THE COBB FAMILIES OF
MADISON COUNTY, ALABAMA
By Lou
L. Sams
Foreword
Having personally spent literally thousands of hours
researching the Cobb families of Madison County, Alabama, I can verify that it
is indeed an intriguing and challenging line. I wish to acknowledge a few of
the many individuals that have assisted me over the years. I do not want to
leave anyone out, but space prohibits naming all of them. First and foremost,
many thanks go out to Betty (B.J.) Atkinson, a brilliant researcher who has
listened to my theories, given me advice, brainstormed with me, and spurred me
on by asking me difficult questions that invariably led to more sleuthing.
Betty and I share a keen desire to find \93The truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth!\94 Most of all many, many thanks to Betty for generously
producing the GEDCOM to load the files, and for tolerating my many computer snafus.
(Please be advised that Betty makes it a matter of principle not to give out
Gedcoms of files because any mistakes such as keying errors, etc. are prone to
become graven in stone.)
The employees and volunteers of the Madison County
Records Center, which houses the oldest Probate Records for Madison County,
Alabama, have been invaluable in answering questions and assisting with finding
records.\A0 Their dedication and
enthusiasm is exceptional, and I wish to thank them here for a job well done \96
Ronda Larkin, Archivist; Donna Dunham, Research Assistant; Terry Lee, Volunteer
Webmaster; and of course, volunteers Lil, Alice, and Henri.\A0 Mr. Roy Maynard, a local genealogist, who
helped me tremendously with getting started on my Cobb line years ago, has been
a big inspiration. Cobb cousins Milton Smith and Marilyn Cobb in Texas have
provided much information on David Cobb\92s son Stancil and his descendants.
Other Cobb descendants that deserve mention for sharing of ideas and
information include Wayne Cobb, Shirley Worley Williams, Don Glover, Mary Cobb
Morris, Betty Huggins, Janelle Cobb, and Dennis Amos. Phil Proctor, a history
professor in Mobile, Alabama, freely shared a paper he had published on W.R.W.
Cobb, which illuminated my path to many more discoveries about this famous,
complex man.\A0 I wish to give credit to
John P. Rankin, a local historian that has been instrumental in assisting with
the ongoing restoration of the Cobb Cemetery. If not for John\92s expertise, hard
work, and guidance, we would not have made the progress on the cemetery that we
have made to date \96 thank you, John!
Last but not least, Mike Cobb has provided me much
help in the past few years. He is always helpful when I ask for clarification
on his Cobb line, which also had some descendants in North Alabama in the early
years. Mike has been very kind and generous in many ways, and all Cobb
researchers should be appreciative of the time, energy, and intellect that he
has devoted to this website!
David Cobb was one of the earliest settlers of
Madison County, Alabama, arriving in 1809, before Alabama achieved statehood,
and when Madison County was still a wilderness, and considered a part of the
Mississippi Territory. One of David\92s sons, WRW Cobb was a six term United States
Congressman, and his Congressional Biography states that his family came to
Madison County in the year after 1809. It also states that W.R.W. was born in
Rhea County, Tennessee on June 7, 1807, placing this family there a couple of
years before they arrived in Madison County. David was called a \93planter\94 of
\93Cocke County, Tenn.\94 in an Anson County, N.C. deed, dated 1806, and was found
in the 1800 census of Anson County, North Carolina. Perhaps David was merely
moving around to speculate in the new lands that were just being opened up for
purchase, but whatever the reason, he migrated from Martin County, NC to Anson
County, NC to Cocke County, Tenn, to Rhea County, Tenn., before finally
settling in Madison County, AL where he died June 27, 1839. The first proven
record we have of David Cobb in Madison County is when he purchased land there
on March 10, 1809. This is just after the squatters\92 census was taken in
Madison County in January 1809. This tract of land, known as Section 32, T4,
R2E, was the Cobb homestead until additional purchases were made in 1830, and
is the location of the Cobb Cemetery, where David was supposedly buried along
with his wife, Martha Bryant, and other family members.
