Webb, Henry L.

Born: 1795-02-05 Claverack, New York

Died: 1876 Jackson County, Illinois

Webb, the son of General Samuel B. Webb of the Revolutionary War, moved from New York to Illinois in 1817. He was one of the founders of the town Trinity, in 1817. He owned and operated a hotel and trading business. In 1819, he helped build the town of America. After establishing this town, Webb traveled back to New York, to bring his wife, two daughters, and an enslaved person with him to Illinois. Webb and his family arrived in the town America, in 1820. Upon arrival, Webb freed their enslaved person. In 1820, he was appointed clerk of the County Commissioners Court. Webb was elected into the Illinois House of Representatives for one term, 1824 to 1826, representing Alexander County. After Webb returned from serving in the Illinois House, he was given the sole control of affairs for the town Trinity. While Webb was away on business in 1831, the town Trinity burned down. In 1832, Webb was a captain in the Black Hawk War. After the war, Webb was elected again into the Illinois House of Representatives for one term, 1838 to 1840, representing Alexander County. However, before his term was over, Webb resigned. While serving his last term in the Illinois Legislature, he was elected as county clerk in Alexander County in 1839. Webb fought in the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848, and was made a colonel.

Obituary, New York Herald (New York, NY), 12 October 1876, 10:3; Wm. Hugh Robarts, Mexican War Veterans: A Complete Roster of the Regular and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, from 1846 to 1848 (Washington, DC: Brentano's, 1887), 32; William H. Perrin, ed., History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 2:448-53, 461, 463, 472; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 200, 208.