Hernando County FlArchives Biographies.....Cobb, William Donnell December 1, 1867 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/fl/flfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Nancy Rayburn Naev@earthlink.net October 22, 2007, 3:48 pm

Author: The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1923,  Vol. II  pg.347

	COBB, WILLIAM DONNELL.  Becoming a resident of Georgia in early youth, 
and formerly in the railroad service, WILLIAM DONNELL COBB is the present 
sheriff of Hernando County, and on account of his office and his personal 
enterprise is deservedly prominent in that section of the state.
	Sheriff COBB was born near Goldsboro, Wayne County, South Carolina, 
December 1, 1867.  His father is the venerable Col. JOHN PROBERT COBB, who for 
several years past has lived retired at Florida and is now eighty-eight years 
of age.  He is also a native of Wayne County, North Carolina, and was a 
planter until the beginning of the Civil war.  He raised and organized the 
Goldsboro Rifles, and was mustered into the Confederate army as its captain.  
He made a splendid record as a soldier and officer, and after several 
successive promotions was made colonel of the Second North Carolina Infantry.  
He lost a leg in the battle of Winchester, Virginia.  With the close of the 
war he resumed the management of his plantation, and for a number of years was 
probate judge of Wayne County.  He resigned this office in 1883. Came to 
Brooksville, Florida, and subsequently served two terms as tax assessor of  
Hernando County and one term as postmaster of Brooksville, being appointed 
postmaster by President Cleveland.  He is a member of the Episcopal Church.
	WILLIAM DONNELL COBB had only a public school education, and soon 
after coming to Florida he went to work on the F. R. & N., now part of the 
Seaboard Air Line Railroad.  He was stationed at Wildwood, the only railroad 
in this section of the state.  At that time Hernando County comprised what is 
now Hernando, Citrus and Pasco counties.  When Mr. COBB was twenty-one years 
of age he was appointed deputy sheriff, and performed all the duties of that 
position for twelve years.  Then for three years he was special agent for the 
Atlantic Coast Line Railway, with duties between Charleston and Jacksonville.  
On returning to Hernando County he took up the business of logging and 
lumbering, and was thus engaged for seventeen years, until January 6, 1920, 
when he was appointed sheriff, and in the general election of the same year 
was chosen to that office for a full term.  He has made a splendid record as 
sheriff, and his previous experience as deputy enabled him to take hold of the 
administration with vigor at the very outset of his term.  Mr. COBB is a 
member of the State Sheriff’s Association.
	He is engaged in truck farming and is always ready with time and means 
to advance the best interests of the county.  He is a member of the Baptist 
Church.
	January 26, 1893, at Brooksville, Mr. COBB married ANNA S. STURGIS, a 
native of Dallas, Alabama, daughter of Rev. H. H. STURGIS.  Her father has 
been a well known minister of the Baptist Church.  In 1883 he moved to 
Hernando County, and in the performance of his duties he walked and rode 
horseback all over this section of the state.  He is now living retired at the 
age of eighty.  Mrs. COBB is an active church worker.  Their three children 
are:  MARGARET ELIZABETH, wife of E. F. FINNEY, of Knoxville, Tennessee; JOHN 
PROBERT, an employee of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company; and WILLIAM 
D., Jr. 


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/hernando/bios/cobb64nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/flfiles/

File size: 3.9 Kb