Silvia Hector Webber: A Freedom Fighter’s StoryPosted in Articles, Caribbean/Latin America, History, Media Archive, Mexico, Slavery, Texas, United States, Women on 2021-08-28 03:00Z by Steven |
Silvia Hector Webber: A Freedom Fighter’s Story
María Esther Hammack, PhD: Historian, Researcher, Teacher, & Public Scholar
November 2018
Silvia Hector (also known as Silvia Webber) was a freedom fighter born in West Florida in 1807.1 She was the first free Black woman settler of Webberville, a town located in the outskirts of present-day Austin, Texas. Silvia played a foundational role in leading freedom seekers to safe havens by ferrying them away from US bondage to freedom destinations in Mexico.2
In 1819, 12-year-old Silvia was transported to the Cryer family’s plantation in Clark County, Arkansas. There she was sold on Mach 10, 1819 by Silas McDaniel to Morgan Cryer Sr., a Revolutionary War veteran, for $550.3 Silvia labored in Arkansas for seven years until she was forced South from there, to Mexican Texas by her enslaver’s son, John. Silvia arrived in Texas on March 15, 1826, as one five enslaved individuals introduced into Austin’s Colony by John Cryer, his wife, and his two children.4…
…While still enslaved at John Cryer’s plantation in central Texas Silvia was pursued by John Webber, a white man from Vermont who had settled in a neighboring land grant. Silvia’s freedom papers and several witness accounts highlight the relationship John Webber established with her.7 Webber met Silvia at some point between 1826 and 1829 and records point out that “he became infatuated with her.”8 In early 1829 Silvia became pregnant with her first child by John Webber, a daughter she named Alcy (also knowns as Elsie) and who was born, enslaved, in October of 1829.9…
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