Professor ALONZO C. WEBB. Inheriting from his mother artistic tastes and talent, and from is father an ardent love of nature in all her varied forms, Professor Alonzo C. WEBB, supervisor of drawing in the public schools of Nashville, is widely and favorably known as an artist, an ornithologist, and as a lecturer on birds, their habits and habitat. His keen powers of observation have made him familiar with the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and his lectures and writings have aroused an interest that has led to the creation of state laws destined to protect the lives of birds and animals. A son of Hannibal WEBB he was born in Chariton, Lucas county, Iowa, of pioneer stock.
His paternal grandfather, Acahel WEBB, was born in North Carolina, but further than that little is known of his early life. He must surely have had a strong liking for frontier life, for when a young man, in the early part of the nineteenth century, he migrated to Tennessee, settling in Warren county as a pioneer. A few years later, accompanied by his family, he went on a flat boat down the Cumberland and Ohio rivers to southern Illinois, which was then in its primitive condition, with settlements few and far between. Again seized by the wanderlust, he started westward with his wife and children, pushing his way onward to Missouri, where he spent his remaining days, dying while yet a comparatively young man. His wife, whose maiden name was Betsey LEAKY, was born near Huntsville, Alabama, where her father was a wealthy planter. Left a widow with a large family to care for, and with exceedingly limited means, she proved equal to the occasion, rearing her children to habits of industry, and keeping them together until they were all grown, married, and had good homes of their own. She spent her closing years with her children, passing away at a ripe old age.
Hannibal WEBB, one of the older children of the parental household, was born in McMinnville, Warren county, Tennessee, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. Going while a young man to Iowa, which was then on the extreme western frontier, he lived for awhile in Jefferson county, from there moving with ox teams to Lucas county, in the southwestern part of the state. At that early day there were no railroads west of the Mississippi, the nearest market places being at points on the Missouri and Des Moines rivers. Nearly all of western Iowa was then owned by the government, and deer and other kinds of game were plentiful, roaming at will through the country. He bought a tract of wild land, and was there employed in improving it until 1867, when he returned to Jefferson county, bought a partly improved farm, on which he subsequently lived and labored until his death, at the age of sixty-eight years. He married Mary Jane HOOPES, who was born in western Ohio, a daughter of Elijah and Eliza (Armstrong) HOOPES. She died at the age of fifty years, leaving six children, as follows:Alice, Alonzo C., Lizzie C., Emma, Luella, and Lottie.
As a boy and youth Alonzo C. WEBB received excellent educational advantages, attending first the public schools, later continuing his studies at different academical institutions, completing them at the Western Normal College, in Bushnell, Illinois. Thus equipped for his future career, Professor WEBB came to Nashville and established an Art Institute, and has since remained in this city, for the past twenty years having held the responsible position of supervisor of drawing and penmanship in the public schools, a record of service that bespeaks in no uncertain terms of his artistic and executive qualifications and ability.
Not only an artist, a naturalist, and an ornithologist, the Professor takes a deep interest in everything pertaining to agriculture, and is known as a scientific and progressive farmer, his estate of four hundred acres, situated five miles out from the city, being carried on after the most approved modern methods.
Professor WEBB married, December, 1884, Ellen HANOR, who was born near Bowling Green, Kentucky, a daughter of Henry and Susanna HANOR. Four children have been born of the union of Professor and Mrs. WEBB, namely: Alonzo C. and Hanor A., twins; Susanna, and Ellenna. Fraternally Professor WEBB is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of the Knights of Pythias; and of the Improved Order of Bed Men. He likewise belongs to the Nashville Board of Trade. Religiously he is a communicant at the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mrs. WEBB and the children are members of the Baptist church.
Source: Hale, Will T, and Dixon L. Merritt. A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities. Chicago: Lewis Pub. Company, 1913. Volume 4, pg. 855-856.
