Thomas Jefferson Cobb

Narrative:

     Thomas Jefferson Cobb was born on 6 Nov 1849 in Indiana.^7,8,9,10
     He appeared on the 1850 Federal Census of Aurora, Dearborn Co., Indiana, in the household of his parents, John Cobb and Maria Caffyn.¹⁷ He appeared on the 1860 Federal Census of Aurora, Dearborn Co., Indiana, in the household of his parents.¹⁸
     He appeared on the 1870 Federal Census of Aurora, Dearborn Co., Indiana, in the household of his parents, reporting personal estate of $800.¹⁹ He appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of Aurora, Indiana in the household of his parents.²⁰
     In 1868 his father purchased the Aurora Commercial, a newspaper established in 1859. In June of that year a joint stock company, which had purchased the presses of that paper, established the Dearborn Independent. Thomas edited this paper was until Apr 1873, when it was sold to his cousin, Louis Willard Cobb, who then operated it.^21,22,23
     Thomas apparently joined his father's chair manufacturing business by 1880.^24,25 When Cobb's Iron and Nail Company filed articles of incorporation on 23 Aug 1881, Thomas was named a director, along with his uncle, Oliver Perry Cobb, his brother James, his cousin William, and three others.^26,27,28
     Thomas married Jennie C. Pratt, daughter of Fredrick M. Pratt and Eliza M. Stratton, on 23 Nov 1881.^8,11,12
     By 1885, Thomas, James and their father were operating the huge chair factory of John Cobb & Co. in Aurora, as well as a branch factory in Butlerville, Indiana.²⁹ In 1885 the company disposed of the sheet and bar mill and the right to use Cobb's patent process for manufacturing nails on 50 machines to another company. Both companies were then making 400 to 600 kegs of nails per day.³⁰
     The firm of O. P. Cobb & Company fell into financial hardship, and the creditors forced it into receivership. The assignee reported that there were sufficient assets to pay creditors only if claims then in the courts against the Illinois Central Railroad and the claims against the Federal government for hay and barges destroyed by Union forces in the Civil War were collected. Otherwise creditors would receive only ten cents on the dollar. At a meeting in Aurora on 26 Jun 1888 Oliver convinced creditors to accept a plan to return the company to management in order to pursue those claims.³¹
     The court cases were not successful. The claim against the Federal Government was pursued in Congress, will little success. In Jun 1891, Oliver having died, P. W. Williams as surviving partner told creditors that the business was being closed. He said would pay their claims on a pro rata from available assets and distribute payments from the Federal claim, which he said totaled over $250,000, when they were collected.³²
     Thomas was named an executor in the will of his mother dated 3 Dec 1892 in Aurora, Dearborn Co., Indiana. The will left her property to his adopted sister, is sister-in-law, and his wife. The property his wife was to inherit included the family's home place.³³
     Thomas and Jennie apparently separated before 1900, as he was living with his mother in 1900, and she and the two daughters were living with her parents in Titusville, Pennsylvania. They remained there until she and their daughters moved to Buffalo after 1920.^34,35,36,37
     Thomas appeared on the 1900 Federal Census of Aurora, Indiana in the household of his mother, Maria Caffyn.³⁸
     He kept his brother Davis at the family home for several years after he returned from the west with serious physical aliments.^39,40 Davis appeared on the 1910 Federal Census of Aurora, Dearborn Co., Indiana, on George St. Having some of the same neighbors as listed near their mother in 1900, this was clearly the family home. But Thomas was not listed there, nor has he been found elsewhere, suggesting he was omitted in error.⁴¹
     By 1920 Thomas had moved to Arkansas, were he become a bookkeeper at a mirror factory.⁴² He appeared on the 1920 Federal Census of Ft. Smith, Sebastian Co., Arkansas, at 310 North Sixth St., enumerated 5 Jan 1920, listed as a lodger in the rooming house of Ella Willis, a 52 year-old widow, who herself rented the home.⁴³
     Thomas died on 23 May 1927 in Bedford, Bedford Co., Virginia, at age 77.^13,14 He was buried on 25 May 1927 in North Collins Quaker Meeting House Cemetery, North Collins, Erie Co., New York, with his wife, their two daughters, and his wife's family.^15,16