Photo: My daughter Liv with her third great-grandparents Mary Etta Cobb (1871-1935) and Henry Preston Brantley (1872-1956) in the Cobb Family Cemetery in Haywood County /
The Cobb Family Cemetery in Haywood County, Tennessee, has always been one of my favorite burial grounds, partly because it sits in such an unexpected place.
A visit to the Cobb Family Cemetery
You will find it at the end of an unmarked gravel lane off Poplar Corner Road. If you are traveling northeast on Poplar Corner, the lane is about one-quarter mile beyond Upper Zion Road. Nothing about the entrance announces that generations of one family are buried at the other end.
My third-great-grandfather, John Hardy Cobb Jr. (1798-1880), set aside the land as a family cemetery. He was the son of another John Hardy Cobb Sr. (1750-1809) and Sarah Capehart Cobb (1753-1818). His paternal grandparents were Henry Cobb (about 1700-1763) and Mary Hardy Cobb (about 1710-after 1763) of Bertie County, North Carolina.
John Hardy Cobb married Harriet Warren Castellaw Cobb (1804-1869) on April 29, 1821, in Bertie County.
Located in the cemetery is this stone with the inscription:
Cobb Family Lore
This sandstone was brought to Haywood Co. from Bertie Co. NC in the early 1830s by the Nicholas Cobb Family Descendants when they settled.
According to information preserved from the Cobb family Bible, John Hardy, Harriet and their children left Bertie County for Haywood County on March 6, 1834. They arrived April 22, 1834. Their journey by covered wagon lasted 47 days, or nearly seven weeks.
Harriet’s father, John Dawson Castellaw (1780-1859), was part of the migration from Bertie County to West Tennessee. Minutes from Capeharts Baptist Church show that he and his wife requested letters of dismissal before leaving North Carolina in early 1834. Family tradition holds that he led several wagon trains from Bertie County to Haywood County, and it is possible that he guided the Cobb family’s journey. So far, however, I have found no evidence proving that he led this particular group.
Ledger belonging to John Hardy Cobb that belonged to my great-uncle Guy Brantley. After his death, it was donated to the library by family members.
Two of John Hardy Cobb’s sisters, Mourning Cobb Outlaw (1792-1846) and Frances Cobb Steele (dates not verified), had already moved with their families to Haywood County by the time he arrived. Mourning married David Edward Outlaw (1792-1851) and Frances married William Steele (1795-1834).
Establishing the cemetery
John Hardy Cobb eventually served as one of Haywood County’s early magistrates. The importance of establishing a family burial ground must have become painfully clear soon after the family’s arrival.
In 1835, a 7-year-old daughter died. Then, 3 years later, John and Harriet lost their 2-year-old son, Monroe Clinton Cobb (about 1836-1838). The two children may have been among the first people buried on the family land, but no surviving marker or burial record has been found for either of them.
The first documented burial appears to have been Harriet’s mother, Zilpha Spurill Castellaw (1778-1842), who died April 27, 1842.
In April 1859, John Hardy Cobb sold part of the surrounding property but preserved a 9,328-square-foot tract as the family cemetery. That is a little more than one-fifth of an acre.
At some point, family members installed an iron gate. A chain-link fence was added later. Today, the cemetery is surrounded by small houses, mobile homes, sheds and other buildings. Cobb descendants have continued to maintain it.
Many of the graves are unmarked, and some markers have undoubtedly disappeared during the many decades since the cemetery was established. The surviving stones and family records show that the burial ground contains members of John Hardy and Harriet’s immediate family, along with relatives descended from their sons John Charles Warren Cobb (1830-1914), Simeon Amherst “Sim” Cobb (1840-1927) and William Thomas “Tom” Cobb (1833-1898).
During the Civil War, those three brothers served together in Company L of the 7th Tennessee Cavalry.
One of my favorite stories associated with the cemetery concerns Champ Watridge (1875-1959). According to family stories, Champ lost a leg while cutting down a tree. The mangled limb was supposedly buried in the Cobb cemetery, but the rest of Champ did not eventually join it. He was buried farther down the road in the Holly Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.
Like many family stories, the account of Champ’s leg is difficult to prove. There is no “Champ’s Leg Lies Here” headstone. Still, it is exactly the sort of story that gives an old family cemetery its personality.
Known and reported burials
The following list combines surviving gravestones, cemetery records and family research.
