Stillwater, New York

Five Cobb brothers moved to the frontier community of Stillwater, in the Saratoga Pattent area of Albany Co., New York in the early 1770s. Elkanah and his wife had their first two children there, in 1773 and 1776.¹ Ebenezer and Joshua had a claim approved for repairing arms for the American forces in 1777.² Ebenezer, Joshua, William and John all appear on the 1779 Saratoga Tax District lists,³ the only lists to survive from the period. Ebenezer and Joshua were shown as "of Stillwater" when they bought land in Pawlet, Vermont in 1779 and 1780.⁴

While it appears that Elkanah took his family to safety in Connecticut when the Revolutionary War came to the area in 1777,⁵ the others seems to have stayed. Ebenezer was in the local militia,⁶ and was most likely involved with his unit at the battle at Bemis Heights on 7 Oct 1777 that lead to Gen. Burgoyne's surrender ten days later. This disastrous end to Burgoyne's campaign, which had been intended isolate New England from the other colonies, led to the French become an ally of the fledgling nation, is seen by many as a critical turning point in the Revolution.

While the present town and village of Stillwater were not created until 1788 and 1816, respectively, there was an established community in that area by the time the Cobbs arrived. The first permanent settlement seems to have occurred shortly after 1750, and a mill had been constructed some time before it was sold in 1764. A public house was opened about 1760. The Congregational church of Stillwater was organized in Cannan, Connecticut in 1752. In 1762 its members, then about 100 strong, decided to move to Stillwater and established a church there.⁷

The Cobbs left the Stillwater area about 1780, when they moved to Pawlet, Vermont.