Harrison Genealogy Repository

Notes

Thomas Hamm: 'The earliest records of the Cobbs in Morris County, New

Jersey are found in a list of freeholders taken August 31, 1752 in

Hanover Township (Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Vol. 16 [1941],

p. 60). It lists only Abial Cobb and Ebenezer Cobb.'

From NEW JERSEY-A HISTORY (no cover page sent) listing the family of

Hon. Andrew Bell Cobb and paginated starting with p. 39 - and citing

New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. XIII,p. 261.

Crayon: 'Rockaway Records of Morris County, New Jersey.' pp.

276-277-278 in footnote.

Ebenezer Cobb was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, on either May 6 or

13, 1696, and died in 1769. He took an outstanding part in public

affairs. He married, on February 6, 1717, Mehitable Robinson daughter

of Increase and Mehitable (Williams) Robinson. She was born January

12, 1605 and died in 1761. (their children are listed as I have shown)

THE COBBS IN TROY HILLS, written by Sarah DeHart Condit, dated 9 Feb.

1915, p. 2: 'Ebenezar, eldest son of Edward Cobb, was born in Taunton,

May 6, 1696, Mehitable Robinson, his wife, born in Taunton, Jan. 12,

1695, they were married Feb. 6, 1717. Ebenezar Cobb died 1769,

Mehitable Robinson died August 20, 1781 (sic). There were nine

children in the family.

Among the old papers in the possession of Mrs. E. Halsey Ball, I saw a

deed of Edward Cobb's dated, Taunton July ye 7th, 1735. Another paper

in which Ebenezer Cobb of Hanover in County of Morris Province of New

Jersey gives Edward his son power of attorney to be used in Bugan New

England July 7, 1757.

The most interesting of these papers is a deed, signed by Ebenezar

Cobb and Mihitable Robinson his wife, given to his son Edward Cobb

dated March 25, 1760 which reads thusly: `Know ye, that I Ebenezar

Cobb of Hanover, in the County of Morris and Province of New Jersey

do, will full consent of Mehitable Robinson, my wife,' etc. From the

description of the property, most probably it is the farm and house

occupied by Edward Cobb, the ruins of which are on the cross road,

starting in front of Henry Moller's house and intersecting a road from

George Baldwins corner, which goes on to Troy. The house stood on the

right hand side of the road beyond the bridge.'

ROCKAWAY RECORDS OF MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, FAMILIES by J. Percy

Crayon, 1902, p. 278 - Ebenezer Cobb, son of Edward was born at

Taunton, Mass, May 13, 1696, married Mehitible Robinson Feb. 6,1717.

She was born Jan. 12, 1695 and died 1761.

Mehetible Robinson was a daughter of Increase Robinson, (born 1670),

and Mehetible Williams, who was born June 7, 1676, and married Feb.

11, 1695. She was the daughter of Joseph, the son of Richard Williams.

Increase Robinson was the son of Increase Robinson, baptized at

Dorchester, Mass. May 14, 1642, and Sarah Penniman, born May 6, 1641,

they were married Feb. 19, 1663. She was a daughter of James and Lydia

(Elliott [sic]) Penniman. Increase Robinson was a son of William and

wife Margaret, who settled at Dorchester 1635. William died July 6,

1668. NOTE: In the above work, Crayon confused two different Ebenezers

and assigned two separate families by two different wives. The

children shown for Ebenezer and Mehitable are correctly given, but she

was the only wife.

Jim White sent a page from research done by Duane P. Cobb. and it

cites New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1987 ---

American Lineage DEIGHTON-WILLIAMS-COBB 1. Richard 1

Williams m. Frances 1 Deighton (Dighton) 2. Joseph 2 Williams m.

Elizabeth 2 Watson 3. Richard 3 Williams m. Anne 3 Wilbur (Wilbore) 4.

Anne 4 Williams m. William 2 Cobb of Taunton, Mass etc. omitted for

brevity here ...

Frances Deighton's lineage is laid out in Ancestral Roots of Sixty

Colonists Who Came To New England by Weis, which title has been

slightly revised and is in its Seventh Edition. It is an interesting

ancestry and provides descendants with quite a few royal ancestors.

Date of marriage from BOSTON TRANSCRIPT, May 16, 1937. 3387.1.Cobb

F.S.P. April 13, 1937 signed with initials W.H.C.B.:

'......... I noticed in an Encyclopedia of Biography an article

concerning the ancestry of Judge Andrew Bell Cobb of New Jersey which

erroneously claims his ancestry descent from Henry Cobb of Plymouth.

In the 3rd generation it reads: `Ebenezer Cobb married Mehitable

Robinson, daughter of Increase Robinson and his wife, Sarah (Penniman)

Robinson.' This is an error. It should read `Ebenezer Cobb, born in

Taunton, Mass. May 6, 1696, died 1769. He married, Feb. 6, 1717,

Mehitable Robinson, daughter of Increase Robinson, Jr., and his wife

Mehitable (Williams) Robinson. She was born Jan. 13, 1695/6.

