James Bell

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1880, Pontotoc County, MS
• Occupation: 1880, Postmaster
• Occupation: 1900, Postmaster

Notes:

Prominent Lawyer, possibly his father was as well. Mrs. H.P. (Sister) Hurt had a 20 odd volume set, leather bound of the State Laws of Mississippi, Handwritten.

CENSUS YR: 1860 TERRITORY: MS COUNTY: Pontotoc DIVISION: Pontotoc P.O. REEL NO: 590 PAGE NO: 494
REFERENCE: page 10 June 12, 1860

37 66 66 Bell Williams W. 32 M Planter8,000 20,000 Alabama
38 66 66 Bell Mary A. 28 FAlabama
39 66 66 Bell Isaac 9 MMiss
40 66 66 Bell James W. 7 MMiss
cont. PAGE NO: 495, REFERENCE: page 11 June 12, 1860
1 66 66 Bell David 4 MMiss
2 66 66 Bell Ann 2 FMiss
3 66 66 Bell Mary 5/12 FMiss
4 66 66 Brown Reuben 33 M I WaggonerN Carolina
5 67 67 Wilson James K. 33 M Planter10,500 38,400 Tennessee

1880 Census Place: E.D. 166, Pontotoc, Mississippi Source: FHLFilm 1254662 National Archives Film T9-0662 Page 89B
Relation SexMarrRaceAge Birthplace
J.W. BELL Self MMMU 27 MS Occ:Post Master Fa: AL Mo: AL
Mary T. BELL Wife FMW 21 MS Occ:Keep House Fa: GA Mo: GA
Robert F. BELL Son MSW 1 MS Fa: MS Mo: MS

Memphis and Shelby County Death Certificates (1902 - 1939)& Miscellaneous
SURNAME GIVEN NAME DATE AGESEX RACE BOOK FILE NOTES
BELL JAMES WILSON 10/27/1925 72YRS M W 3012
Lived at 2221 Jefferson, Memphis TN at time of death.

At one time was Post Master in Pontotoc, MS and served as censustaker.1910 occ Postmaster.

OBIT: printed in the Commercial Appeal, Wednesday, Oct 28, 1925
J. W. Bell Succumbs.
Long Illness Proves Fatal to Native of Mississippi

James Wilson Bell, aged 72, 2221 Jefferson Avenue, died last night at hisresidence, following a lingering illness. Mr Bell had resided in Memphisseven years. He was a native of Mississippi.

Mr. Bell is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mary Flournoy Bell, and fourdaughters, Mrs. H.P. Hurt, Mrs. E. M. Carr, Mrs. R. L. Campbell, and Mrs.Whitfield King.

The body will be sent to Pontotoc, Miss., on Thursday morning, wherefuneral and burial services will be held. J. T. Hinton & Son have chargeof the arrangements.

NOTICE: printed same date as above
BELL- AT residence, 2221 Jefferson Avenue, Tuesday evening, Oct. 27,1925, at 9:10 o'clock, James Wilson Bell, aged 72 years, husband of MaryFlournoy Bell; father of Mrs. H.P. Hurt, Mrs. E. M. Carr, Mrs. R. L.Campbell, and Mrs. Whitfield King.

Remains will be sent from the residence, 2221 Jefferson Avenue, Thursdaymorning, Oct 29, to Pontotoc, Miss., where funeral and burial will takeplace. Arrangements by J. T. Hinton & Son.

Died:
Carcinoma of Prostate Gland

James married Mary Louise Flournoy on 30 Oct 1876 in Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, MS. Mary (daughter of Robert Watkins Flournoy and Louisa St. Clair Cullens) was born on 24 Sep 1858 in New Albany, Union County, MS; died on 14 May 1929 in Memphis, Shelby County, TN; was buried on 16 May 1929 in Pontotoc City Cemetery, Pontotoc County, MS. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Memphis and Shelby County Death Certificates (1902 - 1939)& Miscellaneous
SURNAME GIVEN NAME DATE AGESEX RACE BOOK FILE NOTES
BELL MARY LOUISE FLOURNOY 5/14/1929 70YRS F W 1686

Death Certificate information given by Mrs. Whitfield King of 2015 S. Parkway E, Memphis, TN.
Mary Louise lived at 2221 Jefferson, Memphis, TN at time of death.

