maine. There were a lot of Maude’s living nearby and Bean’s Corner is a local landmark.

The township was then granted by the Massachusetts General Court to Captain Joseph Phipps and 63 others for their services in the French and Indian War. Called Phipps-Canada, the plantation was not settled until after the Revolutionary War. On February 26, 1795, Phipps-Canada was incorporated as Jay for John Jay, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Jay had a population of 1,490 in 1870. The following years would see papermaking develop into the town’s predominant industry. In 1888, industrialist Hugh J. Chisholm built at southern Jay the Otis Falls Pulp & Paper Company mill, then the 3rd largest paper mill in the country. Nearby developed the mill town village of Chisholm. In 1898, it became one of the founding mills of International Paper.

LaForest Hobbs Obit – The Lewiston Daily Sun – Aug 30, 1937

x. Della Hobbs (1876 – Aft 1930 census Mattawamkeag, Penobscot, Maine ) m. 4 Jun 1898 – Clinton, Maine to Wilbur R. Wyman (b. 1866 Maine – d. bef. 1930 census). In the marriage record, Della’s mother is shown as Ada.

Since Lucinda died in 1872, George was listed as divorced in 1800 ad George married Ruth in 1883, it looks like George married and divorced Ada in between.

In the 1920 census, Wyman was running a grocery store in Mattawamkeag, Penobscot, Maine.

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5. Leigh Richmond Webber

While a few of our illustrious ancestors attended Oxford or Cambridge before emigrating in the Great Migartion, Oliver’s son Leigh Richmond Webber was the first I could find who attended college in the United States.  These notes came from a Colby alumni record from the 1880’s Leigh Richmond had Vassalboro as  legal residence during his course at Colby College. He prosecuted preparatory and Freshman studies chiefly, it is believed, at Vassalboro’ Academy, under several successive teachers.

1852, Sept. Entered Colby Sophomore class. In scholarship, one of the best of a superior class.

1855-56. Taught in New Portland, Me.

1856-57. Taught in Troy, Orleans Co., Vermont.

1858, April. Removed to Lawrence, Kansas, and engaged for three years in teaching and farming.

Lawrence, Kansas was founded in 1854 for the New England Emigrant Aid Company by Charles Robinson.  The New England Emigrant Aid Company was a transportation company created to transport immigrants to the Kansas Territory to shift the balance of power so that Kansas would enter the United States as a free state rather than a slave state. Created by Eli Thayer in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the population of Kansas Territory to choose whether slavery would be legal, the Company is noted less for its direct impact than for the psychological impact it had on proslavery and antislavery elements.  The exact number of people who left for Kansas is unknown. James Rawley puts the numbers somewhere around 2000, of whom about a third returned home, while The Kansas Historical Society puts the number around 900 who left for Kansas in 1855 alone.

William Crutchfield, son Samuel CRUTCHFIELD Sr. removed from Jamestown, Quebec to Lawrence in   8 Mar 1856 and spent the rest of his life there dying 21 Mar 1917 in Lawrence KS

In the Bleeding Kansas era, Lawrence was a center of anti-slavery sentiment. On May 21, 1856, a pro-slavery posse led by Sheriff Samuel J. Jones burned the Free-State Hotel, destroyed the equipment of two anti-slavery newspapers, and looted several other businesses in an attack known as the sack of Lawrence; one man was killed, struck dead by a stone falling from the burning hotel. Abolitionist John Brown‘s nearby Pottawatomie Massacre is believed to have been a reaction to this event. On August 21, 1863, during the American Civil War, Confederate guerrillas led by William Quantrill burned most of the houses and commercial buildings in Lawrence and killed 150 to 200 of the men they found in the Lawrence Massacre.

3 June 1861 – Enlisted as a Private in Company D, 1st Infantry Regiment Kansas.

10 Aug 1861 – Wounded in action Wilson’s Creek, Mo.

16 Jun 1864 – Mustered Out Company D, 1st Infantry Regiment Kansas

1864, July. Returned to Maine, broken down In health by hardships of military life.1865,

Oct. 11. Committed to Hospital for the Insane, at Augusta. Died, Jan. 5,1866, of consumption, at Insane Hospital, Augusta. He did not marry.

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes called the “Bull Run of the West.” Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon’s Army of the West was camped at Springfield, Missouri, with Confederate troops under the commands of Brig. Gen. Benjamin McCulloch approaching. On August 9, both sides formulated plans to attack the other. At about 5:00 a.m. on August 10, Lyon, in two columns commanded by himself and Col. Franz Sigel, attacked the Confederates on Wilson’s Creekabout 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Springfield. Rebel cavalry received the first blow and fell back away from Bloody Hill. Confederate forces soon rushed up and stabilized their positions.

The Confederates attacked the Union forces three times that day but failed to break through the Union line. When General Lyon was killed during the battle and General Sweeny wounded, Major Samuel D. Sturgis assumed command. Meanwhile, the Confederates had routed Sigel’s column, south of Skegg’s Branch. Following the third Confederate attack, which ended at 11:00 a.m., the Confederates withdrew. Sturgis realized, however, that his men were exhausted and his ammunition was low, so he ordered a retreat to Springfield. The Confederates were too disorganized and ill-equipped to pursue. This Confederate victory buoyed southern sympathizers in Missouri and served as a springboard for a bold thrust north that carried Price and his Missouri State Guard as far as Lexington. In late October, a rump convention, convened by Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, met in Neosho and passed out an ordinance of secession. Wilson’s Creek, the most significant 1861 battle in Missouri, gave the Confederates control of southwestern Missouri.

6. Gustavus Webber

Gustavus’  first wife Mary Francis Richardson was born 18 Nov 1841 in Vassalboro, Kennebec, Maine.  Her parents were John Richardson (1813 – 1884) and Hannah G. Sanborn (1819 – 1843)  Her grandparents were  our ancestor Seth RICHARDSON III and Susannah A. BALCOM .  Mary died 6 Jun 1870 in Vassalboro, Kennebec, Maine.

Gustavus’ second wife Elizabeth “Lizzie” M. Jones was born 9 Dec 1848 in China, Kennebec, Maine.  Her parents were John Jones (1825 – ) and Lydia Runnells (1826 – ) Lizzie died 27 Aug 1901 in Augusta, Kennebec, Maine.

In the 1850 census, Gustavus was one of nine young “shoemakers” living with Betsey Freeman (age 29) and David Austin (age 52) in Vassalboro.  Gustavus married 20 May 1860 in Waterville, Maine to Mary Frances Richardson  and was living with Mary’s father and second wife Cynthia Cross,  in the 1860 census.

Gustavus enlisted as a Private on 14 August 1862 at the age of 28. in Co E -16th Maine -Wounded at Gettysburg, see below.   Pension records state date of birth as 16 Aug 1832.    Gus Webber was dicharged 16 Dec 1863 with disability from leg wound received 1 July 1863 Gettysburg, PA (where he was captured and paroled 3 July 1863).

Three months after Mary died, Gustavus married 4 Sep 1870 in China, Maine to Elizabeth “Lizzie” M. Jones.