WEBB, John Russell, educator, born in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York, 6 August, 1824; died in Benton Harbor, Berrien County, Michigan, 10 September, 1887. He was graduated at the New York state normal school at Albany among the first students in 1846. While still a pupil of David P. Page, he conceived the idea of teaching children to read by familiarizing them at once with the complete forms of words, without first compelling them to learn the letters of the alphabet. Soon after leaving school, and while teaching, he published a book to exemplify this method. He taught with success, went to Indianapolis in 1851, and soon afterward relinquished professional work on account of failing health, and settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, removing in 1861 to Michigan. He published "John's First Book" (Watertown, New York, 1846) and "Webb's Word Method," in which he expounded his system of instruction (Detroit, 1864; revised ed., New York, 1885), besides a series of readers embodying the method.