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Nathaniel Cobb
26 April 1801 - 16 January 1889

Nathaniel Cobb was born on 26 April 1801 in Abbeville County, South Carolina.  He died 16 January 1889 in Benton County, now Calhoun County, Alabama.  He is interred in the Old Davistown Cemetery, Calhoun County, AL.  Nahtaniel and his first wife Luranah Teague are Rose's G-G-G-Grandparents.

•  He married Luranah Teague, daughter of Elijah Teague Sr. and Sarah Morgan on 25 December 1820 in Abbeville, Abbeville County, South Carolina.  She was born 2 July 1802 in Abbeville, SC; she died on 9 October 1859 in Calhoun County, AL, and is interred in the Old Davistown Cemetery, Calhoun County, AL.
•  He also married Rachael Adaline Whiteside Bentley on 16 April 1860.  She was born 1828, Buncombe County, NC, and died 1 June 1879.  She is the daughter of Moses Whiteside (1785 - 1864) and Elizabeth Anna (Ann) Hemphill, 1788 - 1811.

Nathaniel Cobb; 1801 - 1889; photo date unknown

Headstones in Old Davistown Cemetery, Calhoun County, AL
Nathaniel Cobb Born April 26th 1801 Married Dec. 25th 1820 Died Jan 16, 1889	Luranah Teague Cobb Wife of Nathaniel Cobb Born July 2nd, 1802 Married Dec 2th 1820 Died Oct. 9, 1859
Old Davistown Cemetery, also known as Old Davisville Cemetery, is located in Calhoun County, AL on Downing Mill Road.  Almost 300 graves are marked in this cemetery, however, as with all old cemeteries where markers often were fieldstone of wooden, there are many unmarked graves here.  One estimate puts the unmarked graves at over 200. GPS coordinates:  Latitude  33.64940   N       Longitude  85.66360  W

 

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Nathaniel Cobb:  The Census Records

1850 Federal Census; Calhoun County, AL

 NOTE:   

As of February 2012, we list the following children of Nathaniel and Luranah Cobb:

·         Dorcas; b. 1822, SC; d. unk.  Born 1822, probably married and moved out of household when 1850 census was taken

·         James; b. 1823; d. after 1900; m. in 1852

·         Nathaniel; b. Nov 1825; d. ???; may have died before 1850 census

·         Edmond; b. 26 Oct 1827; d. 8 Oct 1899; married in 1844, probably not living in this household in 1850

·         Elijah; b. 5 Apr 1829; d. 8 Nov 1877

·         Joshua Teague  cobb; b. 25 Sep 1830; d. Oct 1862

·         Elias Wm. Cobb; b. 10 Jan 1833; d. 21 May 1911

·         Margaret; b. ???; d. ???; married in 1853

·         Martha Ann; b. 30 Jul 1836; d. Mar 1899; married 1861

·         Julia Ann; b. 11 Aug 1839; d. 11 Jan 1914

·         Robert; b. 23 Nov 1841; d. 4 May 1929

 1860 Federal Census; Calhoun County, AL

 NOTE: 

Nathaniel Cobb’s first wife, Luranah Teague Cobb, died 9 Oct 1859 and is interred in Old Davistown Cemetery, Calhoun County, AL. 

Nathaniel Cobb’s second wife is Rachel Adaline Whiteside. 

·         Her first husband was Turner Bentley, b. abt. 1804 (some sources say abt 1810, however, 1804 matches most census records), Union County, SC; d. 1856, Calhoun County, AL.  They were married in 1849. 

·         Rachel appears as Nathaniel’s wife in the 1860 census.  Nathaniel’s first wife died 9 Oct 1859; the 1860 census is dated 5 July 1860; thus, Nathaniel Cobb married his second wife between Oct 1859 (when his first wife died) and July 1860 (date of the census).

 The 1850 census lists Turner Bentley and Rachel A. Whiteside Bentley as having six children:

·         Edna; age 21, b. abt. 1829; female

·         Elbina; age 18; b. abt. 1832; female

·         S. A.; age 16; b. abt. 1834; female

·         Jane; age 13; b. abt. 1837; female

·         John; age 9; b. abt. 1841; male

·         J. S.; age 0; b. abt. 1850; male.  This probably is the “James T. T. Beutty” in the 1860 census.

·         The five older children – Edna, Albina, S. A., Jane, and John, would have been approximately 31, 28, 26, 23, and 19 at the time of the 1860 census and may have been married and in their own households.

HOWEVER:  Turner Bentley and Rachel Whiteside were married in 1849 when she was about 22 years
old.  They could not have had children in 1850 aged 21, 18, 16, 13, and 9; they possibly could have had a
child age 0.    

 Turner Bentley’s first wife was Mary Brandon; b. 22 Nov 1796, Union County, SC; d. before 1849, Calhoun County, AL.  The children of Turner Bentley and Mary Brandon are:

·         Ednie (Edna ?) Bentley;  b. 1 Aug 1831.

·         Elbina Bentley; b. 1832; married Parson Wall, 21 Aug 1849 in Georgia.

