Silvia and John Webber: Difference between revisions

'''Silvia Hector Webber''' (1807 – ca. 1892) and '''John Fernando Webber''' (ca. 1786–1795 – 1882) were a mixed-race couple who were among the initial settlers in [[Austin's Colony]] in [[Travis County, Texas]]. John, previously a private and a medic during the [[War of 1812]], was the first non-native resident and the founder of Webber's Prairie, where he had established a fort. The town was later named [[Webberville, Texas]]. The Webbers secured the freedom of Silvia and their children ultimately by giving up much of their Webberville property. The family was subject to cruel racial prejudice and their children were unable to attend school with white children. The Webbers hired a live-in private tutor.

 

 

They moved to [[Hidalgo County, Texas]] by the mid-1850s and settled along the [[Rio Grande]]. They are believed to have been conductors on the [[Underground Railroad#South to Florida and Mexico|southern route of the Underground Railroad to Mexico]]. John smuggled tobacco into Northern Mexico, and during those runs, he may have also helped transport enslaved people to freedom in Mexico. Silvia was particularly known for taking-in people in need. The couple also ran a business ferrying people and goods across the Rio Grande from their ranch in Hidalgo County. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the family sided with the [[United States Army]], and two of their sons were captured by the [[Confederate States Army]].

 

==Marriage and children==

 

John Webber was [[Marriage of enslaved people (United States)|married]] to Silvia Hector by 1832,<ref name="TSHA - John" /> 1834,<ref name="TR">{{Cite web |title=Two Men and a Woman |url=https://texasreader.com/2021/02/texas-history-newsletter-two-men-and-a-woman%E3%80%80%E2%80%AF%E2%80%88%E2%80%84%E2%80%8A%E3%80%80%E2%80%82/ |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=Texas Reader, Copano Bay Press}}</ref> or an unknown time,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Silvia Hector Webber, Abolitionist born |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/silvia-hector-webber-abolitionist-born/ |access-date=2023-03-21 |website=African American Registry |language=en}}</ref> by Father [[Michael Muldoon]], according to an affidavit by his widow.<ref name="TSHA - John" /> Interracial marriage was legal in the Mexican state of [[Coahuila y Tejas]].<ref name="TR" />{{efn|In other words, they were either married legally between 1834 and 1836, or they had an unsanctioned religious marriage.<ref name="TSHA - John" /><ref name="TR" />}} By 1834, while still enslaved, Silvia had given birth to three children with John Webber.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hammack |first1=María |title=Freedom Papers. Feature. |date=October 2018 |publisher=Original Records in Box 2H484 |location=The Earl Vandale Collection. The Briscoe Center for American History |url=https://mariaestherhammack.me/814-2/?preview_id=814&preview_nonce=4dc51e3d32&preview=true}}</ref> As most enslaved women, Silvia experienced a complex relationship with John,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stevenson |first1=Brenda |title=What's Love Got to Do With It? Concubinage and Enslaved Women and Girls in the Antebellum South |journal=The Journal of African American History |date=2013 |volume=1 |issue=98 |pages=99–115 |doi=10.5323/jafriamerhist.98.1.0099 |s2cid=149077504 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.5323/jafriamerhist.98.1.0099}}</ref> 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 June 11, 1834.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hammack |first1=María |title="Searching for Silvia" |date=7 February 2022 |url=https://mariaestherhammack.me/814-2/?preview_id=814&preview_nonce=4dc51e3d32&preview=true |publisher=Earl Van Dale Collections |ref=Earl Van Dale Collection, Briscoe Center for American History}}</ref> Their first child, Alcy (also known as Elsie) was born in October 1829. Sons Henry and John Webber were born by 1834.<ref name="TSHA - Silvia" />{{efn|Her name was also spelled Alecy, Alcey, or Elsie.<ref name="TSHA - Silvia" />}}