James L. Webb

He studied at Wake Forest University for three and a half years before returning to Cleveland County to assist Plato Durham in editing The Shelby Banner during the Reconstruction era.

In 1883 he was elected to the North Carolina Senate, holding that office until President Grover Cleveland appointed him as a postal inspector in 1885.

[3] In 1892 North Carolina Governor Thomas Michael Holt appointed Webb as a district solicitor, filling in a vacancy.

[1] In November 1904 he was appointed as a judge to the North Carolina Superior Court by Governor Charles Brantley Aycock to fill a vacancy.

[3] Together with his brother Edwin, politician Clyde R. Hoey,[3] and legal partner Odus M. Mull,[6] Webb became a leading figure in Gardner's nascent political organization, dubbed the Shelby Dynasty.