Christopher C. Webber, deceased, was born in Genesee Co., N. Y., March 1, 1810, and died at his home in Rock Island city, March 5, 1865. His parents, William and Betsey (Kemp) Webber, natives of New England, and of Holland-Dutch extraction, removed from New York State to Michigan while the subject of this sketch was very young, and there
spent the rest of their lives.
Young Mr. Webber received a common-school education, and at the age of 17 years made his way to Geneseo, 111., where, in company with an older brother, he was several years engaged in the drygoods business. From Geneseo he came to Rock Island in the year 1849, and here carried on a general store for a few years. In 1850, at the head of the firm of C. C. Webber & Co., he organized and put into operation the " Union Foundry," in a frame structure, and the first foundry put up in this city.
The building was destroyed by fire, probably the same year it was started, and the company proceeded at once to erect a brick edifice, with much larger capacity than the first. At about the same time, foundries were planted at Davenport and Moline, and while there was abundance of business for all the concerns, a great rivalry was engendered, and the competition was carried possibly to an unprofitable degree. However, the "Union Works" held their own, and ran along with varying success until the great financial depression of 1857. Either in that year or soon afterwards, Mr. Webber withdrew from the company and in 1862 became a partner with Deere & Co., Moline, adding to that already extensive manufactory of agricultural implements the making of improved cultivators.
The history of the Deere & Company Plow Works will be handed down to posterity, and will show it to be one of the greatest enterprises of its character in the United States; and Mr. Webber, who remained with it till his death, will be remembered as more than an ordinary factor in its greatest achievements. He began life as a farmer's boy, and worked his way to success, depending always upon his individual resources, and proving himself capable at all times of meeting successfully the exigencies of the occasion. He was rather retiring in his disposition, sought no publicity, and preferred only the excitement of active business. At the time of his death he was representing his Ward as Alderman in the Rock Island City Council, and this was the only public office he had ever consented to fill.
Dec. 17, 1851, Mr. Webber was united in marriage, at Moline, to Ellen S., daughter of the Hon. John Deere, and had born to him six children : Ada L., wife of William G. Mixter, Professor of Chemistry at Yale College ; Grace E., wife of B. G. Keator, of Moline; Alice F., Charles C. and Mary E. ; Frank died in infancy.
Mr. Webber was identified prominently with the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and was liberal in both his political and religious views. He left his family a handsome competency, and his magnificent mansion on the Elm Street bluffs, overlooking the Mississippi River and the city of Davenport, is yet occupied by Mrs. Webber, who in the successful management and direction of the large estates left her, shows that she inherited much of the business sagacity of her father, and that Mr. Webber was wise in the selection of a wife.
(Source: Rock Island County, 1885)
spent the rest of their lives.
Young Mr. Webber received a common-school education, and at the age of 17 years made his way to Geneseo, 111., where, in company with an older brother, he was several years engaged in the drygoods business. From Geneseo he came to Rock Island in the year 1849, and here carried on a general store for a few years. In 1850, at the head of the firm of C. C. Webber & Co., he organized and put into operation the " Union Foundry," in a frame structure, and the first foundry put up in this city.
The building was destroyed by fire, probably the same year it was started, and the company proceeded at once to erect a brick edifice, with much larger capacity than the first. At about the same time, foundries were planted at Davenport and Moline, and while there was abundance of business for all the concerns, a great rivalry was engendered, and the competition was carried possibly to an unprofitable degree. However, the "Union Works" held their own, and ran along with varying success until the great financial depression of 1857. Either in that year or soon afterwards, Mr. Webber withdrew from the company and in 1862 became a partner with Deere & Co., Moline, adding to that already extensive manufactory of agricultural implements the making of improved cultivators.
The history of the Deere & Company Plow Works will be handed down to posterity, and will show it to be one of the greatest enterprises of its character in the United States; and Mr. Webber, who remained with it till his death, will be remembered as more than an ordinary factor in its greatest achievements. He began life as a farmer's boy, and worked his way to success, depending always upon his individual resources, and proving himself capable at all times of meeting successfully the exigencies of the occasion. He was rather retiring in his disposition, sought no publicity, and preferred only the excitement of active business. At the time of his death he was representing his Ward as Alderman in the Rock Island City Council, and this was the only public office he had ever consented to fill.
Dec. 17, 1851, Mr. Webber was united in marriage, at Moline, to Ellen S., daughter of the Hon. John Deere, and had born to him six children : Ada L., wife of William G. Mixter, Professor of Chemistry at Yale College ; Grace E., wife of B. G. Keator, of Moline; Alice F., Charles C. and Mary E. ; Frank died in infancy.
Mr. Webber was identified prominently with the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and was liberal in both his political and religious views. He left his family a handsome competency, and his magnificent mansion on the Elm Street bluffs, overlooking the Mississippi River and the city of Davenport, is yet occupied by Mrs. Webber, who in the successful management and direction of the large estates left her, shows that she inherited much of the business sagacity of her father, and that Mr. Webber was wise in the selection of a wife.
