Rufus W . Cobb Rufus Willis Cobb ( February 25 , 1829 – November 26 , 1913 ) was an American Democratic politician who was the 25th Governor of Alabama from 1878 to 1882 . Biography . Rufus Wills Cobb was born in Ashville , St . Clair County , Alabama . Cobb ' s ancestors came to America from England and Wales , first settling in Virginia in the colonial era and moving to what would become the state of Alabama in the early 1800s . He was the son of John W . and Catherine ( Stevens ) Leak Cobb , who lived on a plantation at Ashville . Cobb was educated at an academy in Ashville and graduated from the University of Tennessee , at Knoxville , in 1850 . Returning to Ashville , he read law in the office of John C . Thomasson and was admitted to the bar in 1855 . He practiced law in St . Clair until he moved to Shelby County , Alabama , in 1867 and became a law partner of B . B . Lewis . When war was proclaimed in 1861 , Cobb joined the Confederate Army as captain of Co . C . , Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment , Forney ' s brigade , and went to Virginia with that regiment . He remained there until , in 1863 , he was assigned to General Joseph Wheeler ' s cavalry in Tennessee and placed in charge of a scouting party . At the end of the war Cobb resumed his law practice . Cobb was elected to the Alabama state senate in 1872 and in 1876 . During his term in the state senate , he collaborated with Peter Hamilton of Mobile on a plan for readjusting the state debt , a plan subsequently adopted by the legislature . Cobb was a friend and advisor of Governor George Smith Houston during Houston ' s administration . Cobb was elected governor in 1878 and reelected in 1880 . " He had a quiet administration , without striking events . " ( Owen , p . 357 ) The population of Alabama was growing , by 1880 the federal census recorded 1 , 262 , 505 , and the problems of administrative finance and control of the railroads fell to Cobb . " His administration made improvements in tax assessment and reduced the cost of surplus in the state treasury . " ( Stewart , p . 127 ) Also during Cobb ' s two terms , the State Railroad Commission , the State Bar Association , and the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute were created . The records of Governor Cobb ' s administration reflect that a major controversy during his last term was prohibition . The prohibition forces attempted to pass a statewide local option law but were unsuccessful . After his term as governor had expired , he retired to private life for a time , but in 1888 accepted the appointment to the office of probate judge of Shelby County . Cobb also served as president of the Central Iron Works at Helena from 1873 to 1891 , continuing to hold his title while serving as governor . He was also an attorney for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad ; and was involved in cotton planting and in developing an iron mine , the Delmar , in northern Alabama . Cobb belonged to all the branches of the York Rite Masons and was grand master of the grand lodge of Alabama in 1879 and 1880 . He was the only man who was grand master and governor at the same time . He was a member of all the lodges of the Scottish Rite Masonry up to and including the thirty - second degree . Cobb ' s last residence was Birmingham . His grave is located in Birmingham ' s Forest Hill Cemetery .