The north Fulton Webb family is a fascinating study in part because there were so many of them in the area beginning in the 1840s.
Pat Miller, a fervent student of local history, once told me that by the 1920s, after seven generations of Webbs, there were nearly 150 Webb descendants in the north Fulton area, including spouses, and many more after that. Many other local families intermarried with the Webbs, people with names such as Maxwell, Shirley, Paris, Martin, Bagwell, Devore, Mansell, McGinnis, Medlock, Mayfield, Phillips and numerous others. I wrote a column about the Webbs in 2024, so this column is a follow-up, thanks to the suggestion of one Webb history lover, Janie Webb, who retired after a successful career in financial services.
One of several Webb pioneers to settle in the Big Creek (also called Vickery Creek) area south of Cumming in Forsyth County, home to several large farms, was the Rev. John Malcom Webb (1840-1924), who is buried in the Old Ocee Cemetery in Alpharetta.
He is somehow related to a representative of the following generation, Joseph Joel “J.J.” Webb (1858-1939), Janie Webb’s great-grandfather, whom she describes as a “prominent Milton farmer.” He was also a leading businessman. He married a very young Mary C. “Molly” Dildy (1865-1911) in 1882. Dildy was a known family name in the area at that time. They had 10 sons and a large farm on Webb Bridge Road. In September 1911, soon after his wife’s death, J.J. put some of his property up for sale. He placed an ad in the Milton County News titled “Farm For Sale,” which read: “I have 80 acres of land yet for sale, two miles from Alpharetta on public road. Also ten acres of land and a good five-room house in Alpharetta, on Duluth Street. Also one nice vacant lot on Roswell Street. J. J. WEBB.” (Spelling and capitalization are as they appeared in the original.)…