Working on Wednesday: Jesse David Webb (1860 - 1935), Carpenter

When he became a carpenter, this maternal great grandfather was following in the footsteps of his father Abner Webb who died when Jesse was an infant.

In the 1880 U.S. Census "Jessy" is listed as an 18-year old hired farm hand in Fairview Township, Jones County, Iowa, where his mother Mercy Ann Darling Webb* and step-father Joshua Walsh had moved sometime after their marriage in Denton County, Texas, in 1864 .

[Ancestry.com 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 

Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C]

[A young Jesse, courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

In the 1885 Iowa State Census, the newly married Jesse** was still a laborer living in Fairview.

[Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925 [database on-line].

Original data: Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.]

Shortly thereafter, the couple moved to Nebraska where all of their children were born. They first lived in Antelope County but finally settled in Knox County in 1899.

[Knox County, 1885; Publisher: Everts & Kirk, Philadelphia Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

By the 1900 U.S. Census the Webb family had expanded to eight people with the addition of their six surviving children*** and they were living in rented quarters in Logan Township. This is the first record we have of Jesse being a carpenter but with no records between 1885 and 1900 because of the destruction of the 1890 U.S. Census we don't know how long he had been working at that trade.

[Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 

Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.]

If the information in his obituary is correct, the Webbs moved to Boulder, Colorado, in about 1903 but returned to Knox County the following year, settling in Winnetoon Village where we find them in the 1910 U.S. Census with all of their children living at home, including the two newest members of the family, daughters Rosa and Nora.

[http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/county/knox/whs/photos/good_old_days/index.htm (Webb, Jesse Home)]

[Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line].

Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By the 1920 U.S. Census, the oldest children had left home the family home in Winnetoon but there were still five living with their parents in a house with a mortgage. Jesse's occupation was listed as carpenter.

[Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Original data: Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Nora died in 1928 so the 1930 U.S. Census listed Jesse, still a carpenter, as a widower living alone in his own house valued at $2,000 (no mortgage). Like most of his neighbors he didn't have a radio.

[Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 

Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.]

Jesse died on December 7, 1935, and is buried next to his wife in the Winnetoon Cemetery. We're fortunate to have a newspaper clipping of his obituary which has been corrected by someone's hand, possibly my grandmother Anna Delilah Webb Slater, his oldest daughter.

[Courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

We know a few personal things about Jesse David Webb. His obituary states that "his garden and flowers were a source of wonder to all who saw them." And we know that earlier in his life he wasn't adverse to playing a friendly game of cards.

[Jesse on the far left, courtesy of Olive Kennedy]

*She had relocated to Texas from Fairview in 1860, following Abner to Galveston where Jesse was born that July. Family stories say that she always wanted to return to Iowa and Joshua promised they would do that after they were married.
**His bride was Elnora May Worden.
***Baby Clarence Paul had died before his first birthday in 1887.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.