Sarah Ann James Webb

Sarah James’ birth of May 2, 1830 is recorded in an old family Bible. She was the daughter of Orpha Bates James and James James.  It is stated in “The History of Coles County” published in 1879 that Miss Orpha Bates became the bride of James James and theirs was the first wedding in a settlement called Parker’s Prairie Illinois. James and Orpha’s marriage license was the first recorded license in Cole County Illinois. Orpha and James James also had a son Carson Bates James born in Illinois. The family sold their land in 1832 and headed for Texas.

It is believed James James on his second trip to Texas was killed near the Red River in an Indian skirmish.

Orpha was sworn into Robertson’s Colony on January 14, 1836 along with her two children, stating that Sarah was 6 and her brother Carson was 4.

On the 1850 census, Sarah was in the home of her uncle Silas Bates along with her brother and her grandfather, Seth Hurin Bates. This census along with the ones that followed record Sarah as deaf.

As Sarah and her family traveled from Illinois, it is thought that they may have gotten acquainted with the Benjamin Webb family.  The Webb family traveled to Texas along with the James’ and the other Illinois families, which included Sarah’s grandfather, Seth H. Bates, and her uncle, Silas Bates.

Sarah married John C. Webb, the son of Benjamin Webb.  Together they had six children; Elisha, Emiline, John, Effie, Orpha & Alphonso. 

Sarah passed away on September 1, 1898 and is buried in the Fort Parker Cemetery next to her husband John C. who passed away in May of 1907 and close to her grandfather, Seth H Bates, and her stepfather, Elisha Anglin.