"Richard Webb b. 9 Mar. 1656, Gloucester, England, the son of Richard and Mary (Heyward) Webb, both Quakers.* His birth was recorded at the Friends Quarterly Meeting in Gloucester.11 He m. ELIZABETH HOOPES, who was born about 1663 in Wiltshire.
In 1697 Elizabeth Webb, described as a (Quaker) minister of Gloucester, made a "religious visit to America." Her certificate from the Quarterly Meeting at Tetbury was signed by Richard Webb.12 She returned to England in 1799 and less than a year later she and her husband and family came to the Colonies and settled in Philadelphia.13 The family was accompanied by Richard's brother John and his family, Richard's unmarried sisters Mary and Rachel, and Richard's remarried sister-in-law, Hannah Lea (widow of Joseph Webb) with her husband and family.
In February of 1710, Richard and his family were granted a certificate to the Concord Monthly Meeting (M.M.) in Chester Co.
They resided in Birmingham Twp. where they were instrumental in founding the Birmingham Monthly Meeting, which began to meet regularly in members' houses in about 1716. In 1821, Elizabeth Webb conveyed an acre of land for three pounds to Friends for the purpose of erecting the first Friends Meeting House in Birmingham.
Richard Webb wrote his will on 2 March 1819/20. In it he conveyed his estate, both real and personal, to his wife Elizabeth. He named each of his children who were living at the time and gave each of them one pound. The will was probated on 14 March 1719/20.
Elizabeth Webb was still living in 1828, as the following is found in the records of the Concord M.M.:
"Elizabeth Webb, of Birmingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania in the year 1728 to one of her sons expressed herself thus:
`It has appeared to me very plain that the Time is coming in the Country when the people will get into Parties one against another and destroy one another and both sides will be in the wrong. And it has likewise appeared that there will be a People in that time that will not be a party on either side & they will be preserved as in a Castle, while the others are destroying one another.' Then she said to her son, `I shall not live to see it but don't know but thou mayst.'".
