This is one of two portraits of
Henry Livingston Webb in the museum collection. He was born April 5,
1795, ninth of ten surviving children of Joseph Webb Jr. and Abigail
Chester, both of whose portraits are hanging in the museum. The
Webb family was established in Hartford, CT, and George Washington
stayed in the home of Henry Webb's parents in May of 1781 to plan
the Yorktown Campaign with Gen. Rochambeau. Henry was in the
import-export business of china porcelain and crockery in Albany,
NY. He met Frances Henrietta Delord while she was on a trip to
Albany to visit friends. They were married on August 13, 1832 and
went on a honeymoon trip to Europe. Upon their return, she was
pregnant with child and delivered her daughter, Frances Delord Webb in
1834 in Albany. The mother, Frances Henrietta, died three weeks
later of childbed fever. Henry Webb's young daughter was taken to
Plattsburgh by her maternal grandmother Betsey Delord, for her first
four years. Henry then moved Frances (Fanny) to the home of his
maiden sisters in Hartford, where they saw to her education and
finishing as a young woman. Henry's health deteriorated and he
sold his Albany store in 1844, ten years after the death of his wife,
Frances Henrietta. He died in Hartford on October 12, 1846.
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