OBIT: printed in the Commercial Appeal, May15, 1929
MRS. MARY BELL DIES.
Was Member of Prominent Mississippi Family

Mrs. Mary Louise Flournoy Bell, member of a prominent Mississippi family, died at her residence, 2221 Jefferson Avenue, yesterday afternoon at 1:30o'clock, following a brief illness. She was 70 years of age.

Mrs. Bell was a native of Pontotoc, Miss. She moved to Memphis 10 years ago with her husband, the late James W. Bell. She was the daughter of the late Col R. R. and Louisa St. Clair Flournoy of Pontotoc.

Mrs. Bell's friends both in Memphis and Mississippi were legion.

She is survived by four daughters, Mrs. H. P. Hurt, Mrs. Whitfield King, Mrs. R. L. Campbell, and Mrs. E. M. Carr, and three grandchildren, Louise, Robert and James Campbell. Three children died.

Funeral arrangements are in charge of J. T. Hinton & Son, and burial will be at Pontotoc Thursday.

Died:
Chronic Myocarditis w/ Nephritis acute-paren. & Bronchoneumonia

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: 1880, Lawyer

Notes:

CENSUS YR: 1850 TERRITORY: GA COUNTY: Washington DIVISION: 91 PAGENO: 204B
REFERENCE: Enumerated 5th Sept, 1850 by S.A.H. Jones, pg.407

40 17 17 Flournoy, Robert W. 39 M Atty 10,000 Georgia
41 17 17 Flournoy, Amanda C. 32 F Georgia
42 17 17 Flournoy, Robert 8 M *X
* birthplace omitted by enumerator
pg. 408 cont
1 17 17 Flournoy, Elizabeth 6 F Georgia
2 17 17 Rawlings, Mary 17 F Georgia
3 17 17 Beach, Asabel 24 M Farmer Georgia

CENSUS YR: 1860 TERRITORY: MS COUNTY: Pontotoc DIVISION: NewAlbany REEL NO: 590 PAGE NO: 849
REFERENCE: page 363 October 22, 1860

38 2386 2386 Flournoy Robert W. 48 M Farmer 17,000 74,750 Ga
39 2386 2386 Flournoy Louisa L. 22 F Ga
40 2386 2386 Flournoy Mary L. 2 F Miss
PAGE NO: 850, REFERENCE: page 364 October 22, 1860, cont family
1 2386 2386 Cullins Wiley W. 58 M 11,000 SC

1880 Census Place: E.D. 166, Pontotoc, Mississippi Source: FHL Film 1254662 National Archives Film T9-0662 Page 89A
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
R.W. FLOURNOY Self M M W 69 GA Occ: Lawyer Fa: VA Mo: VA
Lou FLOURNOY Wife F M W 41 GA Occ: Keep House Fa: GA Mo: GA
Ella SLACK Other F B 18 MS Occ: Servant Fa: TN Mo: TN
Mollie FLOURNOY Other F S B 13 MS Occ: Servant Fa: GA Mo: MS
Houst. KIRKWOOD Other M S B 10 MS Occ: Servant Fa: MS Mo: MS

Listed as Col. R. W. Flournoy on Mary Louise Flournoy Bell's DeathCertificate.

