Shelby-Saintclair-Perry County AlArchives Biographies.....Cobb, Rufus W. 1829 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 13, 2011, 12:45 am Source: See below Author: Smith & De Land, publishers RUFUS W. COBB, was born at Ashville, St. Clair County, Ala., February 25, 1829. He attended school at an academy at Ashville, and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1850. After leaving his alma mater he at once began the study of law at the home of his childhood; was licensed to practice at the same place about 1855, and admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court very soon afterward. He began his professional life at Ashville, but moved to Montevallo, Shelby County, in 1856, and made that place his residence until after the war. In the fall of 1865 he transferred his home to Marion, Perry County, where he practiced law until 1688, at which time he returned to Shelby County, and located at Columbiana. In 1872 his friends of the Democratic party elected him to the State Senate from the district including Shelby and Bibb Counties. In 1876 he was again sent to the Senate from this district, which by a change was now comprised of Shelby, Jefferson and Walker Counties. This Senate made him their president, and in 1878, the Democratic party expressed its appreciation of his services and ability by placing him in the gubernatorial chair. About 1874 the State of Alabama found herself hampered with an enormous debt, amounting to about thirty millions of dollars, a very large portion of which was improper and fraudulent. A plan for the adjustment of that debt was devised by Peter Hamilton, of Mobile, Rufus W. Cobb and other members of the Senate, and after it had been submitted to, and approved by, the Governor (Houston), bills were prepared, and proper steps taken to effect such legislation as would develop and carry out this plan. They provided for a commission to adjust the indebtedness, which commission consisted of George S. Houston, Levi W. Lawler, and T. B. Bethea, who effected the proposed adjustment, and reduced the State indebtedness to about ten millions of dollars. This action on the part of the commission was ratified by the Legislature. The position of Rufus W. Cobb, at this time, as President of the Senate, and his active energy in developing the plan to relieve the State from her burden, made him the prominent and most desirable man to succeed Houston as Governor. He was re-elected Governor in 1878, and at the expiration of his second term (1882) his public life ceased. Since that time he has been active as a member of the bar of Shelby, and has resided at Helena. When the tocsin of war rang through the land in 1861, Rufus W. Cobb responded promptly to its call. He entered the army as captain of Company C., Tenth Alabama Regiment. This command was in the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1863, he was transferred to the Western Army under Bragg, and placed on special and detached duty, reporting personally to the generals in command. He remained in this service until the close of the war. Governor Cobb is a son of John W. Cobb, who was born in Virginia about 1800, reared in South Carolina, and came to Ashville about 1820. He married Catherine Peake, a widow, whose maiden name was Stevens. They had two sons, of whom W. Harvey Cobb is the elder. He was born September 2, 1823, at Ashville, where he has always lived, and is now the oldest inhabitant. John W. Cobb was by occupation a merchant and farmer, and served as a member of the State Legislature, several terms. He was a colonel in the Florida War, and died in 1845. Bishop Cobb, of the Episcopal Church, is related to Governor Cobb, and it is believed that all the Cobbs in the country descended from the one stock, which originated in Wales Governor Cobb was married in 1850 to Miss Margaret, daughter of W. S. McClurg, of Knoxville, Tenn. By this marriage Governor Cobb has two living children—John W. Cobb, a farmer near Blount Springs, and Dora, now the wife of Richard Pell, Jr., of the Central Iron Works and Helena Mills. Mrs. Margaret Cobb died in 1865. On the last day of December, 1866, Governor Cobb was married to Miss Frances Pell, daughter of Richard Pell, Sr., a practical and successful iron master, and by this marriage has two children— Edith and Richard. Governor Cobb and family are Baptists; the Governor is a Knight Templar and has taken the 32d degree in the Scottish Rite. He has been Master of Blue Lodge at every place in which he has lived, and was Grand Master of the State for two terms. He is the only man who was ever Grand Master and Governor at the same time. The Governor is an eloquent speaker; a man of great deliberation and forethought; social in his disposition; liberal in his means, and attracts hosts of friends. 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. MINERAL BELT. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/shelby/bios/cobb916gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.4 Kb