Petersburg Va., 5¢ red #65X1, position 1 with "PETERSBURC" spelling error, early state with "e" of "Office" still present, top sheet margin, rich color, tied by blue Dec 8 town CDS on fresh cover to Thomas Webb Esq., Cashr (cashier), Hillsboro N.C., accompanying certificate irrelevantly notes a small paper fold in the stamp at right, still Extremely Fine, although unlisted in Scott, this "C" for "G" spelling variety is very scarce and desirable, ex Judd and Dr. Green, 2000 PF certificate. SCV $2,250 as regular issue. $2,000.

Thomas Webb (1827-1894) was a lawyer and railroad executive born in Hillsborough, N.C., the youngest son of Dr. James Webb who practiced medicine in Hillsborough for fifty years. Thomas Webb's mother, Annie Alves Huske Webb, was a granddaughter of the Scotsman James Hogg, a University of Edinburgh graduate, merchant, and realtor who immigrated to North Carolina in 1774, setting out with a shipload of 280 persons. Hogg was on the committee to establish the University of North Carolina, served as president of the board of trustees, and was a large land donor to the university, where Thomas graduated in 1847. At a meeting of the Union party in Orange County for the purpose of nominating delegates to the proposed state convention, Thomas Webb served on the committee of 19 representing the different sections of the county. After the Civil War began, the president of the North Carolina Railroad, Charles S. Fisher, who had raised and equipped the North Carolina Sixth Regiment, was killed leading his unit on Rickett's Battery at Manassas during the first major encounter of the war on 21 July. The state nominated Webb president of the North Carolina Railroad, which he managed through the years of war. Much more information available online.