Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 169
useful man, and an exemplary Christian. With perhaps one
exception his life was a living illustration of his political and
religious opinions. When in 1657, mainly through the influence
of men in the Massachusetts Colony, a spirit of intolerance spread
through the Plymouth Colony, and laws were enacted that an
enlightened common sense condemns, and which were in violation
of the principles of religious liberty which the fathers had held
sacred. Elder Cobb was one of the deputies to the G-eneral
Court, and there is no evidence to show that he did not approve
of their enactment. In so doing he violated principles which he
had long cherished and held sacred. It would have been better
for his reputation had he like his friends Smith, Cudworth and
Robinson and nearly all of the "first comers" then living, protested
against these intolerant measures, and like them retired to
private life with clear consciences and an unspotted reputation.
Four years were sufficient to sweep away every vestige of the
fanatical
Colony.
and intolerant spirit which
How could it be otherwise ?
had spread
How could
ovef the Old
men who had
themselves suffered persecution, imprisonment and stripes for
conscience sake, and who had through life stoutly maintained that
God alone was the judge of men's consciences, how could they,
when the excitement had passed away, believe it right to persecute
Baptists and Quakers and wrong to persecute Puritans. The
absurdity of such a course forced itself upon the minds of such
men as Elder Cobb, and soon wrought a complete change in public
opinion.
Three of the name of Cobb came to New England, and if
John of Plymouth and John of Taunton are not the same, four.
The Cobbs of Georgia are a different family, though perhaps
remotely related. Thomas R. R. Cobb a brother of the rebel
general Howell Cobb in a letter dated at Athens, Geo., April 7,
1857, says, "I have but little information as to my remote ancestry.
The tradition as I have received it from my father, is that
seven brothers originally emigrated from England. Four settled
in Vh'ginia, three went to Massachusetts. Their names or subsequent
history I never learned. I have heard my father say that
his grandfather would frequently relate that the brother from
whom he was descended, bought his wife from an emigrant ship
for 700 lbs. of tobacco. My father, grandfather and greatgrandfather
were all named John."
Traditions are usually worthless. Three of the name came
to Massachusetts, as stated in the letter ; but there is no evidence
that they were brothers. The presumption is they were not.
Mr. Pratt in his history of Eastham, page 27, gives an account of
the origin of the Cobb families founded on a tratition which is
wholly unreliable. He says four of the name, sons of Sylvanus,
came over, namely, Jonathan from Harwich, England, settled in