James Montgomery Jim Webb

James Montgomery Jim Webb James Montgomery Webb

From left are William Franklin Webb, James Montgomery "Jim" Webb", Kate Webb, Mare Esta "Mutt" Webb, Lydia Ann "Lilly" Bowen Webb, Martha Melverdie Webb. (Photo supplied by Marilyn Dickson)

Jim was one of the middle children of William Jefferson "Billy" Webb and Nettie Reich Webb. He was born on December 9, 1856, in Marion County, Alabama. Whether or not he was really born in Marion County is up for debate I guess since even Jim wasn't sure! For most of his life he said that he was born in Mississippi when the census man came around, but later in his life he told them Alabama consistently. Regardless, he was born somewhere between the Clay Community in Itawamba County and Pikesville in Marion County. He had a number of older and younger siblings and grew up in the area around the Clay Community, west of Tremont.

When he was 25 years old, on November 28, 1882, he married Lydia Ann "Lilly" Bowen. She was a few months older than him (born February 19, 1856, in North Carolina) and was the daughter of William Darden Bowen and Mary D. Collins Bowen. After about four years, the young couple had their first child and only boy, George William Franklin Webb, in 1886. They had a daughter named Kate in 1889 also. The 1890 census is lost to us, but they were recorded that year on a tax list:

1890 Itawamba County; Mississippi State Tax List
Webb, J.M.; page 79; Fulton

Later that year, they had another daughter, Mary Esta Webb, known almost universally as "Mutt". Then in October of 1892, they had their last child, a daughter named Martha Melvertie Webb. Jim was a farmer in his younger years, and the census tells us that is what he was primarily doing until later in his life.

In about 1899, Lilly was crossing a split-rail fence one day when the top rail broke and she fell. This normally wouldn't have been such a big thing, but Lilly landed in a way that she broke her back. For the rest of her life she was in poor health as a result of this and though it was not the cause of her death, it did contribute to her ill health the rest of her days. That next year the census found the family like this:

1900 Itawamba Co. Census.
Page 238B HH # 230
Webb, James M. Head W M Jan. 1858 42 M 17 MS, TN, TN Farmer Can read & write
Webb, Lilley A. Wife W F Feb. 1856 44 M 17 (4 of 4 children still living) NC, VA, VA Can read & write
Webb, George W. F. Son W M July 1886 15 S MS, MS, NC Farm Laborer Can read & write
Webb, Katty Dau. W F Feb. 1889 11 S MS, MS, NC Can read & write
Webb, Mary E. Dau. W F Sept. 1890 9 S MS, MS, NC
Webb, Martha Dau. W F Oct. 1892 7 S MS, MS, NC

The 1908 school census and 1910 federal census found them in this way:

1908 Itawamba County House-to-House School Census
Webb, J.M.
Katie 18 f
Ester 16 f
Melverta 15 f

1910 Clay Prct. Beat 5. Itawamba Co. Ms.
DW#109/109
James M. Webb 52 mar1 27yrs. MS MS NC
Lydia A. 54 mar1 27yrs. 4kids 4liv. Nc Mexico(English) Nc
George W. 23 Ms MS NC
Kate 21 MS MS NC
Ester 19 MS MS NC
Margaret 17 MS MS NC

All the children grew up and one by one married and moved away, except for Mutt. She took care of her mother and father and never married. She was very well known around the community and strong willed. When Jim quit farming he opened up a general goods store on the side of highway 78 in the Clay Community, just east of Fulton. It was a good business and Jim became well known for it.

The 1920 census found the three of them together:

1920 Itawamba County, Mississippi Census
Page 273A
Webb, James M. 63 AL AL IN (owns)
Webb, Lydia A. 62 SC SC SC
Webb, Mary A. 28 dau. MS AL SC

But in 1927, Lydia's ill health finally caught up with her and she passed away. She was buried in the Clover-Ridge Cemetery. Three years later, the census found Jim and Mutt together:

1930 Itawamba County, Mississippi Census
Part of Beat 5; Bankhead Highway; Page 228B; Household #44/46
Webb, James M. Head Rents M W 71 Widowed Can read and write AL TN NC Merchant
Webb, Mary E. Dau. F W 38 Single Can read and write MS AL SC

Though we are not sure why, Jim at one point ca. 1935 became ill and actually had the money to travel to Memphis to be treated by doctors there, a feat that very few of the folks in those day had the ability to do. The paper mentioned it when he returned:

Fulton News Beacon
June 27, 1935
Clay News: Mr. J.M. Webb returned home Saturday from the Memphis Hospital.
(also) Mr. and Mrs. Yancy Pierce spent Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Webb.

These were the years that most people alive today remembered Jim in. As an older widowed man, he was quite peculiar in some ways, but he sure loved his grandkids. As a business man he was very honest. He paid every penny that he owed to anyone else, but he also wanted every penny that was owed to him! I have seen an advertisement for Silver Fox Flour in 1938 in the Fulton News Beacon where his store was mentioned as one of the ones that sold that product in the Fulton area, but I've never seen an advertisement from his store alone.

Big tree at Jim Webb's house

He was known in his later years to sit outside underneath a huge old tree in his front yard that he used to take a 'siesta' under every day while sitting up straight in a straight-backed chair. He made quite a sight given his big white beard. Once a family pulled up for gas at the store and when their little boy saw Jim he was startled and screamed "Look! That's Santy Clause!" When they finally cut that big old tree down, much hubbub was made about it. Photographers came out and took pictures, and the one in this page's title was made with old Jim sitting on top with his beard flowing. Another picture is seen to the side here with Mutt standing in front of it and some other unknown folks on and around it.

Jim was a very private person and tight-lipped also. He didn't mind asking other folks things, but when someone asked him one they usually got either a smart answer or none at all. Once, Trelbie Sims Webb met Jim when Jim had just come back from fishing on Lick Skillet Creek. Jim had a big old channel cat, and Trelbie asked where he caught it, probably to figure out where would be a good place to fish for himself in the future. Jim slapped the fish down on the ground and pointed down, saying "right there. In its mouth."

Jim really liked to hunt too, and he once had a turkey that he had been tracking for a few days. His nephew Brove Franks was hunting too and shot that turkey. When Jim found out, he decided to get back at Brove. He made some stilts and got up on them and started making lots of real funny tracks around that same area. Brove found them and started telling folks that there was some weird new animal that he was tracking. Jim got him back pretty good.

I've seen a lunacy case in the Itawamba Chancery Court files vs. Jim Webb from 1937, and this Jim Webb was probably the best known one at that time in the area, but I've seen nothing else that would indicate it was him for certain. I've been told that Mutt ran the store practically by herself in his later years, but I don't know exaclty when it closed down.

Jim passed away in 1943 at the age of 86. He was buried beside Lydia at the Clover-Ridge Cemetery.

Descendants of James Montgomery "Jim" Webb

William Franklin Webb (md. Jessie Pearl Harden and lived in the Clay community of Itawamba County all his life, dying at the age of 61)

Kate Webb (md. Harbert Virgil Truelove and lived her entire life in Itawamba County, dying at age 77)

Mary Esta "Mutt" Webb (never married; died at age 77, living her whole life in Clay, Itawamba County, Mississippi)

Martha Melvertie Webb (md. Curtis Wesley Maddox and died at the age of 85)

Back to William Jefferson "Billy" Webb (father)
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