Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/362

 WEBB

AVEBB

ail. I ThroHfjh the ^Vihleniess in " Battles and Leaders of tin- Civil War" (IV.. pp. 15"2 et seq.)

WEBB, Charles Henry, author, was born in Rousfs Point. N. Y.. Jan. 04. 1834; son of Nathan (3d) and PhiltMia King (Paddoi-k) Webb; grand- son of Nathan ('id) and Mary (Mc Knight) Webb, and supposedly a descendant of Thomas Webb, who settled in Connecticut at an early date. He attended the district schools until 1851, when he went to New York city, where he contributed to the Herald and Tribune, and in the same year sliipped l>efore the mast for a whaling voyage in the Pacific Oce^in. On his return in 1855 he joined liis parents in Alton. 111., subsequently engaged in the grain, lumber and coal business with his brother in Fulton City, Miss., and by a humorous article published in the Chicago Evening Journal, attracted the attention of Henry J. Riiymond. editor of the New Y^ork Times, who called liim to New Y'ork. and on whose pa}>er Mr. Webb served as literary editor, 1S60-63, acting for a brief time as war cor- respondent and inaugurating on the editorial page the department known as " Minor Topics." He was city editor of the Evening Bulletin. San Francisco. Cal., 1863-64; established, in 1864. The Californian. a weekly, to which Bret Harte. '• Mark Twain," Charles AVarren Stoddard and others since known in literature contributed; and also produced at local theatres the plays. Our Friend from Victoria (1865); and Arrah-na- Poke, a burlesque of Dion Boucicault's " Arrah- na-Pogue" (1865). He returned in 1866 to New Y'ork city, where he became a contributor to various journals and magazines. In 1868 he in- vented " The Adder," a simple device for the addition of numbers, which achieved an im- mediate success and came into general use. He was married. Sept. 24, 1870, to Elizabeth W'all, daugliter of Caleb and Harriet Elizabeth (Holden) Sliipman of Brooklyn, N.Y''. In 1870 he invented a cartridge loading machine which was taken up and manufactured and sold by the Remingtons; made an improvement on the Adder in 1889, or- ganizing the Webb Adder company for its manu- facture, and in 1893 brought out a new device called the ••Ribbon Adder" for which he was granted by the patent office a broad claim as a " fundatnental invention." He published the following travesties: Lijfith Lank, or Lunacy, a travesty of Charles Reade's " Griffith Gaunt " (1867): .87. Ticelmo, travestying Augusta Evans's '•St. Elmo" (1868); and The Wickedest Woman ill Xru' York, suggested l>y Oliver Dyer's "Tlie Wickedest Man in N.-w York" (1869). He edited and piil>li=!hed JIark Twain's first book, •*The Celebrate 1 Jumping Frog of Calavaras Co. an 1 Other Skefrhes" (is6«). and is author of: Jiihii J\iHt s Book (IblA); Parodica in Prone and

Verse (1876); My Vacation (1876); Vagroni Verse (1889); With Lead and Line (1901), and contributions in prose and verse to magazines. Mr. Webb's reputation as a humorist was gained principallj' by contributions to the New Y'ork Tribune under the signature of "John Paul.''

WEBB, Jamas Watson, soldier and jour- nalist, was born in Claverack, N.Y'., Feb. 8, 180'2; son of Samuel Blatchley and Catherine (Hageboom) Webb. He attended the schools at Cooperstown, N.Y., and in 1819 entered the U.S. army as 2d lieutenant, 4th battalion of artillery; was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1823; became assistant commissary of subsistence in 1824, and was appointed adjutant in 1825. and served under General Scott. He resigned from the army in April, 1827, and removed to New York city, where he was married to Helen Lispenard, daughter of Alexander L. and Sarah (Lispenard) Stewart. He became editor of the New Y'ork Courier and in 1829 purchased the Enquirer, which he merged into the Courier vmder the name Morning Courier and JS'eiv York Enquirer, and this paper became the organ of the Whig party. He established a horse express between New Y^ork and Washington in order to obtain news twenty-four hours in advance of his competitors. In June, 1842. he fought a duel with Thomas F. Marshall of Kentucky, concern- ing an article published by Mr. W^ebb, and in November he was indicted bj' the New Y'ork grand jury, but was pardoned after two weeks' imprisonment. He was engineer-in-chief of the state with the rank of major-general. He was married secondly to Laura Virginia, daughter of Jacob L. Cram of New Y'ork city. In 1849 he was appointed charge d'affaires to Austria by President Taylor, but the nomination was re- jected by the senate, and he returned home in 1850. In June. 1861, he sold the Courier and Enquirer to the New Y'ork World. His applica- tion for an appointment as major-general of volunteers in 1861 was refused by the war depart- ment, and lie declined the appointment of brig- adier-general which was suggested. He was appointed U. S. minister to Brazil by President Lincoln in 1861; secured the settlement of long standing claims, and aided in securing the with- drawal of the French army from Mexico. In 1870 he returned to New York city. He is the author of: Altowan. or Incidents of Life and Ad- venture in the Rocky Mountains (2 vols., 1846); Slai-ery and Its Tendencies (1856); National Cur- rency (1S75V He <lied in New Y'ork. June 7, 1884.

WEBB, Samuel Blatchley, soldier, was born in W^ethersfield,Conn., Dec. 15, 1753; de.scendant of Richard Webb, a native of Dorsetshire, Eng- land, whocame to Cambridge. Mass., in 1626; was a freeman in Boston, Mass., in 1632. and a com-