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Article from William Richard Cutter’s "Genealogical and Personal Memoirs", Lewis Historical Publishing Company (1908)
WEBBER - Something like thirty or forty years ago, in the latter part of the last century, almost every person bearing the surname Webber (or Weber) was given to understand that all of the Webbers in America were descendants of one Wolfert Webber, deceased, remotely of Amsterdam, Holland, and as such were entitled to share in the distribution of vast estates in lands and equally vast sums of money in both this country and Europe. That there was such a man as Wolfert Webber in Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century here is no doubt, and it is an equally well settle fact that the son of this Wolfert came from Amsterdam in Holland to New Amsterdam (New York) in or about the year 1633, in company with the Dutch Governor Van Twiller.
In her somewhat voluminous history of New York, published something more than a quarter of a century ago, Mrs. Martha J. Lamb mentions the original grant in 1636 of a famous Anneke Jans estate and Trinity Church property as being granted to Roelof Jansen (or Jans), the first husband of Anetje (or Anneka) Jans, whose family name was Webber, and comprising sixty-two acres of land. It is claimed that this land originally was granted to Wolfert Webber, Jr., and by him was subsequently conveyed to his Aunt Anneke. The same writer also speaks of the death of Roelof Jans, leaving a wife and several children, and the subsequent marriage of his widow in 1638 to the Rev. Everardus Bogardus.
In this connection the following extract from Harper's Weekly (November 8, 1873) will be found of interest: "About the middle of the seventeenth century one Sarah Webber died in Holland, bequeathing property then valued at 36,000 [pounds] to her heirs; but the property was to be invested at compound interest until the third generation thereafter should ap.pear upon the stage of life." In the same year a Chicago paper published the following interesting article of news bearing on the famous Webber millions: "Sarah and Wolfert Webber and Wintie Sybrants Brower died in Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century, leaving a considerable number of heirs and a large amount of property. They also left wills bequeathing their possessions to their heirs, but in the course of a generation or two these important documents became lost in some of the musty cobweb courts of Dykeland. Recently and while exploration were being made in the interest of the Anneke Jans heirs (who it ap.pears are identical with the Webber and Brower heirs) the long lost wills were found, and it was discovered that about $70,000,000 were awaiting lawful claimants in Holland".
It is not the purpose of the foregoing paragraphs to attempt to awaken a new interest in the matter of reasserting claims to the vast estate said to have been awaiting distribution among the numerous Webber families in America, but rather to recall the name and something of the especial celebrity of him who has been represented as the common ancestor of the Webbers of New York and New England. Whatever measure of credence is to be given tot he claim that the Webbers of all the various branches of that numerous family in America are descendants of Wolfert Webber of Amsterdam is questionable; but it is nevertheless true that the American Webbers are nearly if not quite all descendants of remote Holland Dutch stock, although some of the immigrant ancestors may have embarked from America from English and other foreign ports than those of Holland.
The immigrant ancestor of the particular branch of the Webber family proposed to be treated in this place is believed to have sailed from England, although he may have been and probably was a descendant of Dutch ancestors. Thomas Webber (1), the immigrant ancestor of the family under present consideration and whose descendants are now well scattered throughout New England, was master and part owner of the ship "Mayflower" but whether this was the ship which brought over the Pilgrim fathers is not definitely known. On this point the recent admirable work entitled "The May-Flower and Her Log", 1901, has this to say:
"October 6, 1652, Thomas Webber, Mr. of the good shipp called the Mayflower of the hurden of Two hundred Tuns or there abouts***** Riding at Anchor in the Harbor of Boston, sold one-sixteenth of the ship fro good & valuable Consideracons to Mr. John Pinchon of Springfield Mrchant.
The next day, October 7, 1652, the same "Thomas Webber, Mr. of the good Shipp called the MayFlower of Boston in New England now bound bor the barbados and thence to London," acknowledges and indebtedness to Theodore Atkinson, a wealthy hatter, felt-maker, and merchant of Boston, and the same day, (October 7, 1652), the said "Thomas kWebber, Mar. of the good shipp called the May-Flower of the burthen of Two hundred tunds or there abouts, sold unto Theodore Atkinson felt maker one-sixteenth part as well of asis Shipp as of all & singular of her masts Sails Sailyards Anchors Cables Ropes Cords Guns Gunpowder Shott Artillery Tackle Munition apparrell boate skiffe and furniture to the same belonging."