Robert married Louisa St. Clair Cullens on 10 Dec 1858 in Shelby County, TN. Louisa was born on 9 Feb 1838 in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, GA; died on 9 Oct 1916 in Pontotoc, Pontotoc County, MS; was buried in 1916 in Pontotoc City Cemetery, Pontotoc County, MS. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1910 Census shows Louisa living with daughter Mary Louise Flournoy Bell in Pontotoc, Pontotoc Co., MS, with her own income, having one child, one child living, age 72, bn Georgia.
1900 Census living with daughter Mary Louise Flournoy Bell In Pontotoc, Pontotoc Co., MS

Robert married Mary Willis Cobbs on 9 May 1794 in Montgomery County, Georgia, USA. Mary was born on 15 Apr 1777 in Virginia, USA; died on 8 Feb 1829 in Georgia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Genealogy of the Lewis and Kindred Families

Author: WM. Terrell Lewis
Call Number: CS71.L675
This book contains the history and genealogy of the Lewis family of Virginia.

Bibliographic Information: Lewis, WM. Terrell. Genealogy of the Lewis Family. The Courier-Journal Job Printing Company. Kentucky. 1893.

6 Howell Lewis was the fourth son of "Charles of the Byrd," born 1731 in Goochland county, Virginia. He married a daughter of Captain Henry Willis, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The name of the wife of Howell Lewis has been a matter of dispute among genealogists for years. It was known among many of her descendants that in household circles she was known as Mary, and her grandson, John Adison Cobb, who grew up in his grandfather's household, was raised and educated by him, and who was necessarily familiar with his grandmother's name, handed it down to posterity as "Mary," and named one of his daughters "Mary Willis" in perpetuation of her memory, but the records of Spottsylvania having disclosed the fact that Henry Willis had a daughter Mary, who married Hancock Lee, in 1816, put the genealogists to guessing, and they turned their attention to finding another name for the wife of Howell Lewis. Byrd Willis, grandson of Henry Willis, had left it on record that the wife of Howell Lewis, who was his aunt, was named "Elizabeth." Mr. Thos. M. Green of Danville, Kentucky, and Miss Minor, author of "Meriwether Genealogy," insisted that her name was Mildred, and Miss Hinton of North Carolina who had found a newspaper clipping in her grandfather's Bible, which referred to her demise under the name of Isabella, furnished Mrs. Watson, author of a "Royal Lineage," with that name, and Mrs. Watson, having given it to the secretary of Virginia Historical Society, it was claimed by that authority that Isabella, to the exclusion of all others, was the name of Howell Lewis' wife. There can be no doubt that in the numerous marriages of Henry Willis, he gave this daughter the name of Mary Isabella, notwithstanding the fact that his first born, who married Hancock Lee, was named Mary, nor will this appear at all strange or unusual, when it is considered that the wife of Hancock Lee was the child of his first wife, and the wife of Howell Lewis the child of his third wife and about twenty years apart.

In a deed from Howell Lewis to John Johnson, book H, page 283, Granville county, North Carolina, the wife of Howell Lewis is referred to as Isabella. In 1769, two years after the date of the foregoing deed, Howell Lewis and Mary are subscribing witnesses to a deed to land sold to John Cobbs, who was about to marry their daughter Mildred. So that it is seen that she appears on the records both as Isabella and Mary, and that she is also known to indisputable tradition under both names, and therefore no other conclusion can be reached than that she was named Mary Isabella, and this is accepted by the author as a solution. They had issue as follows:

