Silvia and John Webber

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Silvia Hector Webber (1807–ca. 1892) and John Fernando Webber (died 1882) were a mixed-race couple who were among the initial settlers in Austin's Colony in Travis County, Texas. They moved to Hidalgo County, Texas along the Rio Grande and are believed to have been conductors on the Southern route of the Underground Railroad to Mexico.

John Ferdinand Webber[]

John Ferdinand Webber was a white man born in Danville, Vermont.[1] He was born on January 24, 1786,[2] around 1786,[3] in 1794,[4] or around 1795.[1] His parents, Hannah Morrill and John Webber, emigrated from Europe to America.[2][4]

He served from May 23, 1813 to May 31, 1814 as a private and a medic in the War of 1812. He served in the Thirty-first United States Infantry under Captain S. Dickinson and he fought in the battle of Shadage Woods.[3][4]

Silvia Hector[]

Silvia Hector was born into slavery in Spanish West Florida (present day east Louisiana) in 1807. She had been owned by Silas McDaniel of Clark County, Missouri. When she was twelve years old, she was sold to McDaniel's father-in-law, Morgan Cryer, Sr. of Clark County, Arkansas for $550 on March 10, 1819.[5][a]

Based upon records, Silvia likely came to Texas when she was 19 years old in 1826 with John Cryer, who was one of three adult children of Morgan Cryer, Sr. who settled in Mexican Texas. The other two were Kezia Cryer Taylor and Rebecca Cryer Cummins.[5] On March 15, 1826, there were five enslaved people with John Cryer in Austin's register of families. Cryer petitioned for a Mexican land grant as part of Austin's Colony.[5]

Marriage and children[]

He was among the original settlers of Austin's Colony in Mexican-owned Texas. The colony was established by Stephen F. Austin and Webber lived there beginning in 1826.[4] John was a neighbor and business partner of John Cryer,[4][5] briefly smuggling tobacco across Northern Mexico. He met Silvia between 1826 and 1829 and "became infatuated with her."[5][b] Their first child, Alcy, was born in October 1829. Sons Henry and John Webber were born by 1834.[5][c]

Although no marriage record has been found, oral histories suggest that John Webber married Silvia Hector before 1832 in a short ceremony conducted by a catholic priest by the name of Michael Muldoon.[3] By 1834, and still enslaved, Silvia had given birth to three children with John Webber. As most enslaved women, Silvia experienced a complex relationship with John Webber, a white landowner, and yet, together, Silvia and John negotiated the securing of their three children's freedoms and the freedom of Silvia herself by 1834.[7] According to Silvia's freedom papers, rather than money, Cryer hoped negotiated the freedom of Silvia and her three children only in exchange of receiving two young enslaved children. He specified he wanted to receive a boy age 2 and a girl age 3.[5] Silvia and their children were emancipated on June 11, 1834. The Webbers had a total of eleven[3] or 13 children.[5][d]

They hired Robert G. McAdoo to be a live-in tutor for their children,[4] because the Webber children were not allowed to attend the local school because they were of mixed race.[8]

Pioneer farmer[]

Webber's Prairie[]

John owned 2,214 acres of land that became known as Webber's Prairie. He received the land as a headright on June 22, 1832. It is located near the border of Bastrop and Travis Counties border and on the Colorado River.[4][5][e] Around 1832, John built Webber's Fort and stockade on the top of a hill.[6][8][f] He was the first non-native resident on Webber's Prairie in Travis County, Texas, which was named Webberville after him.[3][5] The town of Webberville is on the outskirts of present-day Austin.[5]

Beginning in the 1820s, John traveled to Mexico to sell tobacco.[8] He worked with several partners—John Cryer, Clay Coppedge, and Noah Smithwick—who entered in a partnership together to smuggle tobacco in Mexico, incluing San Fernando, Mexico.[4] He titled himself as Dr. John F. Webber as a front for their key purpose: to surreptitiously sell packets of tobacco.[8]

Interracial couple[]

Silvia was the first free black woman to settle in Webberville and one of the first free black women to settle in Travis County.[5] Initially, they were accepted as a mixed-race couple. Their neighbors treated them with respect. Silvia acquired the nickname Puss[4] and early settlers considered her kind, welcoming and intelligent.[5] Women appreciated her charitable offer of assistance, whatever it may be. She is remembered for taking in and comforting an orphaned child, as well as opening her home to a man disabled with rheumatoid arthritis for years.[8]

When white women visited her house, she served them while they ate, but she and her children did not eat with them. When women offered to return the favor, she ate alone in their kitchen.[8] Due to prejudice, free blacks like Silvia were not welcome among enslaved black people.[8]

In 1836, the Republic of Texas was established following the Texas Revolution. Its constitution took away the rights and freedoms that blacks had under Mexican rule and outlawed interracial marriage.[5] As more people from the Deep South moved into the area in the 1840s, Silvia and their children experienced "cruel prejudice and discriminatory treatment".[3][4] The new Webber's Prairie settlers wanted to "rid the settlement of its founder and his family of mullato [sic] offspring".[4] Webber was also afraid that Blackbirders would kidnap his family members and sell them into slavery.[9]

