Surname Saturday ~ WEBB of Salem

Salem, 1700

WEBB

Jonathan Webb (1690 – 1765), my 7^th great grandfather, is another brickwall ancestor.  There are many possible WEBB families in the area from whom he might descend.  Several online trees have him as the son of John Webb and Susannah Cunliffe of Northampton, Massachusetts, which is very far from Salem, Massachusetts where Jonathan lived and died.  There were several possible Webbs right in Salem including a John Webb who bought land in 1669.  But now his ancestry is a mystery.

Jonathan Webb was a “coaster”, which meant he sailed fishing small boats up and down the coast of Massachusetts and New England.  He owned a house at the corner of Derby and Hardy Streets in Salem.  I find this amazing because the family continued to live in this neighborhood until my great grandfather was born!  He was also a deacon at the East Society church, where Rev. William Bentley would have his famous diary a few generations later.  The East Society church stood on Essex Street. 

His daughter, Mary (1724 – 1790), is my 6^th great grandmother.  She married Joseph Cloutman and they lived on Webb Street, named after her father’s land.  Webb Street is still in existence in Salem,  at the end of Essex Street, near Collins Cove.   There are several streets in this area named after my ancestors- Webb, Boardman, Becket,  Lemon, and Beadle Lane which is now called Pleasant Street in Salem.

My sources for this information on Jonathan Webb come from The Essex Antiquarian, Volume 23, page 71 (property information), The Essex County Registry of Deeds, book 115, leaf 76, and the book The Driver Family: A genealogical memoir of the descendants of Robert and Phebe Driver of Lynn, Mass. , by Harriet Ruth (Waters) Cooke, 1889 (which is also available online at archive.org and at Google Book search).

My WEBB genealogy:

Generation 1:   Jonathan Webb, born about 1690, died before 1765; married on 23 March 1714 in Salem, Massachusetts to Priscilla Bray, daughter of Robert Bray and Christian Collins.  She was born 11 March 1690 in Salem and died after 4 Feb 1767.  Nine children.

Generation 2:  Mary Webb, born 17 December 1724 in Salem, died 21 March 1790 in Salem; married on 16 June 1747 in Salem to Joseph Cloutman, son of Joseph Cloutman and Mary Peters. He was born about 1720.  Four children.

Generation 3:  Joseph Cloutman m. Hannah Becket

Generation 4:  Mary Cloutman m. Abijah Hitchings

Generation 5:  Abijah Hitchings m. Eliza Ann Treadwell

Generation 6:  Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 7:  Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ WEBB of Salem", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 8, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/surname-saturday-webb-of-salem.html: accessed [access date]).