The 1850 Logan County, Virginia Census

Enumerated by James G. Perry, Jul-Oct 1850

Selected Biographies

HATFIELD

Henry Clay Ragland had this to say about the Hatfield Family (Swain, p. 68-69; 75-76):

"At what is still known as the Hatfield place, on Horsepen, Valentine Hatfield of Washington County, Virginia, settled at quite an early day. He was the father of nine sons and three daughters, and from them have sprung many of the Hatfields of the Guyandotte and Sandy Valleys. Valentine Hatfield married a Miss Weddington, and he was a half-brother of Thomas Smith. His sons were Ali, who married a daughter of Ferrell Evans; Ephraim, who married Bettie Vance; Joe, who also married a daughter of Ferrell Evans (this Ephraim Hatfield was one of the quietest men in the county, and was for a long time a Justice of the Peace, yet he was the father and grandfather of the Hatfields who were engaged in the Hatfield-McCoy feud); Andrew, who married a daughter of Humphrey Trent and whose descendants live in Wyoming County; Thomas, who married a daughter of Frank Evans; John, who married a daughter of Abner Vance; James, who married a daughter of John Toler (Squire M. A. Hatfield and James Hatfield are the sons of this marriage); Jacob, who married a daughter of Peter Cline; and Valentine, who was never married. Of his three daughters, Phoebe married Alexander Varney; Celia married James Perry; and Annie married James Justice, who was at one time sheriff of Logan County, and who was the father of John Justice, once a prominent merchant of Logan Courthouse; B. H. Justice, once a merchant and timber dealer in Cabell County, and William E. Justice, once a merchant of North Spring, and at one time a member of the West Virginia Legislature. Joseph Hatfield, a brother of Valentine Hatfield, settled about the same time at Matewan and will be mentioned hereafter."
... "Joseph Hatfield, who has already been mentioned as the brother of Valentine Hatfield, and a half-brother of Thomas Smith of Horsepen, settled at what is now Matewan at about the same time that his brother settled on Horsepen. He married a Miss Evans of Russell County, and was the father of ten sons and one daughter. His sons were Joseph, William, Ferrell, Ephraim, John, Valentine, Richard, Thomas, James, Smith and McGinnis, and the name of his daughter was Phoebe. All of them moved across the river into Kentucky."

The Hatfields calls this daughter Virginia Jane (Hatfield, p. 191, 199)

Jacob WEBB was not mentioned by Henry Clay Ragland in his history of Logan County, but the 1850 census of Logan County shows him to be situated between the HATFIELD brothers, Aly and Ephraim. These brothers were the first cousins of his wife, Sarah Jane RIFFE, whose mother, Mary "Emzy" HATFIELD was the half-sister of Valentine HATFIELD, Aly and Ephraim's father. Jacob WEBB was born 24 March 1807 in Tazewell County, VA, and moved down to Greenup County, KY some time in the late 1830's. Jacob and Sarah were married in Greenup County on 7 August 1838, where they lived for a few years before moving to Logan County. Other relations in the area included Peter, the brother of Coonrod RIFFE, Sarah Jane's father. Peter RIFFE is mentioned by Ragland above as the father of Jacob Hatfield's wife, Catherine.

Jacob WEBB apparently did not own any land in Logan County: the real estate evaluation column is left blank on the census and a search of the land records showed no entries for Jacob WEBB. Without land of his own to farm, he probably worked as a hand on one of the cousin's property.

Children alive on the 1850 census:

Mary Ann WEBB was born ca. 1839 in KY. Married Thomas ABRAMS and lived most of her life in Ironton, Lawrence County, OH. She died between 1880 and 1900.
Sarah Jane WEBBwas born 11 December 1842 in Ohio. She married 19 September 1858 in Lawrence County, KY to Spencer WORKMAN. Sarah died 25 May 1906 in Nichols, Aitkin County, MN.
Catherine WEBB was born 11 March 1844, probably in Kentucky. She married 23 February 1865 in Greenup County, KY to James Allen HANNERS. Catherine and James lived in Greenup County most of their lives. Catherine died 10 November 1924.
Madison WEBB was born ca. 1846. He was said to have served in the Civil War on the side of the South, married after the war and moved to Indiana, where he had two sons. He died soon thereafter, and all track of him was lost.
Daniel A. WEBB was born 9 June 1850 on the Little Sandy River near Oldtown, Greenup County, KY. He married on 4 December 1872 to Nancy Melissia DANIEL in Sauk Center, Todd County, MN. Daniel died on 8 May 1925 in Bellingham, Whatcom County, WA.

Jacob WEBB died on 27 April 1856, leaving his wife pregnant, a widow with 5 children. Sarah returned to Greenup County and bore his namesake, Jacob WEBB, on 27 November, 1856. She then placed her daughter Catherine with a family, and moved to Wayne County, VA with the rest of the children, Mary Ann having married Thomas ABRAMS by this time. There she met James FERGUSON, and by him had 2 children:

Alonzo FERGUSON was born in April 1862. He married Mary PINSON on July 29, 1887 in Wayne County, WV, but nothing further is known for certain of his life.
Martha J. FERGUSON was born 2 June 1863 in Wayne County. She married Lafayette LETT there on 30 January 1883, and lived her entire life in Wayne County, WV. Martha died 21 December 1946.

Sarah Jane RIFFE WEBB [FERGUSON] died 11 January 1866, probably in Wayne County, WV, leaving her son, Jacob, in the care of the FERGUSON family. Jacob married Mollie Booton CANNADA on 16 February 1882, and they moved to St. Cloud, MN where Jacob died 4 October 1928.

Hatfield Pedigree showing Webb connection

Sources:

Hatfield, G. Elliott, The Hatfields,Big Sandy Valley Historical Society: Stanville, KY, 1988, pp 329+.
Swain, George T. History of Logan County, West Virginia. Kingsport Press, Kingsport, TN 1927, pp. 385.
Webb, David J., Jacob Webb (1807-1856) of Virginia and Kentucky, Descendants and Antecedants - Using naming patterns to reconstruct descent lines in genealogy, In preparation.

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