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John Cobb and "Lurany" Larania (Phipps) Cobb |
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John Cobb and "Lurany" Larania (Phipps) Cobb |
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Joe & Olla (baby's name unknown)James & Mary (Cornn) Cobb branch was generously provided to us by Sheila (Miller) Cobb THANKS, CUZ SHEILA, FOR SHARING! |
this "Ed/Laura" branch was obtained through a guestbook entry made by Shirley (Holt) Coulter THANKS, CUZ SHIRLEY, FOR SHARING! |
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Upper Left:Chester Cobb (Steve's younger son by 2nd wife, Mary Ellen) Upper Center: unknown /possibly Roy Cobb (Steve's older son by 2nd wife, Mary Ellen) Upper Right: Jim Cobb (Steve's oldest son by 1st wife, America) Seated: unknown /possibly Steve Cobb (father to the other men in photograph) |
Helen (Cobb) Savage, daughter to Bill & Lucy Cobb, and granddaughter to Steve & America (Sasser) Cobb (donated to us by Helen's son, Sonny Savage) |
"You can look at Jim and see Papa" The "Papa" mentioned, is probably Helen's reference to her father (papa), Bill Cobb . . . (Steve's middle son by 1st wife, America) . . . that Bill looks like his brother Jim? |
Chester Cobb
per Cuz Glenn Earl Perry | ||
 "Pore Ol' Feller," as he typically was referred to by his relatives even when he was a young man, never did any harm to any person. He was a good man, and, to my knowledge, everybody was good to him. He never said much. He would call you on the telephone (to get the latest news, as will become apparent) and wait for you to do the talking. But there apparently was something inside him that wanted to get attention. So in about the mid-to-late 1940s (if not earlier), he began sending news columns, at first titled, "Mt. Arat" (Mt. Arat/Ararat was the name of the church and one-room school, while the post office was Gibbs, KY), to the "Barbourville [KY] Mountain Advocate," relating mostly to trivial events from around his community. He soon started using corny jokes and riddles. He would jump from one odd subject to another without elaboration. He would stick in almost anything that anybody suggested to him. Much of what he wrote seemed totally at odds with his personality. The things he wrote and the way he did it were hilarious to many people, some of whom apparently thought he was just clever, but were embarrassing to some of his cousins and neighbors, who blamed the paper for publishing something they thought was so dumb. The newspaper even furnished him a typewriter. Before long, his column had become such an attraction, that there was a contest to find a better name for it. And so each week, for decades after that, we saw a rectangular box at the top of the column with Chester's picture to the left of the headline: GIBB KERNELS From The Cobb With News From Around Gibbs, Ky By Ole Chess Cobb "Poor Chester" had been transformed from an object of pity, to the local celebrity "Ole Chess." I have heard that people from the area, living far and wide, subscribed to the paper just to read this column every week. Some other newspapers picked it up for a while. I understand that there was a piece in the "Louisville Courier-Journal" (then rated as one of the ten top newspapers in the country) about him. And I remember that in the early 1960s when I was visiting the Union College campus in Barbourville, KY, I was introduced to a visiting "Courier-Journal" correspondent, as being from "Chester Cobb Country!" Whatever our conclusion about him may be, Chester Cobb is an important part of Cobb/Sasser family history. His writings may even constitute a useful source for those who want to trace the latter-day history of the family. I wouldn't expect to find our 18th century roots in his columns, but if someone had the time to go through the issues of the "Barbourville Mountain Advocate," for a period of about forty years, he or she might find a lot of interesting tidbits about Cobbs and Sassers. | ||
(from Jan. 19, 1956, p. 6, original spellings preserved), the bulk of the people he wrote about who lived around his home (and that of his half-sister, Daisy Sasser Cobb, who looked after him after their mother died) on Dog Branch (which he tried to rename "Mud Hole Lane," to embarress County officials who would not gravel the road for so long), and Mt. Arat/Gibbs, generally were descendants of Ambrose & Rachel(Black) Cobb, and of Henry & Nannie(Kirby) Sasser. | ||
"Col. Chess Cobb." |
Thursday, January 19, 1956 GIBB KERNELS From the Cobb With the News From Around Gibbs, Ky By Old Chess Cobb --Janey Hampton and daughter Lilllie Eldridge is visiting their children, brothers and sisters in Indiana. --Franklyn D. Jones and Robert Gilbert is now employed in Kentucky town better known as Gary, Indiana. Bill Anderson left for Gary Saturday to seek employment. --Champ Sasser and his buddies went up Mud Hole Lane Sunday with a wagon load of tobacco. --Mr. and Mrs. Frank Craft has returned from their vacation in Michigan. --Jack Warren moved Julia Rush to Laurel Co. last week. |
--Eugine Sasser was visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lawton Sasser. --Norma Sasser was visiting Daisy Cobb Saturday. Marie was with her sister, Norma. --Lucille Sasser was visiting friends on Mud Hole Friday. --Billy Taylor left his home at Crane Nest, Ky. Saturday to join those Ky. boys at Gary, Ind. --Mr. and Mrs. Champ Sasser is enjoying electricity in their home put in by Edd White. --Ethel Sweet and kidios is visiting relatives up at London, Ky. --Audrey Gilbert was visiting Nila Craft Saturday. Her son Carl and daughter Goldie was there too. --Here is a question by Anna Sue Monroe. What have a million holes but still wholes water? --Better ease off adding, Have you every see Mr. Snow marry Miss Frost. --Well, I will be back in a slash. |
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That's his handwriting at the top. On the back he wrote, "A view of the hollow in front of our home. ~Chester Cobb" |
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of the overall Cobb-Sasser Family Lineage Website Please do sign the book! |
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