6 1Charles Lewis.
6 2Willis Lewis.
6 3Isabella Lewis married Jeffries.
6 4Ann Lewis married Morton.
6 5Frances Lewis married Bugg.
6 6Jane Lewis married David Hinton, Wake county, North Carolina, where they still reside with their great-granddaughter,
Mary Hilliard Hinton, at "the Oaks."
6 7Mildred Lewis married John Cobbs, born in Goochland;
lived in Louisa county, Virginia, afterwards in Albemarle;
removed to Granville county, North Carolina, and lastly
established himself in Georgia.
6 8Mary Lewis married a Kennon.
6 9Elizabeth Lewis married William Ridley, Granville county,
North Carolina.
6 10Howell Lewis, born April 2, 1759, married in 1780 Betsy
Coleman, daughter of Robert Coleman of Goochland
county, Virginia.
Of the descendants of the children of Howell Lewis very little
is known. There are many of his name in Granville county,
North Carolina, but their line of descent could not be ascertained.
7 Elizabeth Ridley, daughter of Howell Lewis, left issue: Dr.
Robert Ridley of Atlanta, Georgia, whose first wife was a
daughter of the "great Ben Hill," is one of her descendants.
6 Willis Lewis appears on the rolls of the North Carolina State
troops with the rank of captain, in the Revolutionary Army;
beyond this nothing is known of him or his descendants.
6 Mildred Lewis has long been recognized as the oldest child
of Howell Lewis, though this is disputed by some genealogists.
She was married September 6, 1769, when her
father was only thirty-seven years old, and it is hardly
possible in the nature of things, that there could have been
any older children. Mildred Lewis, was married to John
Cobbs September 6, 1769, in Granville county, North Carolina.
The records show that John Cobbs purchased land
in Granville that year, of Wm. Moore, and in 1784, or fifteen
years after his marriage, we find him described on the
tax books of Goochland county, Virginia, as John Cobbs, of
Georgia.

The sons of John Cobbs, as well as those of Thomas Cobbs, left off the"s" and spelled the name "Cobb," which accounts for the Cobb family of Georgia and Alabama. This change was made previous to 1800, as Howell Cobb entered the army under appointment from General Washington under the name of Cobb. A curious and interesting coincidence, in connection with it, is presented in the will of Howell Lewis, written in 1812 and probated in 1814, in which he makes bequests to the children of "my deceased daughter, Mildred Cobbs;" and the sons of John Cobbs and Mildred Lewis, who had changed their name to Cobb, became beneficiaries under that will under the name of Cobbs. Of course their identity was unmistakable, but the name of Cobbs, even in this line, is established up to a time that takes in General Howell Cobb of Georgia, who was born previous to the settlement of the estate of Howell Lewis. Issue of John and Mildred Lewis Cobbs as follows:

