WEBB, HIRAM LUTHER, was born Nov. 12, 1799, in Rockingham, Vermont. The Webb family was a very old one in London and Weymouth, England, at the time the Plymouth colony was settled in Massachusetts. Two of them, Francis and Thomas Webb, were active members of the colony before it left England, but it is not certain that they came to America. Christopher Webb, of Weymouth, came to America previous to 1645, and settled in Braintree Massachusetts. The name of his wife is not known, but they had six children. His eldest son, Christopher, born probably in England, about 1630, married Jan. 18, 1654 or '55, to Hannah Scott, lived in Braintree, Massachusetts, and had nine children. Their third child, Samuel, born August 16, 1660, married December, 1686, to Mary Adams, had four children, and moved to Windham, Connecticut, in 1707, where they had one child. Their second child, Samuel, born May 14, 1690, married Oct. 8, 1711, to Hannah Ripley, granddaughter of Governor William Bradford. They had four children. Their fourth child, Joshua, born Feb. 9, 1721, married May 28, 1744, to Hannah Abbey. They had four children in Windham, Connecticut, and moved to Bellows Falls, Vermont, about 1751, where they had seven children. The father, mother and eleven children lived until the youngest was forty-four years old. Joshua Webb, being one of the first settlers in Vermont, took an active part in the movement for erecting it into a separate state, and was a member of the state legislature for the first twelve years of its existence. His tenth child, Luther, born Oct. 24, 1763, following the example of several of his elder brothers, eagerly enlisted as soon as he was old enough to be received in the army of the Revolution, and served until Independence was achieved. One of his brothers was a colonel and another a captain, but Luther, being the youngest, served as a private. They all lived to be very old, and were entitled each to a pension, but declined to apply for it, saying they had fought for freedom and not for money. Luther was married Feb. 9, 1792, to Dorothy Wheelock, and had seven children. The fourth child, Hiram Luther, whose name heads this sketch, was married Dec. 15, 1823, in the town of Walpole, New Hampshire, to Martha B. Bates. She was born Sept. 30, 1799, in the town of Jeffrey, Cheshire county, New Hampshire. They made their home in Rockingham, Vermont, until five children were born, and started west, moving in wagons, and at the end of six weeks, which was the shortest trip made by any one fro that region of the country, they arrived in Sangamon county Nov. 13, 1834, and settled one mile west of the present Farmingdale Station, where two children were born. Of their children -

Martha B., born Dec. 6, 1824, Rockingham, Vermont, resides with her mother.

Harriet F., born Feb. 26, 1827, in Rockingham, Vermont, married in Sangamon county, August 9, 1848, to Joseph E. Cobbey, who was born November, 1824, in Ohio. They have three children, Joseph E., Jun., Thomas D. and James W., and live at Vinton, Iowa.

Jane G., born Feb. 18, 1829, in Vermont, married in Sangamon county, Jan. 1, 1857, to Edgar A. Kincaid, who was born in 1825, in Kentucky. They have four children, Fred L., Mattie A., Albert E., and Dick Bates, and reside near Athens, Menard County, Illinois.

John W., born Nov. 24, 1830, in Vermont, died in Sangamon county, Oct. 22, 1847.

James, born Jan. 12, 1833, in Rockingham, Vermont, is unmarried, and resides on the farm settled by his parents in 1834. It is one mile west of Farmingdale, Sangamon county, Illinois.

Joseph L., born August 1, 1837, in Sangamon county, graduated at the Eclectic Medical College, of Cincinnati, Ohio, married Oct. 30, 1873, in Beatrice, Nebraska, to Louisa Kate Shepherd, and is a practicing physician there.

Hiram P., born March 14, 1842, in Sangamon county, graduated at the State University of Indiana, at Bloomington, in the class of 1865, graduated in law in 1867, and was admitted to practice in Springfield, Illinois, went to Nebraska and was elected treasurer of Gage county in 1869, '71 and '73 for two years each term. He is also engaged in the practice of law and in banking in Beatrice. He was married oct. 20, 1873, to Jenett Maxfield, in Beatrice, Nebraska, and resides there.

Hiram L. Webb died Oct. 21, 1847, and his widow resides one mile west of Farmingdale, Illinois, where the family settled in 1834. Mr. Webb sold the first corn he raised in the county at eight cents per bushel in trade. He made several trips to Chicago, one hundred and eighty-five miles, with a wagon load of butter and bacon, exchanged them for stores and hardware, which he sold on his return home, after supplying his own needs. James says that his first business transaction, for himself and one of his brothers, was to sell eggs at three cents per dozen, and buy each of them a jack knife.