Limestone County AlArchives Biographies.....Hobbs, Thomas Hubbard 1826 - 1862
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 5, 2011, 8:51 pm

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

    THOMAS HUBBARD HOBBS, Athens, was born in Limestone County, Ala., April 19,
1826, and died in Lynchburg, Va., July 24, 1862. His parents were Ira E. and
Rebecca E. (Maclin) Hobbs, natives of Brunswick county, Va., and of Scotch-Irish
extraction. His mother was a daughter of Thomas Maclin, a captain in the War of
1812, and his uncle, Hubbard Hobbs, was a lieutenant in the United States Navy,
and an officer on the Vincenues, the first vessel sent by the United States
Government to circumnavigate the globe. Lieutenant Hobbs spent most of his life
at sea, though he occasionally visited Alabama, and probably erected the first
cotton-mill in this State. It was at Fulton, and in the year 1827.

    The subject of this sketch received his academic education at La Grange
College: graduated from the University of Virginia as Bachelor of Arts in 1853,
and subsequently from the law department of the University of Pennsylvania. He
practiced law but a short time at Athens, this State, when, finding his
plantation requiring most of his attention, he abandoned the profession almost
entirely.

    He was one of the prime movers of the North & South Railroad, and was
associated with the Hon. Luke Pryor in the establishment and final success of
that enterprise.

    He was elected to the Legislature in 1856, as favoring the railroad
appropriation, and was sent bv that body to represent his Congressional district
at the Cincinnati Convention of that year. He was in the Legislature
continuously from 1856 to 1861, and was a Breckenridge elector in 1860. Though
quite a young man, he was prominently spoken of in connection with the
gubernatorial chair.

    In speaking of him after his death, the Memphis Appeal says: "Among
Alabama's brightest and purest sons was Major Thomas H. Hobbs, of Limestone
County. He was of the cavalier stock of the Old Dominion. His education was
thorough, varied and polished. He wielded a facile pen, and in writings showed
his refined and tacit taste. He was gifted with a clear, cogent and convincing
eloquence. Calm, dignified, self-poised, he discussed the most difficult
questions with eminent ability. As a member of the Legislature, he devoted his
time and talents to the development of the resources of his own State. He was
foremost in all noble enterprises. In her system of popular enterprises, Alabama
owed more to Thomas Hobbs than to any other one man. A politician of the old
Democratic school, he was the courteous and gentlemanly opponent, never
condescending to low and unmanly tricks to gain his point. Pure, and as gentle
as a woman, he was the embodiment of masculine energy and heroic valor. With a
courage cool, calm and daring, he was among the first to enter the army."

    An original Secessionist, he was opposed by some of the leading men of his
country. He entered the army in 1861 as the Captain of Company F, Ninth Alabama
Infantry, and proceeded at once to Richmond.

    While the battle of Manassas was being fought he was at Piedmont, and
reached the battle-ground the next day, where, as he said. "I saw for the first
time the awful result of war." After going through all the battles in which his
regiment had participated, in the first day of what is known as the Seven Days'
Fight around Richmond, he was wounded by a gun-shot in the knee. This wound,
though slight, resulted in his death. While in the army Captain Hobbs was asked
to become a member of the Confederate Congress, but declined the honor.

    He was first married at Richmond, Va., August 4, 1852, to Indiana E. Booth.
She died at Athens in 1854. His second marriage was at Lynchburg. Va., February
17, 1858, to Anne Benagh, a daughter of James Benagh, of that city. She died at
Athens in 1872, leaving two sons: Thomas Maclin and James Benagh. The latter
died in 1883 at the age of 21 years. Thomas Maclin Hobbs was educated at the
Virginia Military Institute and the Alabama State University. He lives now upon
the plantation once owned by his grandfather. Thomas Maclin, and is the sole
successor and heir to the estates of that family.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART III.
HISTORICAL RESUME OF THE VARIOUS COUNTIES IN THE STATE.
CEREAL BELT.


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