We are currently in the process of restoring this historic
old cemetery. As of this writing, we are uncertain as to the names of exactly
everyone that is buried within this approximately 1/3 acre cemetery (it was
originally set aside as a \BD acre cemetery, as stated by Bryant Cobb in his
will), and while there are remnants of approximately 9 rock cairns, and
evidence of at least 18 other graves within the cemetery, only three inscribed
stones have been located. The additional graves were marked by local
fieldstones. Either additional inscribed stones never existed, or they have
possibly been stolen. The three identifiable inscribed stones are those of
David\92s sons, Bryant Cobb and W.R.W. Cobb, and Catherine Allison Cobb, W.R.W.\92s
wife.
David Cobb must have been a man of some importance,
because the Governor of the Mississippi Territory appointed him as one of the
first constables in the county, this appointment being made in May of 1810.
David served on various juries and grand juries in the earliest days of Madison
County, and was considered one of the \93good and lawful men\94 that were selected
for such juries. Family history states that David Cobb was also a Justice of
the Peace, and he very well may have been, as he was definitely literate, and
was known as David Cobb, Esquire, though this writer has not seen direct
evidence of any document that involved David Cobb as a Justice of the Peace.
David was also known as Captain David Cobb, and more than likely he was a
Captain in the local militia, as no evidence of any service records has yet to
be discovered. However, this also remains unproven. David would have been old
enough to serve in the Revolutionary War, and it is a mystery as to his
whereabouts during that period.
David Cobb, considered by historians and his
contemporaries as a prominent and prosperous man, was a land speculator, a
planter, a constable, and an entrepreneur. The Alabama Legislature, on December
20, 1820, passed an act, which allowed for the formation of the Flint River
Navigation Company, an enterprise in which David Cobb was one of the founding
partners. Section one of the Act, which follows, shows some of the other
prominent men with whom David Cobb was closely associated:
\93 An act to incorporate the Flint
River Navigation Company.
Section 1. Be it enacted by the
Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama in General Assembly
convened, That Fleming Jordon, George Taylor, James McCartney, John Sprowl,
Stephen Pond, John P. Brown, John Grayson, Dial Perry, David Walker, Ebenezer
Byram, Stephen McBroom, William Derrick and David Cobb, and such persons as
shall be associated with them, are hereby constituted and declared a body
corporate, under the name and style of the Flint River Navigation Company, w ho
shall be authorized to receive subscriptions, and donations, and apply the
same, in such manner as they shall direct to the improvement of the navigation
of Flint River in Madison county from Capt. Scott's Mills, to the Tennessee
River.\94
[Approved
Dec. 20, 1820.]\94\A0 (Taken from ALISON \96
Alabama Legislative Services Online, website).
Unfortunately, this entrepreneurial effort was
doomed to failure. Some of the men decided that one of the best ways to clear
the Flint River to open it up for navigation would be to fell the trees and
saplings that lined the banks, and allow them to fall into the river. Their
thinking was that the currents would sweep the trees away, downstream into the
larger Tennessee River. However, the trees merely got caught on the stumps in
the river, and rather than washing downstream, they stuck there, where they
deteriorated and caused additional silt to built up in the river forming large
sand bars, making navigation more, rather than less, difficult.
Around 1830, the U.S. Government opened additional
lands in the Big Cove and surrounding areas for purchase. David Cobb purchased
more land next to his son-in-law, the Irish immigrant, John Allison, in the
area toward Gurley now known as Horse Cove. Two of David\92s sons by his wife,
Martha Bryant, Bryant Cobb and his brother, W.R.W. Cobb also bought lands at this
time, as did several other Cobb men and one Cobb woman: Nancy Cobb. Nancy
purchased 2 separate tracts across the Big Cove in what is now known as Owens
Cross Roads. Nancy Cobb had eight known children, as proven by deed records in
Madison County, AL.\A0 Those children
were, according to the deeds, named: Azariah, Dickson, John, Eleazer,
Theophilus T., Thomas, Hessey, and Lidy.
Oral family history states that Nancy\92s first
husband, and father of the aforementioned children, was a John Cobb, of North
Carolina. Tradition has it that he died in Madison County, AL circa 1825, and
was buried in Byrd Cemetery. However, one must be warned that NO PROOF exists
as to these claims. There was indeed more than one David Cobb, and more than
one John Cobb, that passed through Madison County, AL during the earliest days,
including one David Cobb that ended up in Lauderdale County, AL, and a John B.