7 1Howell Cobbs, born 1771, married Martha Jacquiline Roots.
7 2John Addison Cobbs, born 1773, married Sarah Robinson
Roots.
7 3Mildred Lewis Cobbs.
7 4Mary Willis Cobbs. ***** This is our Mary Willis Cobbs*******
7 5Susanna Cobbs.
7 6Henry Willis Cobbs.
7 Howell Cobbs was the oldest of the children of John Cobbs
and Mildred Lewis. He was appointed, during General
Washington's administration, an officer in the United States
Army, but after his marriage he resigned and settled on
his plantation in Georgia. He represented his district in
Congress from 1807 to 1812, at which time he resigned his
seat in Congress to re-enter the army. He served as captain
during the War of 1812, after which he again resigned
his commission. He left no issue.
7 John Addison Cobbs, second son of John Cobbs and Mildred
Lewis, is very little known to history, but the prestige of
his family and all of his surroundings point unmistakably to the factthat he was a man of mark in his day. He left
issue as follows:
8 1Howell Cobb, born 1815, married Miss Lamar of Georgia.
8 2Thomas R. R. Cobb, married Miss Lumpkin, daughter
of Chief Justice Lumpkin of the Supreme Court of
Georgia.
8 3Mary Willis Cobb married first (???) Erwin, and second
Dr. J. M. Johnson.
8 4Mildred Lewis Cobb married Colonel Lucien Glenn.
8 5Sarah Martha Cobb married Major John C. Whitner.
8 Howell Cobb, son of John Addison Cobb and Sarah Robinson
Roots, belongs to history. He was born at "Cherry Hill,"
Georgia, in 1815. He entered Congress in 1843, was reelected
successively until 1851, when he was elected governor
of Georgia. He was made speaker of the House in
1849, and in 1857 Mr. Buchanan appointed him secretary
of the treasury, from which position he resigned to share
the fortunes of the Southern Confederacy. He left issue
as follows: Judge Howell Cobb of the Athens Circuit;
Judge Andrew Cobb of the Supreme Court of Georgia;
John B. Cobb of Americus, Georgia, and others, a daughter
who married Tinsley Rucker.
10 Thomas R. R. Cobb, son of Judge Howell Cobb, who married
Miss Barker of Atlanta, was a brilliant young lawyer,
who easily took the lead in his profession, but consumption
claimed him as a victim. He died before he was thirty.
9 John B. Cobb married first Mary Lamar, and married second
Alice Cutler. They left issue, one of whom, a daughter,
married Wm. B. Lowe, Jr., of Atlanta.
8 Thos. R. R. Cobb also belongs to history. He was never in
political life. He was strictly a lawyer and wedded to his
profession. When the war between the states broke out,
however, he went to the front and followed the fortunes of
war, as brigadier-general, and was killed at the battle of
Fredericksburg, December 12, 1862. He left several daughters, nosons. They married respectively, Harry Jackson,
son of General Henry R. Jackson, an Athens gentleman by
the name of Hull, and Hoke Smith, who was secretary of
the interior in Cleveland's second administration.
10 Dr. Marion Hull, a distinguished physician of Atlanta, is
a grandson of General Thomas R. R. Cobb.
8 Mildred Lewis Cobb, daughter of John Addison Cobb, who
married Colonel Lucien Glenn, died in 1900, at an advanced
age. Colonel Glenn was a distinguished lawyer. They left
issue:
9 Sallie Glenn, who married a Mr. McBride, had two sons,
Glenn and William, and three daughters. The older, Sallie,
married Geo. W. Adair; the two younger not married.
9 Howell Glenn, son of Colonel Lucien Glenn, was a lawyer by
profession, and at one time was city recorder. He went to
New York City and died.
9 Colonel John Thomas Glenn, a distinguished lawyer of Atlanta,
who has held many positions of trust and honor, is
a son of Lucien and Mildred (Cobb) Glenn. He died very
suddenly while yet in the prime of life, about 1900. He
had been mayor of the city and solicitor general of the
judicial circuit. He married Miss Garrard of Columbus,
Georgia. They left issue, one son and two daughters. The
family reside for the present in the city of New York,
where their daughter, Miss Isa, has for some time been a
leader in society. I see from a letter from her that she
signs herself "Isa Urquhart Glenn, president general of
the Order of the Crown," etc., from which it seems that she
is at the head of that branch of "Colonial Dames" who
claim "Royal Descent," certainly the most exclusive, if not
the most worthy or meritorious, of any of the historical societies.
8 Mary Willis Cobb, daughter of John Addison Cobb, married
first (???) Erwin, and second Dr. J. M. Johnson. Issue
by first marriage: Howell Cobb Erwin, an attorney of Atlanta,
and Miss Lucy Erwin, who married Mr. Welborn
Hill of Atlanta, and by the second marriage, James Johnson,
who had an appointment under Cleveland's second administration
in some of the Indian agencies and remained
in the west; and Sarah Cobb or Sallie, as she was always
called, who, as a girl, was one of the brightest of an exceedingly
bright family. She married first Dr. Hagan of
Richmond, Virginia, by whom she had two children, Hugh
Hagan and Willis Cobb Hagan; and she married second a
lawyer of Roanoke, Virginia, by the name of Cocke, a
member of a distinguished Virginia family of that name,
and a descendant of General Phillip St. George Cocke.
8 Sarah Martha Cobb, daughter of John Addison Cobb, and
granddaughter of John Cobbs and Mildred Lewis, married
Major John C. Whitner, of a South Carolina family, but
who have long resided in Atlanta, where Major Whitner
and his sons have long conducted a successful fire insurance
business. They are both living at an advanced age,
and have issue as follows: John A. Whitner, Thomas Cobb
Whitner, Charles F. Whitner, Eliza S. Whitner--unmarried,
Sarah Whitner, Mary A. Whitner, Mattie Mildred
Whitner.
9 John A. Whitner married Lidie Farrow of Atlanta. They
have eight children: John A. Whitner, Jr., Henry F.
Whitner, Caspar S. Whitner, John C. Whitner, Lidie F.
Whitner, Cornelia S. Whitner, Martha Cobb Whitner, Joseph
Whitner.
9 Thomas Cobb Whitner married Miss Emily L. Tichenor, of
Atlanta, and have two children: Thomas C. Whitner, Jr.,
James T. Whitner.
9 Charles F. Whitner married Miss Margaret Badger, who is
a member of the distinguished Badger family of North
Carolina. Her immediate family, however, reside in Atlanta.
They have two children: Charles F. Whitner, Jr.,
John S. Whitner. Mr. Charles Whitner is the genealogist
of his family and is very much interested in Lewis history.
9 Sarah R. Whitner married Warren Howard and had two
children: Martha Cobb Howard, Whitner Howard.
9 Mary A. Whitner married B. C. Milner and had four children:
Charles W. Milner, B. C. Milner, Jean S. Milner,
John Cobb Milner.
9 Martha Mildred Whitner married Willis J. Milner and had
six children: Willis J. Milner, Jr., B. C. Milner, Spann
Whitner Milner, Mildred Milner, and two children died in
infancy.

