Webb County

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Webb County, straight from the record. Now settle in, because this one reaches back further than most folks think to look. Webb County.

Formed from Nueces County, created January 28, 1848, and organized not long after, on March 16, 1848. That's a county that got itself up and running in less than two months, which tells you something about the kind of people who had a hand in building this part of Texas. The county carries the name of James Webb, born in 1792, died in 1856, a man who served the Republic of Texas as attorney general and secretary of state from 1838 to 1841.

The Republic of Texas, now. Not the state, not the territory. The Republic.

James Webb was in the room when Texas was its own nation, doing the legal and governmental work that held the whole enterprise together. And then there's Laredo, the county seat. Here's where you really feel the deep roots of this land.

Laredo was founded in 1755 by Tomas Sanchez. Seventeen fifty-five. That's nearly a century before Webb County itself existed.

By the time the county was even a thought, Laredo had already been standing on the Rio Grande for the better part of a hundred years, watching nations rise and fall and change their flags overhead. A county named for a man who served a Republic, seated in a city older than the county, the state, and the Republic combined. Webb County carries a long memory, and the marker doesn't let you forget it.

What the marker says

Formed from Nueces county; created January 28, 1848, organized March 16, 1848. Named in honor of James Webb, 1792 - 1856, attorney general and secretary of state of the Republic of Texas 1838-1841. Laredo, the county seat founded in 1755 by Tomas Sanchez.