Webster, Samuel

Flourished: Carlyle, Illinois

Webster was a land owner and public official in Clinton County, Illinois. He immigrated from England to the United States sometime in the late 1820s. He eventually found his way to Clinton County. In 1836 and 1837, he purchased 153 acres of public land near Carlyle. In September 1840, he became the first naturalized citizen in Clinton County. Politically, Webster embraced the Whig Party, and in June 1840, he represented Clinton County at the Whig State Convention in Springfield. He served as county treasurer and assessor from 1847 to 1855.

Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Clinton County, 145:168, 325:35, 38, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; History of Marion and Clinton Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brinks, McDonough, 1881), 62, 92; Martha McNiell Davidson, "Southern Illinois and Neighboring States at the Whig Convention of 1840," Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for the Year 1914 (Springfield: Illinois State Journal, 1915), 157.