W.R.W. Cobb (1807-1864)

Williamson Robert Winfield Cobb, a Representative from Alabama, was born in Rhea County, Tenn., June 8, 1807. He moved in 1809 to Bellefontaine, Madison County, Ala., with his father, who settled on a plantation and engaged in the raising of cotton.

Cobb received a limited education, became a clock peddler for a short time and subsequently entered the mercantile business in Bellefontaine. He was a member of the State house of representatives in 1845 and 1846. He located on a plantation in Madison County and engaged in cotton raising and was elected as a Democrat to the 30th and to the six succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1847, to January 30, 1861, when he withdrew. While in Congress he served as chairman, Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business (31st through 33rd Congresses), Committee on Public Lands (35th Congress).

Cobb was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Confederate House of Representatives in 1861. He resumed agricultural pursuits in Madison County and was elected in 1863 to the Confederate House of Representatives, but did not take his seat when the new Congress met. His fidelity was suspected and subsequently he was expelled by a unanimous vote.

Cobb was killed by the accidental discharge of his own pistol while putting up a fence on his plantation near Bellefontaine, Ala., November 1, 1864. He is buried in the plot of the Cobb family estate near Cobb's Bridge in Madison County, Ala.