Knox-Jefferson County TN Archives Biographies.....Webb, Eugene M. 1874 - 1912
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 26, 2005, 11:18 pm

Author: Will T. Hale

   HON. EUGENE M. WEBB. The bench and bar of Knox county and the state lost one

of its best loved and most honored figures in the death of Judge Webb at his

Knoxville home on November 6, 1912. Thirty-eight years of age, he was removed

before the middle period of a human lifetime, yet his attainments might have

well distinguished a much older man. He had for years occupied a professor's

chair in Harriman University, was twice a member of the legislature, was a

successful lawyer, and with his election to the circuit bench had just begun a

worthy record as judge when the illness precedent to his death compelled him to

retire.



   Judge Webb, who belonged to an old family of eastern Tennessee, was born at

Dandridge on October 1, 1874, a son of Andrew and Jane (Walker) Webb. The family

is of English descent. The paternal grandparents were Thomas and Annie (Martin)

Webb, and the maternal grandparents were William and Elizabeth (Bettis) Walker.



   Hon. Andrew Webb, the father, who was born in Jefferson county, where he

spent most of his life and died at the age of sixty, was for many years a

substantial farmer and prominent in political life. He had worked his way

through school at Maury Academy, was a teacher for a time, became deputy sheriff

under William Walker, whose daughter he married, and succeeded him as sheriff,

an office he held for three consecutive terms. He also represented Jefferson

county three successive times in the legislature. His politics was Republican,

and he had the distinction of never having been defeated for any office to which

he aspired as a candidate.



   Eugene M. Webb began his education in the same school his father had

attended, the Maury Academy at Dandridge, and then entered the University of

Tennessee, where he was graduated A. B. in the class of '95. In 1894 he won the

Chi Delta's orator's medal and in 1895 the Chi Delta's best debater's medal, and

was distinguished in college for ability in both oratory and general literary

work. Before he was twenty-one he had been chosen to the chair of English in the

American Temperance University at Harriman, and during his four years there was

very popular as a teacher.



   On leaving educational work he came to Knoxville and began his practice in

law, the first firm being Webb & McClung. He became a factor in Republican

politics, on several occasions stumping his congressional district and serving

as an alternate delegate to the Chicago convention of 1908. He was an active

advocate of temperance, and in 1909 closed the debate in the house of

representatives on behalf of statewide Prohibition. He was one of the Chautauqua

speakers at Winona Lake, Indiana, in 1908. He was elected to the legislature

from Knox county in 1906 and 1908, and on August 1, 1910, was elected judge of

the third circuit of Knox county. His nomination for this office was unopposed,

and he was elected by a large majority. He assumed his judicial duties on August

4th, but they were soon interrupted by illness, and after a brief service he

found himself unable to continue the office and requested the governor to fill

the place with a special judge, when Von A. Huffaker was appointed to the vacancy.



   Fraternally Judge Webb was affiliated with the Masons, the Knights of

Pythias, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, belonged to the Cherokee

Country Club, and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.



   June 14, 1900, he was united in marriage with Miss Alice M. Miller, who, with

her two children, Eugene Merrick and Mary Lillian, survive, their home being on

the Kingston pike. Mrs. Webb is a daughter of Ludlow D. and Mary M. (Hitchcock)

Miller, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The Millers came from old Virginia to

Ohio. The Hitchcocks came from Massachusetts, and were of English origin. Two

brothers came from England in 1635, and five thousand descendants form the

family in America at this writing.



Additional Comments:
From:



A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in

commerce, industry and modern activities

by Will T. Hale

Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,  1913



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