Along the Rio Grande[]

They were accepted among Mexican American families[1] and relocated to what is now southern Texas near the border of Texas and Mexico (the Rio Grande). They had a 8,856-acre ranch, six miles east of Hidalgo, in what was the Porción Agostadero del Gato land grant.[5] They also established a homestead south of the town of Donna on the banks of the Rio Grande,[4][5] across the river from Reynosa, Mexico.[4] They established and ran a ferry from their land on Webber's Ranch and across the river to transport goods for their trading business.[4][5] His cousins—Peter, John, and Andrew Webber—went on trading journeys with him. To assimilate better while trading in Mexico, he changed his name to Juan Fernando Webber. He also bought property from the La Blanca land grant.[4]

Underground Railroad[]

Silvia and John were anti-slavery advocates and Unionists.[3][5] They offered a safe haven to freedom seekers bound for Mexico. Silvia was known to be charitable to anyone that needed assistance. She and her family fed and provided shelter and asylum to runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad that led to Mexico. They used their ferry to deliver freedom seekers across the Rio Grande. Their neighbors, Matilda and Nathaniel Jackson also helped people escaping slavery.[5]

See also: Underground Railroad § South to Mexico

Civil War[]

Unlike most of their neighbors, the Webbers were sympathetic to the Union Army[6] during the Civil War. The Confederate States Army occupied the Rio Grande Valley and they were persecuted for their position against the Confederacy and were driven off their land.[3][5]

According to Colonel John Salmon Ford, the Webbers "closed the doors [on his soldiers] and refused admission until [Colonel] Ford came". The Webber sons made difficulties for the Confederate troops, who captured two of John's sons. One of the Webber men escaped and went to Fort Brown to notify the Union Army soldiers that Ford had 60 soldiers.[4] The family fled to Mexico and did not return until May 1865[2][3] at the end of the war[4][9] or in 1882 before John's death.[5]

Later years and death[]

In 1872, John received a pension from the United States. He died on July 19, 1882 in his home. He was buried in the Webber Cemetery in Hidalgo County, near Donna, Texas. Silvia died around 1892[3][5] or one year earlier.[2]

Legacy[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ During the American Revolutionary War, the Cryers lived on a plantation in South Carolina. They moved to Georgia, which is where Silas McDaniel married the daughter of Morgan Cryer, Sr. They then moved to Spanish West Florida in 1806. The Cryers moved to Arkansas and Missouri Territory in 1815. The surname is also spelled Crier in records.[5]
  2. ^ He was not her owner.[6]
  3. ^ Her name was also spelled Alecy, Alcey, or Elsie.[5]
  4. ^ The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley states that there children are:[1]
    • Elise Webber Jackson, daughter. (1829 – 1900)
    • Henry Webber, son. (1832 – Unknown)
    • John Webber, son. (1834 – Unknown)
    • Leonard Webber, son. (1836 – Unknown)
    • Sarah Jane Webber Biddy, daughter. (1838 – 1911)
    • James Morrill Webber, son. (1839 – 1922)
    • Santiago James Webber (c. 1840 - 1920)
    • Nelson/Wilson Webber, son. (1842 – Unknown)
    • Sabrina Webber, daughter. (1848 – Unknown)
    • Andrew Webber, son. (1846 – Unknown)
    • Rachel Amanda Webber, daughter. (1851 – 1903)
    • Jeremiah Marcelino Webber, son. (1853 – 1903)
  5. ^ The African American Registry states that they lived in Well's Prairie, which became Webberville—and it also mentioned that the Webbers lived on Webber's Prairie.[2]
  6. ^ Remnants of the site include bricks from an old house foundation and a large cistern.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Webber Family, Special Collections & University Archives, LibGuides". University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. July 2, 2021. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  2. ^ a b c d e "John F. Webber born". African American Registry. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Muir, Andrew F. "Webber, John Ferdinand". Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Bacha-Garza, Roseann; Miller, Christopher L.; Skowronek, Russell K. (2019-01-23). The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876. Texas A&M University Press. pp. 92–94. ISBN 978-1-62349-720-0.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Hammack, Maria Ester. "Webber, Silvia Hector [Aunt Puss]". Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
  6. ^ a b c d Nichols, Lee; Fri.; June 6; 2008 (June 6, 2008). "From Prairie to Settlement to Village". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 2021-07-04.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Webber, John & Silvia. "Freedom Papers". Earl Van Dale Collection, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Zelade, Richard (2011-05-16). Lone Star Travel Guide to Central Texas. Taylor Trade Publications. p. 293. ISBN 978-1-58979-608-9.
  9. ^ a b Zelade, Richard (2011-05-16). Lone Star Travel Guide to Central Texas. Taylor Trade Publications. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-58979-608-9.
  10. ^ Bird, Tyson (January 28, 2021). "The Little Known History of Texas' Underground Railroad". Texas Highways. Retrieved 2021-07-05.


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