Mehitable Williams, daughter of Joseph (2), Williams and his wife

Elizabeth Watson, born Jan. 7, 1676, married in Taunton, Feb. 11,

1694/5, Increase Robinson, Jr. (Increase 2, William 1) and

granddaughter of Richard Williams and his wife Frances Dighton. See

deed dated June 12, 1750, from Ebenezer Cobb to William Makepeace;

Ebenezer was then living in Hanover, Morris Co., N.J. His wife was

Mehitable and land was hers by right of her father Increase Robinson

of Taunton. The land was in Taunton `along the Great River.'

It is unfair to the many people concerned to omit this particular

generation in giving the ancestry of Judge Bell Cobb.' This is

followed by the signature 'W.H.C.B' and the date May 10, 1937. Just

who W.H.C.B. was is a mystery at this point. (BP)

COBB-SEELY by John B. Cobb (d. 1970) gives dates of death for Ebenezer

and Mehitable. Also states they moved to Hanover, Morris Co. NJ

between 1753 and 1760. Gives the following bio of Ebenezer:

Ebenezer was prominent in public affairs. He was one of the founders

of the iron industry in Taunton (1693?)[sic]. He ran the Squire Cobb's

Forge, also known as the Cobb and Bigelow's Forge. The Winthrop

Company had already established a bloomery and forge at Braintree,

Massachusetts, having imported skilled workmen from Wales to operate

the works. The absence of a circulation medium except wampum and

measures of Indian corn found a new medium in the manufactured iron,

and even in the pigs as they came from the bloomeries.

An old deed, dated 23 Feb. 1753, records that Ebenezer's father gave

him 15 acres of land in Taunton, taken from the northernly portion of

the homestead farm. Another deed, dated 25 Mar 1760, shows that

Ebenezer and his wife Mehitable, transfered title to a house in

Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey to their son Edward. Ebenezer and

family must have, therefore, moved from Taunton to Hanover sometime

between these dates.

In a letter dated May 7, 1981 from John L. Cobb, 3751 Lowell Rd.,

Cleveland Heights, Oh, to Mrs. Elsie Rumley of Ok, he says the

following:

Taunton, MA early records, many of them at least, I understand that

they were destroyed at one time or other. There is published material

concerning John Cobb of Taunton and of his nephew Augustine or Austen

Cobb of Taunton. There seem to be gaps in the history of later Cobbs

who seem to have belonged to these lines from Taunton. Perhaps you are

very fortunate to have as clear a line as the Edward Cobb from

Taunton, and Ebenezer Cobb to Hanover Township, Morris Co. NJ.

In another letter from between the same people he says: I have made a

copy of a pedigree chart showing that your first Cobb ancestor to come

to America was Edward Cobb who seems to have appeared in Taunton,

Massachusetts about 1657. The enclosed xeroxed pages of this

Barnstable Cobb History bear no relation to your Cobb ancestry; they

only indicate where the confusion arose. The Ebenezer, weaver, of page

24, (1671-1752), bur. Kingston, Ma., and also his son Ebenezer,

husbandman, who was born Mar. 22, 1694 & died Dec. 8, 1801,

bur.Kingston, Ma, and in turn his grandson Ebenezer, blacksmith, of

Kinston, Mas, 1724-1782, were certainly not any one of them identical

or related to your Ebenezer Cobb of Hanover, Morris co., NJ.

NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF CLISBY COBB by Thomas Hamm: E.D. Halsey,

HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, 1882, p. 219- 'The Cobbs were

from New England direct, and became the possessors of large tracts of

land, held by their descendants to this day. This family has produced

in several instances men of uncommon business ability, among whom may

be enumerated the late George T. Cobb and the late Colonl Lemuel

Cobb.'

Charles N. Sinnett, JOHN COBB OF TAUNTON, 1935, p. 1- John Cobb, born

ca. 1640, arrived from England ca. 1670, married in Taunton

Massachusetts June 13, 1676 Mrs. Jane (Godfrey) Woodward, widow of

Israel Woodward and daughter of Richard and Jane (Turner) Godfrey, the

latter the daughter of John and Jane Turner. They had three sons: John

Cobb, Jr., born March 31, 1678, supposed to have died in NEW JERSEY;

Captain Morgan Cobb, and Samuel Cobb. [not exactly correct - John Cobb

came from co. Dorset England to Taunton about 1650s. John who came to

NJ was not desc. from John but from his nephew Edward COBB who came

with him from England (son of his bro. William COBB of Dorset) - BP]

Hamm's note here: The earliest records of the Cobbs in Morris County,

New Jersey are found in a list of freeholders taken August 31, 1752 in

Hanover Township (Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Vol. 16 [1941],

p. 60). It lists only Abial Cobb and Ebenezer Cobb. (Abial Cobb m. 4

Jan 1750 Sarah Van Winkle at Hanover Presbyterian Church). Hamm was

struggling at this time to prove the ancestry of Ebenezer's grandson

Clisby and could only prove his father was John and his mother Rhoda (

) Cobb. He had not yet proven the line back to Ebenezer.