John C. Cobb

JOHN C. COBB.

To any reader of the history of Mr. Cobb's life his usefulness and worth will appear. Perhaps no citizen of the county has furthered the interests of her people in more varied ways than has he, and in so doing he has gained the esteem and respect of all her citizens.

John C. Cobb was born in Sniabar township, this county, March 18, 1843, the son of Alfred F. Cobb, who was born in North Carolina, August 9, 1816, a son of Morris Cobb, born in North Carolina, April 5, 1792. He removed to Tennessee about 181 8 and in 1838 went from there to Johnson county, Missouri, two miles east of Chapel Hill, where he owned a farm, and died there November 4, 1854. By trade he was an iron maker. Morris Cobb's wife was Rebecca Cobb, who died in this county in 1860. Alfred F. Cobb came to Missouri in 1837 or 1838 and entered land in Sniabar township, where he lived until his death. December 28, 1873. He was married in Tennessee March 10, 1842, to Louisa Hoskins, who was born in that state on June 26, 1823. Alfred Cobb made the trip from this county to Tennessee on horseback and brought his wife back in a two-horse wagon. She died June 6, 1890. They were the parents of eleven children: John C, William L., of Johnson county, Missouri; Samuel T., who died in infancy; Briton M., of Johnson county, Missouri; Benjamin L., of Bozeman, Montana; James A., of Odessa,

Missouri; Luther T., of Texas; Robert Milton died in January, 1902, in Kansas City, Missouri; Daniel L., of Odessa; Alfred L., of Colorado; and Margaret Jane, wife of Robert Wagoner, of Johnson county, Missouri.

John C. Cobb was reared in Sniabar township, spending his boyhood on his father's farm. For three years, beginning in 1861, he was engaged in freighting across the plains. In 1864 he enlisted in Company A, Forty-Fourth Missouri Infantry, and served until May, 1865. Then he took up farming in his native township, purchasing the Ridings farm at Chapel Hill which was formerly owned by A. W. Ridings, who established the Chapel Hill College, where many noted men of Missouri were educated. He continued to be actively engaged in farming until 1880, when he organized the Bank of Odessa and removed to the town in the fall of that year, where he has since resided. He served as president of the bank until January i, 1909, since which time he has given his attention to stock feeding in Lafayette county and also in Colorado and operates extensively in real estate. He was one of the earliest settlers of Odessa and has contributed largely to the upbuilding of the to"wn. Cobb avenue is named for him. For twenty-eight and one-half years he served as president of the Bank of Odessa and is one of the oldest bankers in the county and state.

Mr. Cobb was married in Jackson county, Missouri, April 12, 1868, to Louisa A. Hobson, daughter of Lemuel and Mary E. (Shore) Hobson, of Jackson county. He was a bricklayer by trade and built many of the old brick houses in Independence. He died on his farm in Jackson county February 26, 1878, in his sixty-third year, his wife dying in Odessa, December 13, 1891, when seventy-one years of age. They were the parents of six children: Alfred D., who died in Independence, March 31, 1864; L. J., the wife of D. E. Lang, died at Oak Grove, June 15, 1909; Lottie H., wife of I. E. Wagoner, died in Odessa May 13, 1887; Martha E. died in infancy; Nancy E., wife of H. B. Wagoner, who died in Odessa, October 23, 1886. Louisa A. (Mrs. Cobb) was the third child and was born in Jackson county, October i, 1851. Mr. and Mrs. Cobb are the parents of three children: Dora L., born on the farm at Chapel Hill, November 27, 1869, wife of Gordon Jones, of Denver, Colorado; Harvey C, born June 19, 1872, and died in Odessa, March 9, 1893; Elbert, born June 11, 1883, and died March 11, 1893.

Mr. and Mrs. Cobb have been active and prominent members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He assisted in the organization of the congregation in Odessa and was one of the ruling elders in the convention. He was a member of the boards of missions and of church erection and finances for some fifteen years, including both the home and foreign missions.

When the Cumberland Presbyterian church and the Presbyterian church of the United States of America were consohdated he was elected a member of the board of home missions, with headquarters in New York City, and is still a member. He is one of the original corporate members of the Missouri Valley College at Marshall, Missouri, was on various committees when the college was built, including the building committee, and has since been a trustee. He takes much interest in educational affairs, although he holds no public school offices. He has always been interested in livestock farming and believes in keeping the boys on the farm and that there they have as good opportunities as elsewhere. Mr. Cobb has certainly lived a full life, with all his varied activities in farming, banking and other business lines, in church work and public service. His works have naturally inspired great esteem and respect for him. Certainly he is a man who has used his life freely for the service of others and the upbuilding of the neighborhood.

As printed in Young's history of Lafayette County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.