Cobb, who ended up in Limestone County, AL area. There exist no estate records
in Madison County, AL, for Nancy\92s husband. Perhaps they were amongst the
multitude of \93squatters that came and squatted on land until it became
available for sale. If so, they may have squatted for a long time, since the
earliest record is of Nancy and John\92s son, Azariah, marrying his cousin, Jerusha,
on May 4, 1818, and yet Nancy did not purchase land until August 1, 1830, when
she acquired two tracts, one being 79.9 acres, and the second being 147.2
acres. This information can be verified through the United States Bureau of
Land Management Records. Nancy\92s husband was certainly not in the picture when
Nancy purchased her property in 1830, supposedly at a \93widow\92s sale\94, where
widows had an opportunity to purchase lands at a reduced price. Another
possibility is that John Cobb may have settled near present day Woodville, AL,
which was at one point a part of the defunct Decatur County, AL. This is not to
be confused with the city of Decatur, AL, which is in Morgan County, AL.
Decatur County was only in existence for a few short years. Its capitol was Woodville,
a town of which Nancy\92s son, Thomas, was considered to be a Founding Father.
Unfortunately, all records of Decatur County have been lost \96 some say they
were burned during the Civil War. It is indeed likely that Nancy and her
husband John might have lived in settled in that area prior to Nancy buying the
property at the sale of 1830. John may even have died and even recorded a will
there, and it would be amongst the missing or burned records of that lost
county.
For many years, Nancy\92s maiden name has been
unknown, but circumstantial evidence supports that her maiden name may have
been Coburn. However, the reader is advised to be aware that no concrete proof
has been found. There lived, in 1790, in Martin County, North Carolina, David
Cobb, John Cobb, and several members of the Coburn family, including a Francis
Coburn. (Please note that the name Coburn has numerous variations, including
the original Cockburne, Cockburn, Cobern, Coburne, and Cogburn.) These same
Coburns are also found in the 1800 Anson Co., NC census alongside John and
David Cobb. In Francis Coburn\92s will, dated 1813 in Anson Co., he references
his daughter, Nancy Cobb. The Nancy Cobb who ended up in Madison County, AL,
and her husband, unknown/John Cobb had children whose names match up with names
in Nancy Coburn\92s family, including Azariah, Eleazor, Theophilus and Lydia.
Additionally, land changed hands between Francis Coburn and John Cobb, which
might be indicative of a close relationship.
DNA testing has definitively proven that there
exists a common ancestor between Nancy\92s Cobb husband, and David Cobb. It is
very possible, and even likely that David was Nancy\92s brother-in-law, and that
Nancy\92s husband, whether his name was John or some other name, was David\92s
brother. David\92s son Bryant filed two claims with the Southern Claims
Commission seeking reparations for damages and supplies, after the Civil War.
One claim was on his own behalf, and the other was on behalf of his deceased
brother, Williamson Robert Winfield (also known as WRW) Cobb. In one of his
depositions, Bryant Cobb stated that, as administrator of his late brother\92s
estate, he had appointed Azariah Cobb (Nancy\92s son) to oversee WRW\92s
plantation. He referred to Azariah as \93a cousin of mine\94. Moreover, this
writer\92s grandmother stated that she was a fourth cousin to one of Nancy\92s
descendants, and counting back, that would also mean that David Cobb and
Nancy\92s husband would have been brothers, and that they shared the same father.
However, lack of concrete evidence leads serious genealogists to note only that
this is a possibility, and that we have yet to ascertain exactly which common
ancestor that David and Nancy\92s husband did, in fact share.
Countless hours and years of research by numerous
researchers has gone into determining the father of David Cobb. Family
tradition states that he was born in 1760 in Dobbs County, North Carolina, to
William Cobb and Sarah Stancil (Stansel).\A0
Census records serve to support his year of birth, yet one record
showing David\92s son Bryant Cobb suggests that David may have been born in
Virginia. Keep in mind that the border between Virginia and North Carolina was
still being refined during this period. There were several William Cobbs in
North Carolina during this period, and unfortunately, frequent changes in the
county lines in that area of North Carolina, and many missing/destroyed records
have made proving exactly which William is the correct father of David a
daunting task. The closest thing we have been able to find by way of proving
this parentage is a D.A.R. record submitted by David\92s great-granddaughter. One
might assume that she would have known the names of her great-grandparents.
