The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-27
CoBBs AND COBB.
And How They Came southward from
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And How They Came Southward from Virginia.
 Sidney Herbert in Savannah News. Pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla. Feb-~24. Last Saturday, under the head of "A Great English Family" the Rev. Dr. George G. Smith, in The Atlanta Jour nal gave one of his charactertstic sketches of the Copbs and Cobb fam flies. One gets the idea, however, from his article, that the Cobbs have all dropped the s and are now of the mod ern Cobb family. But over in Ala bana, from Is44 to his death in 1881,
 Rev. Nicholas Hammer Cobbs, D. D.,
 was the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of that diocese. And today the rector of st. Paurs Church, at Greensboro, Ala, is Richard H. Cobbs. D. D., and at St. Johns Church, in Montgomery, is Rev. Edward E. Cobbs. Bishop Cobbs was horn in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1705, and grew up with only an "old
 field school education, yet with a na- tive talent and manly qualities that
 made him a successful teacher for a dozen years, after which he entered the ministry His sterling qualities soon won him honors, and he was chosen clerical delegate to the general conven- ton. and six years later he became chaplain of the University of Virginia. Then came the title of Doctor of Die vinity from Hobart College, followed by an election, two years later, to the bishopric of Alabama. Since his death the name of Cobbs has remained an
 honored one in that State, where his
 gifted son stands in the foremost rank of the ablest clergy of the diocese.
 The Georgia Cobbs also came from Virginia, but after awhile the was dropped and we had Howell Cobb and
 John A Cobb, and alF after them were Cah fa r1GIfag Tho RiGhnF (Nnhhg fam
 fly of Alabama however, retained the s and 1t is now being transmitted from one generation to another. Capt. Howell Cobb, U. A.. was a son of John Cobbs, who came to Georgia from Virginia, after a short residence in North Carolina. where his son Howell was born Rev. pr. Smith thinks John Cohbs never lived In that State, but he is mistaken. Captain Cobb was In the army from 179S to 1906. and he Is reported as having died in 1920. Rev. DG. Smith says: Captain Cobb mar ried a Miss Roote. I think. but had no children. by ler." The name should be Rootes. most distinguished one in Virginia. Rev. T R. R. Cobb's moth CT was a Miss Sarah Rootes, daughter of Judge Thomas Rootes of Freder icksburg, Va. and think her son was named Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb for his uncle, Commander Thomas Reade Rootes, U. $. N.s who was dismissed in 1861 to join the Confederate navy.
 Capt. Howell Cobb. the date of whose death seems to be in doubt--as above given--left a. widow, who was Martha J. Rootes, also a daughter of Judge Rootes of Virginia, and she married pr. Prof Henry Jackson, of the old Franklin College at Athens, and their son was named Henry Rootes Jackson, but in his later years. when he became so distinguished, he was known simp- Iy as Gen. Henry R. Jackson, just as Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb was usu ally known as Gen. T. R. R. Cobb. But the name of Rootes (also written Roots by one branch of the Virginia family) Is to be found on the army and navy rolls from 1799 to the pres ent day There were four officers in the Confederate navy named Rootes. The name of Howell Cobb, in various families, has always been a familiar and honored one in Georgia and by the marriage of daughters the name has become interwoven with many distin- xuished families in the State, and there fore we have the we'll known names oS Howell Cobb Erwin and Howell Cobb Glenn, and Howell Cobb Jackson, not to mention several others.
 I cannot understand how I overlook ed my old friends. Gen. Alexander R. Lawton and Gen. E Porter Alsxan6@R, in my list of Confederate generals whose fulI names yvarA hafnp frapsnaff