(Source: Rock Island County, 1885)
Christopher C. Webber, deceased, was born in Genesee Co., N. Y., March 1, 1810, and died at his home in Rock Island city, March 5, 1865. His parents, William and Betsey (Kemp) Webber, natives of New England, and of Holland-Dutch extraction, removed from New York State to Michigan while the subject of this sketch was very young, and there
spent the rest of their lives.
Young Mr. Webber received a common-school education, and at the age of 17 years made his way to Geneseo, 111., where, in company with an older brother, he was several years engaged in the drygoods business. From Geneseo he came to Rock Island in the year 1849, and here carried on a general store for a few years. In 1850, at the head of the firm of C. C. Webber & Co., he organized and put into operation the " Union Foundry," in a frame structure, and the first foundry put up in this city.
The building was destroyed by fire, probably the same year it was started, and the company proceeded at once to erect a brick edifice, with much larger capacity than the first. At about the same time, foundries were planted at Davenport and Moline, and while there was abundance of business for all the concerns, a great rivalry was engendered, and the competition was carried possibly to an unprofitable degree. However, the "Union Works" held their own, and ran along with varying success until the great financial depression of 1857. Either in that year or soon afterwards, Mr. Webber withdrew from the company and in 1862 became a partner with Deere & Co., Moline, adding to that already extensive manufactory of agricultural implements the making of improved cultivators.
The history of the Deere & Company Plow Works will be handed down to posterity, and will show it to be one of the greatest enterprises of its character in the United States; and Mr. Webber, who remained with it till his death, will be remembered as more than an ordinary factor in its greatest achievements. He began life as a farmer's boy, and worked his way to success, depending always upon his individual resources, and proving himself capable at all times of meeting successfully the exigencies of the occasion. He was rather retiring in his disposition, sought no publicity, and preferred only the excitement of active business. At the time of his death he was representing his Ward as Alderman in the Rock Island City Council, and this was the only public office he had ever consented to fill.
Dec. 17, 1851, Mr. Webber was united in marriage, at Moline, to Ellen S., daughter of the Hon. John Deere, and had born to him six children : Ada L., wife of William G. Mixter, Professor of Chemistry at Yale College ; Grace E., wife of B. G. Keator, of Moline; Alice F., Charles C. and Mary E. ; Frank died in infancy.
Mr. Webber was identified prominently with the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and was liberal in both his political and religious views. He left his family a handsome competency, and his magnificent mansion on the Elm Street bluffs, overlooking the Mississippi River and the city of Davenport, is yet occupied by Mrs. Webber, who in the successful management and direction of the large estates left her, shows that she inherited much of the business sagacity of her father, and that Mr. Webber was wise in the selection of a wife.
(Source: Rock Island County, 1885)
spent the rest of their lives.
Young Mr. Webber received a common-school education, and at the age of 17 years made his way to Geneseo, 111., where, in company with an older brother, he was several years engaged in the drygoods business. From Geneseo he came to Rock Island in the year 1849, and here carried on a general store for a few years. In 1850, at the head of the firm of C. C. Webber & Co., he organized and put into operation the " Union Foundry," in a frame structure, and the first foundry put up in this city.
The building was destroyed by fire, probably the same year it was started, and the company proceeded at once to erect a brick edifice, with much larger capacity than the first. At about the same time, foundries were planted at Davenport and Moline, and while there was abundance of business for all the concerns, a great rivalry was engendered, and the competition was carried possibly to an unprofitable degree. However, the "Union Works" held their own, and ran along with varying success until the great financial depression of 1857. Either in that year or soon afterwards, Mr. Webber withdrew from the company and in 1862 became a partner with Deere & Co., Moline, adding to that already extensive manufactory of agricultural implements the making of improved cultivators.
The history of the Deere & Company Plow Works will be handed down to posterity, and will show it to be one of the greatest enterprises of its character in the United States; and Mr. Webber, who remained with it till his death, will be remembered as more than an ordinary factor in its greatest achievements. He began life as a farmer's boy, and worked his way to success, depending always upon his individual resources, and proving himself capable at all times of meeting successfully the exigencies of the occasion. He was rather retiring in his disposition, sought no publicity, and preferred only the excitement of active business. At the time of his death he was representing his Ward as Alderman in the Rock Island City Council, and this was the only public office he had ever consented to fill.
Dec. 17, 1851, Mr. Webber was united in marriage, at Moline, to Ellen S., daughter of the Hon. John Deere, and had born to him six children : Ada L., wife of William G. Mixter, Professor of Chemistry at Yale College ; Grace E., wife of B. G. Keator, of Moline; Alice F., Charles C. and Mary E. ; Frank died in infancy.
Mr. Webber was identified prominently with the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and was liberal in both his political and religious views. He left his family a handsome competency, and his magnificent mansion on the Elm Street bluffs, overlooking the Mississippi River and the city of Davenport, is yet occupied by Mrs. Webber, who in the successful management and direction of the large estates left her, shows that she inherited much of the business sagacity of her father, and that Mr. Webber was wise in the selection of a wife.
(Source: Rock Island County, 1885)
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