From the Hart County Historical Marker located at the Courthouse, Hartwell, Georgia.

Hart County's first officers elected in Feb. 1854 were Inferior Court Justices Henry F. Chandler, Micajah Carter, Clayton S. Webb, Daniel M. Johnson, James V. Richardson; Inferior Court Clerk Frederic C. Stephenson. Ordinary James T. Jones. Superior Court Clerk Burrell Mitchell. Sheriff William Myers. Tax Receiver W.C. Davis. Tax Collector Richard Shirley. Surveyor John A. Cameron. Coroner Richmond Skelton and Treasurer Samuel White.

From the Hart County (GA) Chamber of Commerce:

One hundred acres of land was purchased in May of 1854 by the Judges of the Inferior Court and was laid off into streets, squares, and lots. This land became the City of Hartwell, the county seat of Hart County, named for the Revolutionary War heroine, Nancy Hart. The city was officially incorporated by the legislature on February 26th, 1856.

Following are excerpts from the 1933 book History of Hart County, Georgia by John William Baker.

Purchase of Land for County Site and Survey of the Area Into Lots, Squares and Streets.

The Judges of the Inferior Court, on May 12th, 1854, purchased 100 acres of land from the heirs of James Vickery, on which to locate the town or county seat, for the sum of $200, same being a portion of a tract of land granted to said Vickery heirs, and proceeded to have it laid off by John A. Cameron, County Surveyor, into streets, squares and lots.

The street west of and parallel with Jackson Street was named Webb Street for Clayton S. Webb, who was one of the Judges of the Inferior Court.

From the 11 Jul 1889 edition of the Anderson Intelligencer.

The Hartwell (Ga.) Sun, of last week, contained a lengthy notice of the death of Judge Clayton S. Webb, who died June 28th, in the 85th year of his age. He was born in old Pendleton District, and moved to Georgia in 1852.

The obituary that appeared in the 05 Jul 1889 edition of The Hartwell Sun was written by the noted lawyer, Angus Goss McCurry (1852-1919) of that town. Excerpts from that obituary follow.

DEATH OF JUDGE C. S. WEBB

Judge Clayton Stribling Webb was born in Pendleton District (now Anderson County) S.C., January 6, 1804 and died June 26, 1880, being at the time of his death, over 85 years of age. In 1852, he moved to Georgia and located at his well known place on Shoal Creek, where he was living at the time of his death.

When Hart was organized, Judge Webb was elected as one of the first board of Justices of the Inferior Court, and he along with his associates, Judges J. V. Richardson, Micajah Carter, Daniel M. Johnson and Henry F. Chandler, had the task of locating the county site, over which there arose quite a famous law suit, but which resulted in confirming the selection made by the justices.

After the Justices had rambled over a considerable portion of the county, hunting for the most eligible site, and divided in opinion, Judge Webb,at the very spot where the courthouse is located, but which was then in the wild woods and only prominent as a deer stand, drove down a stake and said, "Here's the place -- as many of you as will come to me." Judges Carter and Chandler at once acquiesced and Hartwell was chosen.

In the death of Judge Webb, another prominent old landmark of the county is removed. Throughout his long life he possessed the utmost confidence of not only his neighbors and friends, but the entire people of his county. In all the relations of life he was honest, fruitful and true, fulfilling in an eminent degree the following beautiful language of Mr. Wirt:

"His disposition was indeed all sweetness -- his affections were warm, kind and social -- his patience invincible -- his temper even, unclouded, cheerful and serene -- his manners plain, open, familiar and simple -- his conversation easy, ingenuous and unaffected, full of entertainment, full of instruction, and irradiated with all those light and softer graces that flowed from a spendid intellect and noble character."

[Note that the "Mr. Wirt," to whom Angus McCurry referred, was William Wirt (1772-1834), and the quotation was from William Wirt's book Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry. In that book, the quotation referred to Patrick Henry.]

The obituary written by Angus McCurry continued.

Indeed,

"He was a man, take him for all in all,
We rarely shall look upon his like again.

[Note that the above quotation is based on a nearly exact quote from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2.]

After a long and useful career he rests well, by the side of his wife who preceded him to the tomb but a short while. His remains were interred in the cemetery at Shoal Creek Baptist Church, of which he had long been a prominent member. His long, useful and honorable life, however, will be a bright example for his relatives and friends.

Warm friendship for the deceased prompts us to drop this small flower on his bier, with the regret that we have not sufficient time and data to do further justice to his memory.

A. G. McC.

Records show that in 1844, about 8 years prior to the Clayton Webb family's relocation to Georgia, The Deep Creek Baptist Church moved to a new location near the intersection of Deep Creek and the Seneca River just upstream of where the Seneca River emptied into the Savannah River. A building was erected there on land owned by Clayton Stribling Webb The church first met at the new location in October 1844, with elder W. P. Martin, a well known area preacher who was noted for his oratory, preaching the dedicatory sermon.

