When people search for the name Clara Marie Ramey Webb, they are usually not looking for a public figure in the traditional sense. They are following a thread in a family tree — one that leads back to the mother of country music legend Loretta Lynn.
Clara’s name appears quietly in genealogical records, memorial pages, and family-history discussions. She was not a celebrity. But she was part of the family line behind one of the most celebrated voices in American country music history.
This article covers what the records actually say about Clara — her birth and death details, her Kentucky roots, why her name shows up under several different surnames, and how she fits into Loretta Lynn’s documented family history.
Who Clara Marie Ramey Webb Was
Clara Marie Ramey Webb is a genealogical figure, not a public personality. Her name surfaces most often in family-history research, online memorial pages, and ancestry databases rather than in entertainment news or official biographies.
Her full name across records appears in combined forms — most commonly as Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb, Butcher. Platforms like Geni.com and Find a Grave both document her under variations of this name. Because genealogy sites rely on user-contributed records, minor differences between entries are normal and expected.
The reason most people encounter her name at all is straightforward: she is identified in genealogical sources as the mother of Loretta Lynn. That connection is what gives her name weight in online searches and family-tree discussions.
Her Birth, Death, and Kentucky Roots
According to genealogical records, Clara Marie Ramey was born on May 5, 1912, in Johnson County, Kentucky. Some records specify the location more precisely as Riceville, in Johnson County. FamilySearch Ancestors supports both the birth date and the Johnson County birthplace.
Her parents were Nathaniel Lewis Ramey and Sarah Blair Ramey. Both her birth records and memorial pages list these two as her parents, making that detail one of the more consistently confirmed points across sources.
Clara passed away on November 24, 1981, in Nashville, Tennessee. Find a Grave supports that death date and location. She had moved well beyond her Kentucky origins by the end of her life, though her roots remained in the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky.
That regional background matters in a broader sense. Johnson County, Kentucky sits in the heart of Appalachia — the same geographical and cultural world that shaped Loretta Lynn’s upbringing and, eventually, her music. Clara’s birthplace connects directly to that story.
Why Her Name Appears as Ramey, Webb, and Butcher
One of the most common points of confusion when researching Clara is the multiple surnames. Depending on which record or platform you look at, her name might appear as Ramey, Webb, Butcher, or some combination of all three. There is a simple explanation for each.
- Ramey is her birth surname, inherited from her father Nathaniel Lewis Ramey and her mother Sarah Blair Ramey.
- Webb comes from her marriage to Melvin Ted Webb. This is the marriage most relevant to Loretta Lynn’s family line.
- Butcher reflects a later marriage to Tommy Butcher, which came after the death or end of her marriage to Ted Webb.
Find a Grave lists her memorial under the name Clara Marie “Clary” Ramey Webb Butcher, identifying her as the widow of Melvin Ted Webb before her subsequent marriage to Tommy Butcher. The nickname “Clary” also appears in that memorial, which may explain some additional variations readers encounter.
Genealogy platforms tend to string all surnames together precisely to avoid confusion. When someone shares the same first name with other people in a region, listing all known surnames helps researchers distinguish between different individuals across different life stages.
So if you see “Ramey Webb Butcher” all written together, that is not an error. It is standard practice in genealogical record-keeping to reflect the full arc of a person’s documented name history.
Her Place in Loretta Lynn’s Family Tree
The primary reason Clara Marie Ramey Webb draws any online attention at all comes down to one relationship: she is identified in genealogical records and family-history discussions as the mother of Loretta Lynn.
The family line runs through her marriage to Melvin Ted Webb. Clara and Ted Webb are named together as Loretta Lynn’s parents in multiple genealogical sources, including Find a Grave and a Facebook genealogy group discussion focused on the Webb family connection.
To put it simply: Clara Marie Ramey married Ted Webb, and Loretta Lynn was born from that marriage. That is the documented link.
It is important to be clear about what this means and what it does not mean. Clara was not part of Loretta Lynn’s public life or professional career in any documented way. She was not a manager, collaborator, or public supporter in the sense that would place her in entertainment coverage. Her connection to Loretta Lynn is genealogical — a family bond, not a professional one.
Readers searching for Clara are essentially searching for background context on Loretta Lynn’s origins. And the records do offer that context, even if they cannot offer a full biography of Clara herself.
What Genealogical Records Say — and What They Do Not
The honest answer about Clara Marie Ramey Webb is that confirmed details about her life are limited. Most of what is publicly available comes from three types of sources: Geni.com, Find a Grave, and FamilySearch. All three are platforms built around user-contributed records and publicly available data.
What the records do confirm:
- Her birth date: May 5, 1912
- Her birthplace: Johnson County, Kentucky
- Her parents: Nathaniel Lewis Ramey and Sarah Blair Ramey
- Her death date: November 24, 1981
- Her death location: Nashville, Tennessee
- Her marriages: first to Melvin Ted Webb, later to Tommy Butcher
One record on Geni.com notes an occupation as a retired nurse. That detail appears in a single source, so it is worth noting with caution. It may be accurate, but it has not been confirmed across multiple independent records. Readers should treat it as a possible biographical detail rather than a firmly established fact.
No major published biography of Loretta Lynn appears to offer extensive detail about Clara specifically. Loretta Lynn spoke publicly about her family background and her Kentucky upbringing across decades of interviews and her autobiography, but detailed accounts of Clara’s personal life are not well documented in widely available public sources.
That gap is actually common in family-history research. Most people who lived ordinary private lives — particularly women of earlier generations in rural areas — left behind records in databases rather than detailed written accounts. Clara’s story is preserved in the way most such stories are: through dates, locations, names, and family connections rather than personal narrative.
For anyone researching Loretta Lynn’s background or the broader Ramey and Webb family lines, sites like Start Business Pitch and genealogy platforms remain useful starting points for understanding how public figures connect to their family histories.
A Quiet Name Behind a Famous Story
Clara Marie Ramey Webb does not have a celebrity profile. She was not in the spotlight, and the records available today reflect that. What she does have is a documented place in a well-known family line — as a woman born in the hills of eastern Kentucky in 1912, who married, raised a family, and died in Nashville nearly seven decades later.
The name that makes her searchable today belongs to her daughter. But Clara’s own story, modest as the public record is, forms part of the foundation behind Loretta Lynn’s roots in Appalachian Kentucky — a background that shaped some of the most honest and enduring songs in country music history.
For researchers, genealogists, and curious readers, the records of Clara Marie Ramey Webb offer what they offer: a name, a few dates, a place, and a family connection that quietly anchors a much larger story.
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