"It is of course possible," says the same authority, "that this was the historic ship, though, if so, reappearing twenty-two years after her last know voyage to New England. If the same, she was apparently under both new master and owner. From the facts that she is called 'of Boston in New England' and was trading between that port, 'Barbados,' and London, it is not impossible that she may have been built at Boston--a sort of namesake descendant of the historic ship--and was that May-Flower mentioned as belonging, in 1657, to Mr. Samuel Vassall, as he had large interests alike in Boston, Barbados and London. Masters of vessels were often empowered to sell their ships or shares in them."
It appears therefore that Thomas Webber, the master and part owner of the ship "May-Flower," was the ancestor of perhaps the most numerous branch of the New England family of Webbers. He was one of the early settlers of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was of Boston in 1643 and joined the church there in March, 1644. Subsequently he removed to what now is Kennebunkport Maine, whither others of the family name soon follow him; but in 1676 he was back in Charlestown, Massachusetts, doubtless on account of the widespread ravages of King Philip's war, and in 1681 his widow received a grant of land in the town last mentioned. The first wife of Thomas Webber was Sarah_______, and his second wife was Mary Parker, a sister of John Parker. It is evident that Thomas Webber married his first and probably his second wife in England, for his second son Michael Webber, was born there in 1639 and became progenitor of the Webber family of Gloucester, Massachusetts.
In history Michael is treated as the immigrant ancestor of his own branch of the family, and whatever is there said of him and his descendants is taken from the exhaustive genealogical records begun by the late General John Webber and carried to completion by his son, the late John Somes Webber, of Gloucester.
The children of Thomas Webber, the immigrant ancestor, were: l. Thomas, baptized February 2, 1650-51, removed to Falmouth, Maine. 2. Michael, born 1639, progenitor of the Gloucester Webbers. 3. Sarah, born 1643, baptized December 8, 1644. 4. Bathsheba, baptized September 24, 1648, aged three days. 5. Mehitable, born June 10, 1652, died young. 6. Samuel, of Falmouth, Maine. 7. Richard, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 8 Joseph of whom mention is made is made in his fathers record.
(II) Michael Webber, son of Thomas Webber, born in England in 1639, died in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1729, at the age of ninety years. The baptismal robe under which he was christened is now in possession of the widow of his descendant, John Somes Webber. The children of Michael Webber are mentioned at length in the history of his family in this work and to which reference has been made, and among them were sons Samuel, Michael and James.
(III) Samuel Webber, son of Michael Webber, lived and owned land near Goose Cove in the old town of Gloucester. He sold his land there to one Thomas Riggs and in 1681 was living in Falmouth (now Portland), Maine. In 1692 he was a witness at the trial of the Rev. George Burroughts in Salem, who was charged with the heresy of witchcraft, and testified to the great physical strength of the accused minister. He was again in Gloucester in 1695, but removed to York, Maine, before 1700.
(IV) Samuel Webber, son of Samuel Webber, who is mentioned in the preceding paragraph, married Elizabeth Young, daughter of Rowland Young, of York, Maine, in which town he afterward lived. His children by his wife Elizabeth were: Elizabeth, born 1705; Samuel, 1708; Mary, 1710; Gershom, 1712; Mercy 1716; Abigail, 1718; Sarah, 1720; Nathaniel, 1722; Joseph, 1727; and Paul, 1729
Rowland Young, who is mentioned above as the father of Elizabeth Young, who became the wife of Samuel Webber, made a provision in his will that his sons, to whom he devised his estate in lands, should not dispose of the same outside of their own Young family. His father, also Rowland Young, was one of those who signed the submission to the sovereignty of Massachusetts in 1652. He is said to have been of Scotch birth and ancestry and on coming to New England settled among his countrymen in "Scotland," in that sea-girt old town. His wife's name was Susanna. The younger Rowland Young's wife's name was Joanna.
(V) Paul Webber, youngest of the children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Young) Webber, was born in 1729. The records of his life and marriage are very meager indeed, and little is known of him except that he was commonly known as Captain Paul Webber, on account of his service during the French and Indian war and perhaps during the revolution which followed. Tradition has it that he was a man of considerable consequence in public affairs and filled positions of responsibility. He married and had children, and among the latter was a daughter Olive, who become the first wife of Jonathan Porter Lambert.
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