The land was originally conveyed to the church by Elisha Burriss on May 12, 1844, and it may be presumed that a building was erected shortly thereafter. The tract contained two acres, more or less, and was apparently poorly surveyed.

The land was reconveyed on February 9, 1858, by Clayton Stribling Webb of Hartwell, Georgia, to W. E. Erskine, K. Brezeale, Lewis Pritchard, and Asa Avery, when $5.00 was paid for two and three-fourths acres. A new survey and plat were made and a new deed issued to reflect the corrections. John Martin, W. A. Webb, and C. A. Webb were witnesses.

Following are excerpts from the 1992 publication The Hart of Georgia: A History of Hart County, Georgia by The Savannah River Valley Genealogical Society, in the article on page 610 by Mrs. Peggy Alexander Carr who is directly descended from Judge Webb and his wife, Elvira.

JUDGE CLAYTON STRIBLING WEBB

Clayton Stribling Webb was born to Charles and Katherine Stribling Webb on 6 Jan. 1804 on the old Webb Plantation in the Pendleton District (now Anderson County) of South Carolina and d. at 85 years of age on 29 Jun 1889 at his Shoal Creek, Hart County plantation. Clayton became a landowner and farmer in South Carolina, as did his brothers Macajah, Edmond, Elijah and James. On 12 Jan 1826 he m. Susan Elvira McElroy at Pendleton District, SC. Susan Elvira b. 1 Apr 1808 d. 19 Mar 1888 lived an exemplary life as a member of the Baptist church for sixty years. Both are bur. at Shoal Creek Baptist Church cdm., Hart County. Judge Webb was a leader in Hart County econonmic, religious, political and social life, and he established the strong family base from which branches spread, primarily westward into East Texas.

Clayton brought with him to Shoal Creek a wife, Elvira, and eight children ranging from 20 down to 1 years of age. Three members of the family had already left the family when the 1852 move came, with Will settling down in South Carolina to farming and married life, James studying in Medical School in Augusta and Martha Catherine (Kitty) marrying Isaac N. Reeder and settling in Shoal Creek, Hart Co., GA ahead of the Clayton Webb family. Clayton and Elvira had an additional child, Samuel Clayton, born after they moved to the Shoal Creek home, and they lost two of their daughters there, Mary Lamotte and Ellen Elvira, to the early Civil War winter epidemic 1862-1863, as well as one son, James (the doctor), in 1865, killed by Union soldiers in Hartwell.

1850 Census
Western Division
Anderson County, South Carolina
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Clayton Webb M 46 South Carolina
Elvira Webb F 40 South Carolina
James M Webb M 20 South Carolina
Ann Webb F 15 South Carolina
Charles Webb M 12 South Carolina
Robert Webb M 9 South Carolina
Ellen Webb F 7 South Carolina
Florence Webb F 5 South Carolina
Louisa Webb F 2 South Carolina
R J Webb F 0 South Carolina
I N Reeden M 20 South Carolina
M C Reeden F 17 South Carolina

1870 Census
Shoal Creek
Hart County, Georgia
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Clayton S Webb M 66y South Carolina
Elvira Webb F 60y South Carolina
Rosa J Webb F 19y South Carolina
Samuel C Webb M 16y Georgia
Annie A Cleveland F 35y South Carolina
Florence R Craft F 25y South Carolina
Franklin Craft M 6y Georgia

Following is the obituary that appeared in the 23 Mar 1888 edition of The Hartwell Sun on the occasion of Elvira's death.

Death

Mrs. Elvira S. Webb, consort of Judge Clayton S. Webb, aged 80 years, departed this life March 19th, 1888. This good old octogenarian has lived an exemplary life as a member of the Baptist church for sixty years. As a neighbor she was kind; as a mother, she was gentle and loving; as a wife, she was devoted and true. She had a wonderful memory which she retained even the last hour. She was sick only a few days with pneumonia, though she has been a constant sufferer for many years. She leaves a husband 84 years old, borne down with the weight of years and disease, to mourn her loss. She was the mother of twelve children, nine of whom are living. Her husband has faith to believe she is in heaven, at the gate of which city he expects to meet her soon. May God make her death a blessing to the living.

Following are Clayton's and Elvira's twelve known children and their years of birth.

1828 William Edmund WEBB
1830 James Madison WEBB
1832 Martha Catherine (Kitty) WEBB
1834 Ann Elizabeth WEBB
1838 Charles Archibald WEBB
1840 Robert Haynes WEBB
1842 Ellen Elvira WEBB
1845 Florence Rebecca WEBB
1847 Margaret Louise WEBB
1850 Rose Josephine WEBB
1852 Mary Lamotte WEBB
1854 Samuel Clayton WEBB

[Note: Kudos and thanks to contributor Elreeta Weathers for providing some of this bio information, including Judge Webb's date of birth, and for the the census information. Also, kudos and thanks to Brenda Harbin for finding and sending several obits and other sources of information about Judge Webb and his family members].