·         S. A. Bentley; b. 1834, Georgie

·         Mary Jane Bentley; b. 7 Feb 1836, Calhoun County, AL; D. 29 Mar 1915, Pinson, Jefferson County, AL; m. William Marion Johnson, 10 Apr 1856, Calhoun County, AL; he was born 22 Oct 1836.

·         John Bentley, b. abt 1841. 

The children of Turner Bentley and Rachel Adaline Whiteside are:

·         James Taylor Bentley; b. 9 Dec 1849, Calhoun County, AL; d. 18 Jul 1915.

·         Thomas Jefferson Bentley; 8 Aug 1851, Calhoun County, AL

·         Richard Bentley; b. 4 May 1853; d. 11 Sep 1854.

·         William Charles Bentley; b. Apr 1855, Calhoun County, AL; d. 11 Dec 1933, Piedmont,
Calhoun County, AL; married Maggie Roddam, 20 Apr 1877, in Calhoun County, AL.

·         Mollie Ann Bentley; b. 27 May 1856, Calhoun County, AL; d. 29 Sep 1891; married George W. Sorrell, 20 Apr 1877.

 The 1870 federal census provides conflicting information about Nathaniel Cobb and his family.  Two separate census entries describe Nathaniel Cobb and his second wife, Rachel Adaline Whiteside Bentley Cobb, making it appear as though they have two families. 

17 June 1870 Federal Census, Calhoun County, Precinct 13, Oxford, Calhoun County, Alabama 

16 June 1870 Federal Census, Calhoun County, Township 16, Ca??? Grove, Calhoun County, Alabama
 

The heading on the original census document is not clear but possibly reads "CORN Grove."  According to message posted on Calhoun County Genealogy Forum:  Corn Grove was located in the Southeast section of Calhoun County.  Also called Old Davisville, or, Old Davistown.   

 These records raise the question of why do Nathaniel Cobb and Rachel Adaline Whitesides Turner Cobb show up with two households in the 1870 census. 

·        The first household is Nathaniel and Rachel Cobb, three of their children (Davis, Fannie, and John), and four Bentley children (born to Turner Bentley and Rachel; Taylor, Tom, William, and Mary).

·        The second household consists of Nathaniel and Rachel and seven Bentley children:  Four Bentley children same as in the first household (Taylor, Tom, William, and Mary) and three young children:  N. B., age 7; E. F., age 6; and J. W., age 3.

·        Taylor, Tom, William, and Mary  Bentley are the children of Rachel from her marriage to Turner Bentley, who died in 1856. 

I believe the census records are erroneous. 

•  Note the names of the small children:  N. B. Bentley; E. F. Bentley; and J. W. Bentley.

•  Nathaniel Cobb and Rachael A. W. B. Cobb had several children.  The youngest of these were: Davis N. B. Cobb (b. abt 1863); T. Fannie Cobb (b. abt 1864); and John W Cobb (b. abt 1867)

•  Note that the first census records lists:  Nathaniel and Rachel, parents; Davis, Fannie, and John Cobb; followed by the Bentley children.

•  The second census record reverses the order of the children, listing the Bentley children (Taylor, Thomas, William, and Mary), then lists what appears to be the Cobb children.

Look carefully at the photos of the original census record dated 16 June 1870.  This record shows the "second household" for Nathaniel Cobb and Rachael A. W. Bentley Cobb. 

•  The first name clearly is Nathaniel Cobb. 

•  Next is "R. A.;" this is Rachel, his second wife. 

•  "Balor Bentley" actually is Taylor Bentley, son of Rachel and her first husband, Turner Bentley, born Dec 1849. 

•  The next three are also children of Rachel and her first husband: Thomas (b. 1851); William (b. 1855); and Molly (b. 1856).

•  The next three children are "N.B., E.F., and J. W. No last name is listed, leading one to assume their last name is Bentley, because that is the last name listed above for "Balor."  However, their ages -- 7, 6, and 3 -- correspond to the ages in 1870 of  the youngest children born to Nathaniel Cobb and Rachel: Davis N. B. Cobb (b. abt 1863); T. Fannie Cobb (b. abt 1864); and John W Cobb (b. abt 1867)

I think the children all are the same -- four Bentley children, three Cobb children.  I have no explanation for the fact that this family group shows up twice in the census, at different locations, on two different census dates.  It is possible the family had two residences, one in/near Oxford, the other in/near Corn Grove/Old Davisville.

 1880 Federal Census 

Beat 12, Calhoun County, 8 June 1880.  Davisville. 

 NOTE:   

Census lists only two people in household:  79-year-old Nathaniel Cobb and John Cobb, age 13, apparently his son.

 John Cobb is listed two places in the 1870 census; in one he is 5 years old, in the second he is 3.  If he was 3 in 1870, he would habe been 13 in 1880 -- the 5-year-old listing in the 1870 census likely is an error.  

 Rachel Adaline Whiteside Bentley Cobb died 1 Jun 1879, thus, she does not appear in the 1880 census.

 Nathaniel Cobb died 16 January 1889, before the 1890 census.