The family of John Hardy and Harriet Warren Castellaw Cobb
Zilpha Spruill Castellaw (abt 1783-1842)
Zilpha was Harriet Warren Castellaw Cobb’s mother and John Hardy Cobb’s mother-in-law. She died April 27, 1842, and appears to have been the first person whose burial in the cemetery was recorded. She was my third great-grandmother in one family line and my fourth great-grandmother in another.
Mourning Adeline Cobb Watridge (1838-1876)
Mourning was a daughter of John Hardy and Harriet Cobb. She was the first of their children born in Haywood County who is known to have survived to adulthood. She married Daniel Washington Watridge (1835-1880). They were my second great-grandparents.
Sarah Frances Cobb (1822-1896)
Sarah was a daughter of John Hardy and Harriet Cobb. She was 11 years old when the family left Bertie County in its covered wagon. She married a distant cousin, James Cowan Cobb (1815-1895).
James Cowan Cobb (1833-1895)
James was the husband of Sarah Frances Cobb and a son-in-law of John Hardy and Harriet. His parents were James S. Cobb (1786-1859) and Ruth Cowan Cobb (1786-1864).
The family of John Charles Warren and Penelope Trottman White Cobb
John Charles Warren Cobb was part of the family’s 1834 migration from Bertie County. He married Penelope Trottman White in 1850, and they had nine children.
Although John Charles Warren is associated with this branch of the Cobb family, records place his burial at Zion Baptist Church Cemetery.
Penelope Trottman White Cobb (1831-1879)
Penelope was the wife of John Charles Warren Cobb and the daughter of Bemberry White (1801-1858) and Penelope Penninah Trottman White (1874-1801).
Reddick Franklin Cobb (1873-1884)
Reddick was the youngest child of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. He died at age 11. He appears to have been named for a relative connected to the family’s earliest land transactions in Haywood County.
Idella Drucilla Cobb Sherman Wilson (1866-1922)
Idella was a daughter of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. She first married Thomas D. Sherman and later married A.C. Wilson.
Thomas D. Sherman (birth year unknown-1899)
Thomas was Idella Cobb’s first husband and a son-in-law of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. He died Jan. 17, 1899.
Thomas P. Sherman (1898-1921)
Thomas was a grandson of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb and a son of Idella and Thomas D. Sherman. He married Louise Elizabeth Sinsang Sherman (1899-1992), and they had two daughters, Grace (1920-2010) and Mary Rebecca. He died at age 23. His daughter Grace later married Edward “Buddy” Lovelace (1908-1990).
Infant son of Idella and Thomas Sherman (dates unknown)
An infant grave in the cemetery is believed to belong to a son of Idella and Thomas D. Sherman.
Virginia Estelle “Essie” Cobb Williams (1861-1919)
Essie was a daughter of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. She married George D. Williams (1846-1919).
She married my second great-grandfather in 1889 after the death of my second great-grandmother Martha Jane Watridge in 1888.
Ella Cerlyster Cobb Jefferies (1857-1913)
Ella was a daughter of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. She married W. P. Jefferies in 1908, when she was 51. They had no known children. Ella died five years after their marriage.
W.P. Jefferies
Jefferies was Ella Cobb’s husband and a son-in-law of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb.
Harriett “Hattie” Rebecca Davis Cobb (1882-1977)
Hattie was a daughter-in-law of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. She was the second wife of their son John Hardy Cobb (dates not verified).
John Hardy Cobb (1924-1924)
This infant was a grandson of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb and a son of John Hardy and Hattie Rebecca Davis Cobb.
Flora Emma Cobb (1884-1885)
Flora was a granddaughter of John Charles Warren and Penelope Cobb. She was the infant daughter of William Carlos Cobb (dates not verified) and Emma Jane Steele Cobb (dates not verified). Her gravestone reads simply, “At Rest.”
The family of William Thomas and Elizabeth Outlaw Cobb
William Thomas “Tom” Cobb married Elizabeth “Bett” Temperance Outlaw Cobb (1836-1925) on Jan. 25, 1866. Several of their children, children-in-law and grandchildren are buried in the family cemetery.
William Thomas “Tom” Cobb (1833-1898)
Tom was a son of John Hardy and Harriet Cobb. He died Nov. 30, 1898.
Elizabeth “Bett” Temperance Outlaw Cobb (1836-1925)
Bett was Tom Cobb’s wife. A Tennessee death record states that she died June 30, 1925, at age 88 and was buried at “Cobbs,” an apparent reference to the family cemetery.
