Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Portrait and biographical record of Muskegon and Ottawa Counties Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago - 1893 Page 137-138 GEORGE N. COBB. After many years spent in the pursuit of divers occupations in various States, Mr. COBB, in 1869, permanently located in Norton Township, Muskegon County, where he now engages in raising fruit and also follows the vocation of a general farmer. While his estate is not large, aggregating about seventy acres, it is well im- proved and under excellent cultivation, proving to a close observer the fact that the owner is a man of sound judgment and intelligence. Born in Hartford County, Conn., on the 21st of February, 1816, the subject of this sketch is the son of Rev. AMOS B. and MEHITABLE (HATHAWAY) COBB, natives of Connecticut. The father, who was a man of broad knowledge and eloquence, served for many years in the mini- stry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. About 1821 he removed to Massachusetts, where he resided for four years, and from there pro- ceeded to New York, where he held a number of pastorates in various places. In 1831 he came to Michigan and became one of the earliest settlers of Lenawee County. During the following year he removed to Kalamazoo County and made settlement on Prairie Ronde, where his death occurred in December, 1876, at the age of eighty-six years. He was a man of strong character and possessed the perseverance and energy that had characterized his English ancestors. His wife also died at Prairie Ronde, passing away about 1855. In the parental family there were five children: ALONZO D., who served in the Black Hawk War; GEORGE N., of this sketch; ALGERNON; DAVID, who died in Wilmington, Ill.; and FANNIE, who passed away while residing in Iowa. The only surviving member of the family is the subject of this brief notice. He passed the years of child- hood and youth beneath the parental roof, and was a mere lad when he gained a thorough familiarity with agricultural pursuits by laboring on his father's farm. At the age of twenty he commenced to work for himself, and for a time was in the employ of a farmer residing at Ionia, Mich. After working for him during two summer seasons, he returned to Prairie Ronde, where he stayed one winter. From Michigan proceeding to Illinois, Mr. COBB made the journey via Lake Michigan from St. Joseph to Chicago, and visited the latter city when it had a population of only eight thousand inhabitants. From there he went to Boone County, Ill., where he spent one year, working by the month at anything he could find to do. Next he re- moved to Wisconsin, where he spent about three years in the pineries, sixty miles from the nearest postoffice. Thence returning to Racine County, Wis., he stayed for ten years there, being occupied princi- pally as a teamster between Milwaukee and Chicago. Soon after the close of the Civil War, Mr. COBB removed to north- western Missouri, where he resided until 1869, engaged in farming pursuits. Coming to Michigan in the year above named, he traded some wild land in Wisconsin for forty-five acres in Muskegon County, of which about five acres had been improved. Through diligent ex- ertions and untiring efforts, he has placed the principal part of his estate under excellent cultivation, and, although not the largest, it is conceded to be one of the best farms in Norton Township. Farm- ing has been the principal occupation of his life, but he has also been otherwise engaged and operated a box factory on the bank of Lake Harbor. The marriage of Mr. COBB occurred in the town of Texas, Kala- mazoo County, Mich., in 1848, and united him with Miss HELEN TABOR, who was born in New York. She is the daughter of ABRAM and ELIZA TABOR, early settlers of Kalamzoo County, both of whom resided there until death. Unto our subject and his wife there were born two children, one of whom, LESTER G., is deceased. The only surviving child is RUSH B., who is now master of a steamboat on Spring Lake. In politics Mr. COBB has always been a strong adherent, first of the Whig party and later of the Republican. His father was also a strong Whig sympathizer and later became a Republican, but at the time of the nomination of HORACE GREELEY for the Presidency he changed his views and gave that famous Democrat his firm alleg- iance and his ballot. Our subject cast his first Presidential vote for HENRY CLAY. He has served in a number of politcal capacities, and has been prominent in the public life of the community. For a time he represented his township on the County Board of Super- visors, and he has also officiated as Justice of the Peace. Socially, he has been a member of the Independent Order of Fellows at Kenosha, Wis., for many years. ===========================================================================