Yet, because these records are not infallible, and because no other proof has
been uncovered, there exists another distinct possibility, and that being that
David\92s father may have been of another name.
Several theories exist as to who David\92s father
really was; one of the most widely published is that he was William Cobb, owner
of Rocky Mount (Tennessee). However, many hours of diligent research by
multiple researchers have failed to confirm this.\A0 Rather much evidence does exist to the contrary. DNA testing by a
proven descendant of William Cobb of Rocky Mount, TN show that there is no genetic
connection between these two families. Another popular opinion is that
David\92s father was William Cobb, son of Joseph Cobb and Catherine Whitehead. This cannot be true
since descendants of Joseph does not match the Madison Co. AL line.. See below. Other
researchers claim that David\92s father was a James Cobb, or a Nicholas Cobb, or
even an Edward Cobb. However, please be strongly cautioned that, to set forth a
claim that any of these men was the undisputed father of David and/or John Cobb
without additional proof is a grave miscarriage of the preservation of our
family history. Anyone with proof to offer is asked to kindly share it, so that
the many unproven yet widely circulated theories can be disputed once and for
all. This goes likewise for anyone with more substantive proof as to the true
connection between David and Nancy\92s husband \96 further proof is needed before
any claims that they were brothers, cousins, etc. can be stated as a fact. One
frequent misstatement claims that Nancy\92s husband was named Stephen John Cobb.
Having watched this grow from an innocent theory by one researcher who was
simply trying to see if there was a basis in fact for a connection to William
of Rocky Mount, into a \93fact\94 posted on numerous family trees has been a source
for much frustration, because there is absolutely nothing at all to support his
name being Stephen, and Stephen was not used in William's line. All genetic evidence points to a Nicholas of Isle of Wight, VA connection.
It is hoped that sharing of accurate information as
supported by facts will alleviate much of the inaccurate information being
broadcast. Publishing and broadcasting misinformation as facts without
specific, documenting evidence to support it, is a gross disservice to the many
researchers that have contributed their valuable time and resources to further
these efforts. Additionally, it is hoped that any researcher on these lines
that is reaping the fruits of another researcher\92s labors will have the
integrity to give full credit where it is due.
Male Cobb descendants are encouraged to participate
in the DNA studies, which have thus far proven to be invaluable in helping sort
out the many Cobb lines. To date various matches have been found that point strongly to a
Nicholas Cobb of Isle of Wight connection. Two males who can document their lineage back
to Nicholas match the descendants to David Cobb of Madison Co, AL; the descendants of Nancy
moved to Madison Co, AL and whose son Azariah named a son Semer (Seymour?);to Semer Cobb who
married Esther Lewis and moved to IN; to Curtis Cobb who moved from NC to GA: to Bryant Cobb
moved from NC to GA; to Wiley Howell Cobb of Pitt Co, NC. Semer Cobb of Indiana married
into a Quaker family, and it will be interesting to discover how far back this
line of Cobbs connects to Quaker ties. Until documentation can be come by that
shows exactly what the connection is between David Cobb and Nancy Cobb\92s
husband, they will have individual databases posted here. Much more detailed
information is available regarding descendants of David Cobb as well as the
descendants of Nancy Cobb, and more will be made available under individual\92s
names in upcoming months. As this is a new addition to the Cobb and Cobbs
website, comments and proven corrections are welcomed. Together we will
hopefully be able to ascertain exactly where the Cobb families of Madison
County, Alabama fit with the other Cobb lines. Correctly preserving our
heritage will enable generations to come a better understanding of some of the
things that transpired before them that helped to shape them and their
families.
Go to the family of David
Cobb Individuals
or Surnames
Report on the restoration of WRW Cobb cemetery headstone
Go to the family of John Cobb Individuals or Surnames
Go to the family of Semer Cobb Individuals or Surnames
Go to Cobb and Cobbs Main Page