Robert William Webb

            ROBERT WILLIAM WEBB is one of the prominent realtors of the City of Anderson, carrying on a business which was founded by his father and to which Mr. Webb has given a broad extension of its service in keeping with the trend of the times.

            Mr. Webb was born November 11, 1882, at Moss Island in Anderson Township, Madison County, Indiana, son of James L. Webb and grandson of William Webb. William Webb, a native of Virginia, came to Indian and first located in Fayette County, where he was on of the pioneers. He secured a tract of land near the present site of Connersville, and after many years had cleared away the timber and had put a large area under cultivation. He also erected good frame buildings, and was one of the prosperous citizens of that locality until his death, April 21, 1871. His first wife and the grandmother of Robert W. Webb was Rebecca Young, who was born May 14, 1820, and died August 15, 1857.

            James L. Webb was born on a farm near Connersville in Fayette County, April 21, 1849. He had the advantages of rural schools, and helped his father on the farm until he was about fifteen. He ran away from home to get into the Union army, was accepted as a soldier and remained with the colors until after the close of the war. On getting his honorable discharge he returned home and learned the trade of blacksmith. He then moved to Madison County, and after his marriage, in 1873, worked for two years at his trade at Waterloo in Fayette County. For a short time he was at Perkinsville in Madison County and Frankton in the same county, and then moved to the Moss Island locality, where he put up a home and where he followed his trade. For several years he was also a traveling salesman for harvesting machinery, representing the Deering Company, and on giving up this work entered the real estate business at Anderson and conducted it until his death in 1912. Among other activities he was a competent veterinary surgeon.

            James L. Webb married in March 1873, Sarah Elizabeth Cather. She was born on a farm in Anderson Township, September 17, 1850, daughter of Robert Cather, Jr., who was born near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and granddaughter of Robert Cather, Sr. Her grandfather was a native of Ireland, but of English ancestry. The name Cather is said to have been derived from the Greek word Katheros. Members of the Cather family fought under Cromwell and when the great protector’s government collapsed the Cathers fled to Ireland. Robert Cather, Sr., was a teacher in Ireland and also taught after coming to this country. He lived for a time at Fredericksburg, Virginia, afterwards went to Ohio and in 1836 moved to Indiana and was one of the early settlers in Madison County. Here he entered Government land, part of which he improved, and he made a farm which continued to be his home for the rest of his life. Indiana, when he first saw it. Was a very sparsely settled region and much of the land was for sale by the Government at $1.25 an acre. Robert Cather, Jr., succeeded to the ownership of ninety-six acres of the old homestead. On this he erected a commodious hewed log house, which he later plastered and weather boarded and also put up a frame addition. He lived there until about ten years before his death, at the age of seventy-five, having spent the latter years of his life among his children in Anderson, Indiana, and Bakersfield, California. He passed away in Anderson, Indiana. His wife was Elizabeth Ann Arbagast, whose parents were early settlers in Madison County. She died at the age of sixty-four.

            Mr. and Mrs. James L. Webb had a family of nine children: Anna, who died in infancy, Mary, Charles Lewis, Robert William, Jessie, Fred Grant, James Blaine, Margaret and Oliver. Mary is the wife of James Reed and lives in the State of Washington. Jessie married frank Starr, of Anderson, and Margaret is the wife of Howard Barnhizer, of Anderson. Mrs. James L. Webb is still living and in 1929 she built a fine country home on the old home place at Moss Island.

            Robert William Webb had the advantages of the public schools. He was doing work in his tender years, and when he left home he found employment on a dairy farm, getting six dollars and board a month. He left there to go into the plant of the Longnecher Window Shade Factory, where his salary was five dollars a week, and out of this he paid his mother three dollars a week for board. The next employment was with the Buckeye Manufacturing Company, in the shoe heel department. Then, as now, there came dull periods to industry and when he was out of work he occupied himself with whatever he could find to do. After the factory shut down he became a helper in the reconstruction of a bridge across the White River on Moss Island. Mr. Webb for a long time was connected with the Ames Shovel & Tool Company. He was first paid seventy-five cents a day at the plant, but his wages were advanced and he remained there for thirteen consecutive years. In 1907, when he married, he moved with his wife to Denver, Colorado, and for a year was in the employ of the Albert Secrest Company, manufacturers of electric light fixtures and art glass shades, with which department he was connected. Mr. Webb in 1908 returned to Anderson, and resumed his work with the Ames Shovel & Tool Company. In 1912 he again went to Denver, and was given a place as salesman in a retail shoe store. Two days after he began work he received a telegram announcing the death of his father.

            He immediately returned to Anderson and succeeded to the real estate and insurance business his father had founded. He has been occupied with this ever since, and has developed a very successful business organization, and through it he has given an active influence in many ways to the progress of the community.

            Mr. Webb assisted in organizing and is a charter member of the Anderson Real Estate Board, which is affiliated with the Indiana, the National and International Real Estate Boards. He was also one of the organizers of the Anderson Real Estate Association. He was one of the organizers and is a charter member of the American Standard Savings and Loan Association. He was one of the organizers of the Anderson Optimist Club, of which he served as its first president for a year and a half. Mr. Webb in 1925 was elected a member at large of the City Council and in 1927 became a member of the board of public works of the city.

            He married, October 3, 1907, Miss Margaret Houston, daughter of James and Agnes Houston. Her parents were born in Scotland and after coming to the Untied States lived in several localities until eventually they moved to Denver, Colorado. Her father was a tinsmith, and was in that business until his death. Her mother now makes her home in Anderson, Indiana.

Source: Indiana One Hundred and Fifty Years of American Development . The Lewis Publishing Co., 1931. Volume IV, page 57,  58.