The Webb Name

(From "The Webb Family: The Story So Far" by Craig Webb, published in November 2001)

The Webb lineage begins in England. Like many names, ours refers to an occupation--weaving. The same is true for folks named Webbe, Webber, Webster, and Weaver; all identify families engaged in the weaving of cloth. This occupation was particularly popular in Southern England, where the Webb name is said to have arisen. It's likely that the use of the name started to become popular around the same period in the 14th and 15th centuries in which English families--recovering from the plague of the 1350s that had decimated the labor force--began the less labor-intensive practice of raising sheep. The oldest reference to a Webb that I have seen is a man from the 1350s.

According to various sources, the Webb name was the most popular of the Webb/Webbe/Webber/Weaver variants in the English shires of Somerset and Wiltshire (southwest of London), and in Suffolk and Hertfordshire (northeast of London).

By the late 16th century, weaving was more important than farming in England, and no doubt some Webbs were prospering. One of them, John Alexander Webb, was knighted, and his child Sir Henry Webb (born 1510) received the family crest that most often is tied to the Webb name. In addition, both of William Shakespeare's grandmothers were Webbs (they also were sisters, one researcher says).

Since then, the Webb name has become the 137th most common surname in the United States, according to on study of the 2000 U.S. census (source), with roughly 163,000 people in the country bearing that last name. As a result, there are lots of Webbs with whom it's nice to claim kinship, even if none can be proven--at least so far. There's Matthew Webb, the first man to swim across the English Channel; actors Jack Webb and Clifton Webb; golf pro Karrie Webb; and Alan Webb, the fastest high school miler in history. A Webb in recent years was a member of England's national soccer team, while Walter Prescott Webb wrote one of the most famous histories of the Texas Rangers. Still to be established is a Webb in the family history of former President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

About This Blog

This blog is intended to provide a history of the immediate parents and some of the descendants of Walton Polk Webb and Susannah T. Deadwyler. Its foundation is "The Webb Family: The Story So Far," a paper that I wrote in November 2001. My plan is to start this blog by re-entering the content of that paper, then expand on it based on what I have learned since then.

One goal of this blog will be for you, the reader, to examine information related to you and provide additions and corrections. I then will incorporate that new information into a family tree that can be shared by all.

Craig Webb