My Genealogy Hound

Rev. J. D. C. Cobb, pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and editor of the Jonesboro Times, was born in Dyer County, Tenn., July 25, 1838. His parents, Christian S. and Judith (Clapp) Cobb, were natives of Guilford County, N. C., and in 1836 moved to Tennessee, where the father died. He was a farmer of sterling character and worth and was greatly respected by all who knew him. The mother afterward went to Texas and there died. They reared a family of five children, three now living: Jackson D. C., Lucinda S. (wife of Elder E. P. Minton), and Elizabeth S. (wife of Luke Summers). Rev. J. D. C. Cobb was reared and educated in Dyer County, Tenn., remaining on the farm until twenty years of age, and then taught and attended school. When twenty-three years of age he entered the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and was licensed to preach, but was not ordained until 1867. During the late war he was chaplain of the Fifteenth Tennessee Cavalry. The war over he returned to his duties, and in 1871 moved to Dunklin County, Mo., and located at Clarkton, where he was pastor until 1874, and then went to Gainesville, Ark., where he remained until 1876, when he came to Jonesboro, where he has since resided. In 1874 he established the Gainesville Times, and two years later moved the paper to Jonesboro, where it has since been a leading and widely circulating journal. In the fire of 1889 the office was burned, but was soon in operation again. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church, too, was burned, and now efforts are being made to build a large brick edifice. Mr. Cobb organized the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Jonesboro in 1876, and has been its pastor since its organization. Miss Ann E. Kirk, a native of the “Old Dominion,” became his wife in 1861, and they are the parents of two children: William D. and Mary J. Mr. Cobb is a prominent citizen and one of the leading spirits of Jonesboro.