Frank J. Webb

Francis Johnson Webb (March 21, 1828 – 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and essayist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His novel, The Garies and Their Friends, was the second novel by an African American to be published, and the first to portray the daily lives of free blacks in the North.

Biography Early life and family

Frank Webb was born in Philadelphia on March 21, 1828. He was the fifth and youngest child of Francis Webb (1788–1829) and Louisa Burr Webb (–1878). His maternal grandfather, which was confirmed via DNA in 2018, is former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr.

Webb had one brother, John (1823-1904), and three sisters, Elizabeth (1818–1888), Ann (1820–1884), and Mary (1824–1826). His parents and older siblings were among thousands of free African Americans who had left the United States in 1824 and returned in 1826, as part of the failed Haitian emigration experiment.