In November of 1786, Henry Wilson Webb was born in the town of Stamford Connecticut. He was the son of Stamford’s esteemed Dr. Samuel Webb and grandson of Col. Charles Webb, a commander during the American Revolution. Both his father and grandfather also served in the Connecticut legislature. The Webb family had been in Stamford since the mid 1600's.
Like many sons, Henry Webb followed in his father’s footsteps. He graduated from Yale University, as his father had, and became a physician. Henry’s brothers chose quite different paths. Charles Webb, the oldest went to sea and seems to have died in China. John Webb, just a couple years older than Henry also went to sea, becoming a captain, but later dying of yellow fever in New Orleans. A younger brother, William, died at the age of 22, in Lima, Peru. We don’t know why he was in Peru but perhaps he too had escaped to the sea. A much younger half brother, James was involved in the whaling trade out of Nantucket and he was lost at sea. I find it interesting that all the Webb brothers except Henry took off from home and seem to have sought adventure over academics. Was their father overbearing? Were the expectations too high so the response was either to step in line, like Henry, or flee? Their father, Dr. Samuel Webb, indeed seems to have been hardworking. Apparently, entries in his day book indicate that for the 14 years previous to his death in 1826, not a day passed in which he did not make professional visits. Perhaps that was typical for a town physician in those days. Maybe Samuel’s sons, decided early on that prestige or not, this was not the life they envisioned for themselves.
Henry W. Webb, also had several sisters and half sisters. At least 3 sisters never married, two half sisters moved to Nova Scotia, and one apparently to Sacramento, California. Were things that dismal in Stamford?
Henry Wilson Webb took off in his own way I suppose. Instead of joining his father’s medical practice in Stamford, he headed to New York City after his studies. I don’t know much about his work there except that he was associated with the practice of the distinguished surgeon Dr. Valentine Mott. Dr. Mott was a professor of surgery at Columbia University and is known for his success in performing difficult original operations.
In 1815 Henry, at age 29, had married Elizabeth Mulligan Smith in New York City. Elizabeth, 22 at the time of the marriage, was a native of New York, but we know nothing of her parents and family background. Henry and Elizabeth’s only child was a daughter, Mary Van Lindern Webb. Perhaps those middle names of “Van Linderan” and “Mulligan” are clues to the background of Elizabeth Smith Webb. Dr. Henry Webb and his family took up residence on Cherry Street, between the present day Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and about two blocks from the East River.
In 1824 President James Monroe and the U.S. Congress invited the Marquis de Lafayette, Revolutionary War hero, to visit the United States. Lafayette arrived in New York City on August 24 of that year and was welcomed with a grand reception and parade. Dr. Henry W. Webb was on the committee that officially received him. General Lafayette took Henry’s 6-year-old daughter, Mary into his arms and blessed her. It must have been quite an honor and a tremendous occasion for the Webb family.
Like his brothers, life for Henry Wilson Webb was not a long affair. He died in 1826, at the age of 39, leaving behind his 32-year-old wife Elizabeth and their 7-year-old daughter. Perhaps if he had lived longer he would have had time to develop his career and like his friend, Dr. Mott, garner an entry into Wikipedia. Elizabeth never remarried but lived to be 71, spending the majority of her years with their daughter Mary.
Mary Van Lindern Webb married Robert O. Hite when she was a few days short of her 20th birthday. It is a mystery to me how Mary Webb met Robert Hite. He was the same age as Mary but was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky. How did the daughter of a prominent New York doctor meet and marry the son of a Kentucky farmer? A few weeks before the couple’s first anniversary Robert Hite died. Mary gave birth to their child, Eleanor Hite, several months after Robert's death. When Eleanor Hite was 4 years old, Mary Webb Hite married secondly, George Modeman, a French born jeweler. They lived in Kentucky for a time but then later moved back to Brooklyn, New York with their three children and Mary’s mother, Elizabeth Smith Webb. Mary’s daughter, Eleanor Hite, stayed on in Kentucky, and lived with her grandfather Jacob Hite until she married William Geiger in 1861.
As this story illustrates, families can have unpredictable and interesting trajectories. Life then, as today, has a certain degree of uncertainty. Winston Churchill said, “Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed.” It seems that movement and opportunity have always defined the American experience. Where has your path taken you and what surprises have you encountered on your journey thus far?
I can’t help but ponder now….. if only the family had hung on to that property on Cherry Street at the tip of Manhattan. Remember--- buy and hold…. buy and hold.
Dr. Henry Wilson WEBB was my GGGG Grandfather and here is how it all plays out:
Col. Charles WEBB (1724-1800)----Dr. Samuel WEBB (1760-1826)----Dr. Henry Wilson WEBB (1786-1825)----Mary Van Linderan WEBB (1818-1890)----Eleanor E. WEBB (1839-1910)----Goslee F. GEIGER (1877-1959)----Thomas M. GEIGER (1905-1940)----Elizabeth GEIGER (1926-1982)---- me
-Mary
No comments:
Post a Comment