THE COBBS FAMILY.

This is one of the oldest names known to English history, and while they were among the earliest emigrants to America, until the last few years their early history was wholly unknown. Burke's Heraldry gives the name of Cobbs from Devonshire, Lancaster, London, and northern England.

As early as 1613, only six years after the settlement of Jamestown, Joseph Cobbs is registered as landing at Yorktown on the "Treasurer." His wife with her two children, Benjamin and Joseph Jr., came over in the "Bonnie Bess" in 1624. The arrival of Ambrose Cobbs in Virginia is not definitely known, but he appears on the land books in 1635. Ambrose and Joseph Cobbs were no doubt brothers. Joseph came over 1613, and received land grants in 1635 and 1637. The time when Ambrose arrived is also doubtful, but he received land grants in 1635, or about the same time that Joseph did.

Robert Cobbs appeared in 1651, as church warden, and his name also appears on the records of York county in the same year. In 1667 Robert Cobbs appears as justice of the peace for York county, and in 1681 he appears as one of the county commissioners. In 1682 he is high sheriff of the county. He died intestate in the same year, and his son Edmund administered on his estate.

This Edmund Cobbs, who administered on his father's estate in 1682, died 1692 or 1693. He left a will, but no sons, and it would seem no living children. He mentions his son-in-law, Matthew Pierce, and makes bequests to him, but provides that his entire estate shall be divided among his three brothers, Ambrose, Robert and Otho.

It is not positively known whether Robert Cobbs, the father of Edmund and his three brothers, who died in 1682, was the son of Joseph or Ambrose, but as the name Ambrose is perpetuated in the line, and Joseph is not, we are led to conclude, almost necessarily, that he was the son of Ambrose, and must so take him up.

Ambrose, Robert and Otho Cobbs were sons of the first Robert Cobbs, as described in the will of their brother, Edmund, and we are again brought face to face with the three-brother theory, and left to select from these three, upon the best testimony, the head of the Cobbs families.

From the foregoing we reach the following conclusions as inevitable results: Ambrose Cobbs, emigrant, born about 1590, came to Virginia about 1613. Robert Cobbs, son of Ambrose Cobbs, born about 1620. Robert Cobbs, son of the above Robert and brother of Edmund, born about 1660.

Thomas Cobbs, John Cobbs and Robert Cobbs, who appear upon the records of Henrico and Goochland from 1736 to 1750, son of the second Robert Cobbs, were born about 1706, 1708 and 1710, respectively, and are heads of three lines of that name throughout the United States.

Goochland county was taken off from Henrico, which accounts for the three brothers appearing at different times on the records of the two counties.

4 JOHN COBBS, OF GOOCHLAND.
As this ancestor is the head of the most numerous branch of the name, his line will be first taken up. He appears upon the records of Goochland with his wife, Susanah, as early as 1736, and at different times thereafter until 1750, after which he appears on the books of Goochland as John Cobbs of Albemarle.

