Mark Tyler Cobb1,2,3
ID# 1014, (abt 1852 - 1905)
Father | Robert Livingston Cobb4,5,6 (6 Oct 1805 - Jun 1873) |
Mother | Cornelia Barbour Mims7,5,6 (1816 - 31 May 1875) |
Charts | Descendants of Gideon Cobb Descendants of Linah and Rebeccah (Davis) Mims |
Ancestry | The Cobbs of Pawlet, Vermont The Linah Mims - Rebecca Davis Family |
Narrative:
Mark Tyler Cobb was born about 1852 in Eddyville, Kentucky
He appeared on the 1860 Federal Census of Eddyville, Lyon Co., Kentucky


Mark appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of Paducah, McCracken Co., Kentucky, enumerated 15 Jun 1880, as a boarder in a hotel on Market St.

Mark appeared on the 1900 Federal Census of Paducah, McCracken Co., Kentucky

The McCracken Co. poorhouse seems to have been used to house not only those who were indigent, but also those with various disabilities. Mark, like about half the others, shows only an approximate age (60 in his case, about 12 years older than it should be for him), and shows his birth state while showing those of his parents as unknown, suggesting the inmate may have been without all his facilities.
Of his four siblings lived into adulthood, Robert had moved to Texas long before and doesn't seem to have been too prosperous, Joshua had died by this time and his family was clearly financially stressed, and Linah seems to have been just getting by. Only his sister Bobella was apparently doing well; she and her husband were in Evansville. Even given the trying circumstances of most of them, it seems difficult to imagine them leaving a sibling as a public ward unless he had significant mental or physical disabilities that prevented him from being kept at the home of one of them.
It is easy to speculate that the issue was alcoholism. Mark does not appear in the obituary of his brother Linah when he died in 1904, either as a survivor or having died earlier. It may be possible he was not mentioned because of his condition, whatever that may have been.17,16
Mark died on 18 Nov 1905 in county poorhouse, Paducah, McCracken Co., Kentucky

Citations
- [S3235] Obituary for Mrs. Cornelia B. Cobb, unknown newspaper, 2 Jun 1875, shows name as Mark Tyler Cobb.
- [S1811] Robert L. Cobb household, 1860 U.S. Census, Lyon Co., Kentucky, shows name as Mark T. Cobb.
- [S628] Robert L. Cobb household, 1870 U.S. Census, McCracken Co., Kentucky, shows name as Mark T. Cobb.
- [S3107] "The Grim Reaper," The Paducah Sun, 20 Nov 1905.
- [S1811] Robert L. Cobb household, 1860 U.S. Census, Lyon Co., Kentucky, shows them in same household, appearing to be parent and child.
- [S628] Robert L. Cobb household, 1870 U.S. Census, McCracken Co., Kentucky, shows him in the household of Robert L. and Cornelia, apparently as their son.
- [S3235] Obituary for Mrs. Cornelia B. Cobb, unknown newspaper, 2 Jun 1875.
- [S1811] Robert L. Cobb household, 1860 U.S. Census, Lyon Co., Kentucky, shows age 8, and state.
- [S3107] "The Grim Reaper," The Paducah Sun, 20 Nov 1905, shows town.
- [S628] Robert L. Cobb household, 1870 U.S. Census, McCracken Co., Kentucky, shows age 17 and state.
- [S3107] "The Grim Reaper," The Paducah Sun, 20 Nov 1905, shows he died "Saturday."
- [S1811] Robert L. Cobb household, 1860 U.S. Census, Lyon Co., Kentucky.
- [S1675] Robert L. Cobb, owner, 1860 U.S. Census, Lyon Co., Kentucky, slave schedule.
- [S628] Robert L. Cobb household, 1870 U.S. Census, McCracken Co., Kentucky.
- [S848] James Sanders household, 1880 U.S. Census, McCracken Co., Kentucky, lists Mark T. Cobb as a boarder in his hotel.
- [S3106] William B. Padgett household, 1900 U.S. Census, McCracken Co., Kentucky.
- [S2743] "Death Claimed Capt. Linah Cobb," The Paducah Sun, 21 Apr 1904, mentions only Bobella and Robert as surviving, and Joshua as having died.