“Little” Pearl Cobb (1918-1918)
Little Pearl was born in September 1918 and died Sept. 23, 1918. Her damaged gravestone appears to identify her as the daughter of someone with the initials W. T. or a similar name.
She could not have been a daughter of Tom and Bett Cobb because Tom died 20 years before Pearl’s birth. Her exact parentage remains unresolved.
Martha Adeline “Pat” Cobb Mann (1868-1964)
Martha was a daughter of Tom and Bett Cobb. She married William Bryant Mann in a ceremony performed by Robert Green Marbury. They had two daughters, Hattie Mae and Sallie Bett. Sallie taught at Holly Grove School. Neither daughter had children.
William Bryant Mann (1871-1949)
William was Martha Cobb’s husband and a son-in-law of Tom and Bett Cobb.
Hattie Mae Mann Jacocks (about 1896-1939)
Hattie Mae was a granddaughter of Tom and Bett Cobb and a daughter of Martha and William Bryant Mann. She married Tom Jacocks. They had no children.
Elizabeth Frances Gordon “Lizzie” Cobb (1879-1938)
Elizabeth, often called Lizzie, was a daughter-in-law of Tom and Bett Cobb. She married their son Thomas Adelbert “Dell” Cobb (1877-1920). They had two sons, Jesse and Bernie.
Mary Etta Cobb Brantley (1871-1935)
Mary Etta was a daughter of Tom and Bett Cobb. She married Henry Preston Brantley and was my second-great-grandmother.
Henry Preston Brantley (1872-1956)
Henry was Mary Etta Cobb’s husband, a son-in-law of Tom and Bett Cobb and my second-great-grandfather.
Infant daughter of Henry Preston and Mary Etta Brantley (1900-1900)
The infant was a granddaughter of Tom and Bett Cobb.
Julius Brantley (1907-before 1910)
Julius was a grandson of Tom and Bett Cobb and a son of Henry Preston and Mary Etta Brantley. He died before the 1910 census.
Burials with uncertain family connections
Miss Willie Cobb (birth year unknown-1997)
She died Nov. 4, 1997. Her precise connection to the other Cobb families in the cemetery has not been established.
J.C. Cobb (1845-1890)
J. C. died April 23, 1890. His exact place within the family remains uncertain.
Cora Lillian Cobb (1882-1903)
Cora died July 19, 1903, at age 21. Her gravestone reads, “At Rest.”
A Cobb family photo
A remarkable Cobb family photograph was probably taken during the summer of 1909 or 1910.
Tom Cobb, who had died more than a decade earlier, appears in a framed photograph. His widow, Bett Outlaw Cobb, is seated beside it.
At the far left are Nora Cobb Gordon and her husband, Walter Gordon. Their sons Tom and Lonie are seated at their feet.
Next are Elizabeth “Lizzie” Gordon Cobb and her husband, Thomas Adelbert “Dell” Cobb. Seated with them are their sons Bernie Wright Cobb Sr. and Jesse Cobb.
The next family is William Bryant Mann and Martha Adeline Cobb Mann. Their daughters, Hattie Mae Mann Jacocks and Sallie Bett Mann, are with them.
At the far right are my second great-grandparents Henry Preston and Mary Etta Cobb Brantley with their children. Gladys Brantley is the tallest. My great-grandfather William Day “Willie” Brantley stands in front of her. He was the father of my maternal grandmother Virginia Brantley Lovelace. Clara Brantley Watkins is to Willie’s left. Mary Elizabeth Brantley Marbury is being held by her mother, and Preston Guy Brantley stands in front of his father.
Family members in the photograph who were not buried in the Cobb Family Cemetery were probably buried at Zion Baptist Church Cemetery, Holly Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Providence Methodist Church Cemetery in nearby Madison County or another family burial ground.
Back row from left: Nancy Helen Cobb, Lawrence Amherst Cobb and Joyce Maness Cobb; Front row from left: Guy Brantley, William McKenly Cobb and William Cobb.
Preserving the cemetery
On Aug. 21, 1986, a small group of Cobb descendants gathered to clean the old family cemetery. They organized a cemetery committee and established a fund to help ensure that the burial ground would be maintained in the future. You can read more about that in this blog post.
The Cobb Family Cemetery is small, hidden and easy to pass without noticing. Many of its graves are unmarked, and much of its history survives only in family Bibles, old photographs, gravestones, deeds and stories handed down from one generation to the next. Thankfully, members of the family still care for the final resting place of ancestors they never met.
For more of my genealogy research, visit rscottwilliams.info.
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