In 1750, John Cobbs of Goochland purchased five hundred acres of land of James Neville, said land being located in Albemarle county on the south side of Fluvanna, or James river.

The name of John Cobbs appears upon the records of Albemarle county at different times, until 1760, after which all trace of him is lost. In 1761, that portion of Albemarle lying on the south side of James river was cut off and the county of Buckingham formed out of it. The records of Buckingham were destroyed by fire in 1867, and, hence, all trace of John Cobbs of Goochland was lost. There is no doubt that his will was recorded in Buckingham, but was destroyed with the other records. It has been by the most patient and persistent labor running through a number of years that these record proofs have been brought out and this long-neglected name unearthed, as it were, and rescued from oblivion. John Cobbs had three sons, Samuel, Edmund and John.

The fact that Robert Cobbs, the second of the name in America, born 1620, was justice of the peace and high sheriff is proof that he was more than peer of his surroundings, as these positions could be held at that time by none but the best class of citizens. Justice of the peace in 1650 wa sa position equally as honorable and important as judge of the Supreme Court at the present day.

As persistent as the authors of these sketches have been in their search for information, it was not until within the last few years that they knew of the existence of any of the Cobbs name mentioned in the preceding line, and in reporting the lineage of the name to the American ancestry, he stated that Samuel Cobbs, his great-grandfather, was from Wales; while as a matter of fact, the great-grandfather of Samuel Cobbs was born in Virginia; but in this he was in advance of the majority of Americans, who at that time did not know who their great-grandfathers were. As much as has been ascertained in regard to the Cobbs name in the last few years, a volume of unwritten history doubtless lies yet undeveloped, hidden away, so to speak, in the archives of the country, or lost in extinct church registries and neglected graveyards.

Two of the oldest and most distinguished families in Virginia, Lee and Randolph, had each a branch that was known by the name of Cobbs. The estates which they owned had either been inherited from some one of the name or the manors named honor of some intermarriage, the record of which has long since been lost and all of the events passed out of the memory of all the families.

Richard Lee came to Virginia in 1641, and Henry Randolph the head of that family in America, came to Virginia in 1643, so that it is clear that the Cobbs family had become settled in the colony before the Lee or the Randolph family came over. The Cobbs Hall Lees and the Randolphs of Cobb were as distinctive designations as Smith of Purton or Lewis of Warner Hall.

5 JOHN COBBS.
John Cobbs was the son of John Cobbs of Goochland, and the younger of the three brothers who appear on the records of Louisa county, Virginia. His name first appears on the records in the will of his brother Samuel who bequeaths one thousand acres of land to him and his brother Edmund, situated on Ivy Creek in Bedford county, Virginia, and, as illustrative of the obscurity with which the early life of John Cobbs seems to have been surrounded, and the difficulties attending the efforts to trace him, it may be mentioned in this connection that, while Edmund settled on this land, and, as shown by the settlement of his estate in 1799, more than forty years after the execution of the will of Samuel Cobbs, was still in possession of the entire 1000 acres, which was distributed among his children, there is nothing on the records of Bedford county to show how Edmund got into possession of the whole, or that John Cobbs ever transferred his portion to any one.

The first that we see of John Cobbs on the record, after he is mentioned in the will of his brother Samuel, is in Granville county, North Carolina, in a deed to land purchased by him from Wm. Moore in 1769. This purchase is made just before his marriage to Mildred, daughter of Howell and Mary Lewis, and is witnessed by Thomas Cobbs, Howell Lewis and Mary Lewis, and his marriage took place September 6, 1769, after which he disappears from the records again until 1784, when he reappears on the records of Goochland county, Virginia, from which county he originally came, in the payment of taxes on property in that county. In this entry he is described as John Cobbs of Georgia, and finally by deed of gift on record in Washington county, Georgia, we find him described as John Cobbs of Columbia county, Georgia, deed bearing date August 1791. His descendants are noticed under the head of Howell Lewis, whose daughter, Mildred, he married 1769.