Webber’s Prairie is a story from Texas history that is generally not known or taught in our traditional history texts. The Webber family experience in Texas is a remarkable blend of history, race relations, and a powerful love story.
John Ferdinand Webber, a private during the War of 1812, was born at Danville Vermont in 1793. After the war, he fell in love with Silvia Hector, and she became pregnant. The problem was she was a slave owned by someone else. John bought Silvia for an exorbitant price. He took his family to Texas in 1826 and purchased land there in 1827. John was looking for an area where free blacks would be more welcome.
The Mexican constitution of 1824 outlawed slavery, and by 1829 many slaves were freed in Mexican territory. However, slavery persisted in the part of Mexico that became Texas. Indeed, the issue of slavery provided part of the economic motivation for Texans to separate from Mexico. Because Webber’s mixed race family did not fit with "society," they located far away from the other colonists.
John and Silvia bought land along the Colorado River that he called Webber's Prairie. Father Michael Muldoon, the only clergyman serving the Austin Colony in Tejas, married John and Sylvia. John filed papers emancipating Silvia and her children in 1834.
The 1840 census listes “Jno F Webber” as owing taxes for 4444 acres of deeded land, 1 white male (poll tax), 5 slaves, and 50 cows. Webber went to the assessor and swore that "all the negroes free" (they were in fact his wife and children). In 1840, the tax records for Travis County lists 315 white males over 21 and 269 slaves.
The 1850 census lists a property valued at $5000 and the following people living in Webber’s home:
| Name | age | sex | Birthplace |
| John F. Webber | 64 | m | Vt |
| Silvia (Black) | 43 | f | Fla |
| Elcy (Mulatto) | 22 | f | Tex |
| Henry (Mulatto) | 18 | m | Tex |
| Leonard (Mulatto) | 14 | m | Tex |
| Sarah (Mulatto) | 12 | f | Tex |
| James (Mulatto) | 10 | m | Tex |
| Wilson (Mulatto) | 8 | m | Tex |
| Sabrina (Mulatto) | 7 | f | Tex |
| Andrew (Mulatto) | 4 | m | Tex |
| John McDivit | 48 | m | Pa |
| Robert G McAdoo | 37 | m | NC |
Since Webber’s children were not welcome at local schools, John and Silvia brought in tutors to teach them. One of the persons listed in 1850 census may be the tutor.
Webber's Prairie became valuable land as more settlers moved into the surrounding area. By 1850, the settlement that is now the Village of Webberville contained two churches, a hotel, two schools, and five stores. The community was on the only road that lead east to the coast from this area.
The Webber's were popular in some circles for their generosity and hospitality, but they were progressively ostracized by "society." Slave owners did not want freed slaves talking to their slaves, and others coveted Webber's Prairie. Webber was forced to sell.
John and Silvia moved to South Texas where they bought a large ranch (Webber's Ranch) along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County in 1853. He was a "Unionist" during the "War of Northern Aggression," and after he and his sons impeded a Confederate attack on Federal troops, the Webber family fled to Mexico until the end of the Civil War. They returned to the ranch after the war where John and Silvia lived until their deaths. John was the first Anglo-American settler in that area. Their ranch and the little community of Donna, Texas attracted a small but important community of free black families.
The current village of Webberville (located on Webber's Prairie) still bears their name.
Sources:
1. Handbook of Texas Online < http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/index.html>
2. Smithwick, Noah; 1984. The evolution of a state, or, Recollections of old Texas days. University of Texas Press.
3. The State of Texas Federal population schedules; seventh census of the United States, 1850. Transcribed by Mrs. V. K. Carpenter. 1969.
