Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3252 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSOn December 10, 1902, lie married Miss Frances Martin DeSaussure ofCamden, South Carolina, a daughter of Daniel DeSaussure. They have onechild, Lawrence Manning, Jr., born March 7,1910, at Camden, South Carolina.HON. JOHN ADDISON COBB of Americus by his own long and useful careerhas done much to increase the honor and distinctions which gather around liisfamily name in Georgia and the South. His own relationship will be easilyunderstood when it is recalled that he is a son of General Howell and MaryAnn (Lamar) Cobb, and is a brother of Judge A. J. Cobb of Athens. Therecords of the Cobb and Lamar families are found on other pages, so thatno further reference to them is required.It was in Athens, Georgia, that John Addison Cobb was born October 20,1838. He was liberally educated. He attended schools conducted by wellknowneducators in various sections of the country, but it was an educationand training for real life which he received in the atmosphere of his distinguished father's home. At the age of seventeen he entered the University ofGeorgia, and afterwards worked for a time in a retail dry goods store atAthens. In 1859 he moved to Macon, Georgia, where he resided with his uncle,Hon. John B. Lamar, one of the largest planters in that section of the state.Col. John B. Lamar was wounded at Crampton Gap, Maryland, in September,1862, and died in Pleasant Valley, Virginia, the next day. He was serving asA. D. C. to Gen. Howell Cobb. Later Mr. Cobb was given charge of the sevenLamar plantations and had under hisi supervision 800 slaves. His kind andjudicious management of them was such as to endear him to them, as is shownto this day by they and their descendants calling him '' Mars Johnny.''At the outbreak of the war he joined the Macon Volunteers, the SecondGeorgia Battalion, which were the first Confederate troops to reach Virginiaafter the secession of that state, and transferred to the 16th Georgia Regimentcommanded by Col. Howell Cobb, which became a part of Cobb's Brigade,commanded by Gen. Howell Cobb. He served as quartermaster sergeant untilhis father was made brigadier general, then was advanced to the position ofan aide on the staff of his father, Brigadier General and later MajorGeneral Cobb. As a soldier he showed all the gallantry and courage whichhave been intimate characteristics of the family, and at the close of the warhe returned to Macon.Soon afterward he settled in Sumter County, which has been his permanenthome for a half a century. During 1868-69-70 he represented his county in theLegislature. That was during Reconstruction days, and he rendered invaluableservice at a time when all ordinary agencies of government were paralyzed.For many years he was member of the local board of education and presidentof the board for Americus, and in that capacity he did much to improve andadvance the standards of schools. For four years he was trustee of the StateSanitarium.For twenty-six years he served as a commissioner of roads and revenue forSumter County. In March, 1905, Mr. Cobb was elected ordinary for SumterCounty, and since then for twelve years has filled that office and has administered its varied and important responsibilities so as to reflect credit upon theoffice itself and to add to his own enviable distinction in public life.During the Cleveland administration Judge Cobb was for four years adeputy internal revenue collector. Since 1914 he has been president of theGeorgia State Agricultural Society, and by virtue of that office is a member ofthe State Board of Entomology. One of the earlier honors given to him shouldnot be forgotten. He was the youngest delegate to the convention for thenomination of presidential candidates ever sent from Georgia, and perhapsfrom any state of the Union. It was in 1860 that he went as a delegate tothe Baltimore Democratic Convention to support the nomination of Breckenridgeand Lane.Judge Cobb has been a national delegate to the General Episcopal Con-