Notes for Alexander* "Sanders" Cobb:
General Notes:
Children Listed in Order supplies by Fred Ward Internet: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected] corn
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 20:29:04 EDT
Subject: Re: Cohbs
Message-ID: <10 aaed6244e75d0@aolxom>
I do not think many of the Alabama COBB descendants accept the fact that Alexander descended from William COBB of Rocky Mount In. I have visited the Rocky Mt museum located at the Wm COBB home, at Piney flats, which is near Johnson City In. The people working there are very knowlegeable on the COBBS, When asked about Alexander, their reply was that they knew nothing about him.
Last week I attended a THAMES reunion in Chilton Co Al, all of these THAMES are decendants of Alexander COBB, thru his oldest daughter RUTHA BANKS COBB, who Married John THAMES. 1820, in Bibb Co. Our theory is that Alexander and Sanders COBB are the one and same. This is based on several things. Simon Gentry, a widower, married Rebecca COBB, a widow with two sons. Simon acknowledges these sons by giving them a mortgage for use of their properiy. Many of the GENTRY'S migrated to Bibb Co Al about the same time Alexander arrived, possibly together. It is family tradition among the GENTRY
researchers that Alexander (Sanders) COBB was a part of that family In many areas Sanders is a nickname for Alexander. Another thing, which may sound funny is the unique way they, both Alexander and Sanders made their X's on their documernt This is only speculation, and if proven, then the next problem is to determine who Rebecca was before she married the unknown COBB.
Fred Ward
Bessemer Al
January 20, 2004
Martin,
I look forward to getting info from you regarding Rutha, I haven't done much to track her as I knew quite a few of her descendants were working on that. I hope to get data from the descendants of each of the children, as I feel the families would have access to more facts about their immediate ancestors than I could get otherwise.
What you got from my Dad, Henry, is all old stuff. The William that the family thought was Alex's father is not, as the William of Rocky Mount did not marry a Rebecca. We looked into the possibility of that William being a grandfather to Alex, but again, there was a LOT of misinformation regarding the children of that gentleman and both his first (Barsheba) and second wife (Sally, no proof that her last name was Stancil). Also no proof that the Jerry Cobb at the Battle of King's Mountain was any relation to William and Pharoah.
Now that we know that Alex went by the name Sanders/Saunders in SC, we have documented proof that his mother's name was Rebecca/Becky. I have copies of the deeds; both the one where Simon Gentry took out a deed of mortgage to purchase the land, house and all that went with it from his two step-sons, Sanders (Alex) and Jeremiah, and the one in 1805 where Alex sold the land, and Rebecca signed over her right of dower. (Just a side note of interest; it was thought that Simon Gentry had died by 1805, but he had not. Turns out he went to the Mississippi Territory with his brother Elijah and tried to become a Methodist minister. According to the written history, he was offered a trial period of one year and that was not renewed, no reason given. But a few paragraphs down it states that he was reputed to be somewhat demented. If you have any interest in this I can give you the website so that you can read it for yourself.)
Regarding Rebecca Underwood Parminter Cobb, here are the facts as I have found them. She was born about 1839 to Vina Parminter. Mrs. Parminter was the lady that Alexander had an illegal relationship with that caused his children to take him to court and try to have him declared insane. The court found in Alex's favor and the fact that he gave Mrs. Parminter a gift of a slave did not denote lunacy.
Vina obviously died by September 1850, because that is when Alexander went before the court and legally adopted Rebecca. It has been posted that Alexander had married Vina (sometimes written as Lavina) Parminter, but according to the way the court records were written (they stated that Rebecca was the child of Vina Parminter, deceased, so her surname was not Cobb) he did not ever marry her.
I found a record of a John Parminta/Parminto that died of influenza in Shelby County, AL in August 1850, just one month before Alex filed to adopt Rebecca. I don't know if this was Vina's husband and Rebecca's legal father, but the timing is very coincidental. I did not find a record of Vina's death. The question is still up in the air as to whether Alexander was Rebecca's biological father. On the 1900 and 1910 census records, Rebecca states her father was born in SC and her mother in AL.
Rebecca Underwood Cobb married Davis Hubbard before Alex died, because he signed permission since she was underage at the time (without records in front of me, I think it was in 1854).
I have FTM on the old computer downstairs, but have not installed it on this new one. I plan to do so and to bring all my files up to date. Once I get that done, I will be delighted to share what I have. If you would like copies of the documentation, some I have scanned and can send, some may have to be faxed or sent snail mail.
Since this has gotten so long, I will wait and send you the info regarding what may turn out to be a NC family connection for Alex. You may see a lot of speculation about whether Alex and Jeremiah's father might be Jeremiah. A lot of that is because of the name, but Jeremiah is the second son (b. abt 1775), custom would have been to name the first son after the father. It has always seemed strange to me that Alexander did not name a son after himself or after his brother, Jeremiah. (Jeremiah did name a son Alexander.) The only sibling names he seems to have used was Allen and Elizabeth (naming two daughters that). From what I have found, there is a small chance that his second son, William P., may have carried the name of an ancestor .... but that is another story. Enough for now.
Your cousin,
Barbara
(Barbara Cobb Rowe, Lilburn, Georgia
On January 21, 2004
It was my aunt (Dad's sister), Doris Cobb Norris, that had done the research and sent it to him. However, please note, that Doris' records were all done on the assumption that William B. Cobb of Rocky Mount, TN was Alexander's father and Sarah/Sally Stancil was Alexander's mother. This is what had been handed down for generations, word of mouth. So our actual records can go no further back than Alexander's mother.
All that started with the letter from one of Alexander's granddaughters, Mary McNeill, daughter of James Cobb. It states that Alexander was the son of a William Cobb and an Indian maiden. Somehow that got turned in to the wrong William. But it may still be the right thing ... just a different William.
Now a quick note regarding what my NC research has turned up and why I started looking in that direction.
1. the 1790 Sampson County, NC Census shows a Becky Cobb, household of three total, all in the free others column (which normally denoted Native Americans, sometimes free blacks). So it is possible that Rebecca/Becky was of Indian heritage and that this household is Becky, Alexander and Jeremiah. Not fact, just a clue.
2. there is a record of a William Cobb who served in the Revolution from NC for only a short time. He was killed in Jan. 1778. Timing is right to make Becky a widow after fathering the two boys (1772 and 1775), and might explain why there were only two children. Just another little clue.
3. there are two land records in Sampson/Duplin County NC noting that a William Cobb of Craven, SC bought land in 1772. The interesting part is that one of these was witnessed by an Alexander Cobb. No, can't be our Alexander since that is the year he was born, but witness of land records was usually done by a relative, father, son, brother, etc. So another small clue.
All of these clues add up to why I intend to go back to NC in March. There is a privately owned genealogical library there with over 4000 volumes. The public is allowed in on weekday afternoons. I hope to find more clues.
We may never know who Alexander's father is, but maybe with some digging we can get close. Hopefully the DNA testing will at least give us a Cobb line, so that will help. Nothing so far, but I am hopeful.
Barbara Cobb Rowe