- Benjamin Joseph Webb
Benjamin Joseph Webb (
February 25 ,1814 -August 2 ,1897 ) was a Catholic editor, statesenator forKentucky , andhistorian .Webb was born in
Bardstown, Kentucky , to a father who was a 1774 pioneer to that state. He was educated atSt. Joseph's College in Bardstown, but left at an early age to learn the printer's trade. He took a position as foreman of the office of the "Journal", anewspaper inLouisville, Kentucky . It was while he was aforeman in 1836 that the Rev. Dr. Reynolds (his former teacher and laterBishop ofCharleston, South Carolina ) persuaded him to head the Bardstown publication the "Catholic Advocate". Webb accepted the assignment and worked along with Bishops Spalding, David, andBenedict Joseph Flaget . Webb moved the office of the Catholic Advocate to Louisville in 1841, and in 1847 he retired from its management. He continued to defendCatholic interests, notably in connection withGeorge D. Prentice , editor of the Louisville "Journal" in 1855. In a series of letters he attacked the intolerance and disgrace of theKnow-Nothing movement ; these letters were subsequently printed in book form with the title "Letters of a Kentucky Catholic". OnMay 1 ,1858 , with further assistance from Bishop Spalding and in connection with other members of the Particular Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Louisville, he issued the "Catholic Guardian", a production ended in July, 1862 by the ongoingAmerican Civil War . On the revival of the paper in 1869, he again contributed to it. He served as a member of the Kentucky State Senate from 1867-1875, and in 1868 wrote the memoirs of GovernorsLazarus W. Powell andJohn L. Helm . His association with Catholic interests in Kentucky led him to compile "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky" in 1884, a volume cataloguing the persons and times of Kentucky's pioneering era. Webb died in Louisville onAugust 2 ,1897 .
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