It’s easier to find the names and dates of ancestors than it is to find the actual stories. Obituaries help a little, when you can find them, but they still usually include only the smallest amount of information.
So when you are interested in ancestry, it feels like you have struck gold when you discover the work done by some of the people with the same interests who have have come before you.
In a recent blog post, I mentioned the book “A History of Zion Baptist Church” and my cousin Betsy messaged asking me about it. I decided to scan it for her, and thought it may be helpful for other researchers as well. The author was the late Bernie W. Cobb, so I reached out his son Judge Lynn Cobb who gave me permission to share it here. While at it, I scanned a couple other books that have been helpful to me while doing genealogy research on Haywood County family lines. I hope these will be helpful (and entertaining) for others.
A History of Zion Baptist Church by Bernie W. Cobb
Bernie Wright Cobb Sr., the late Haywood County, Tenn. judge, was born in Brownsville, Tenn. on March 7, 1908 to Thomas Adelbert Cobb (1877-1920) and Elizabeth F. Gordon Cobb (1879-1938). Cobb grew up on the corner of Zion and Poplar Corner Roads. In the book, he writes:
“No language can express to Zion Church the love and gratitude of my soul, for its contribution to whatever good the world judges of me. From a diaper baby to an old man, it has been a sustaining and mutually restraining influence in the choice of each rung of the ladder of life.”
Bernie W. Cobb
Bernie Cobb Sr. died in 1995 at age 87 and was buried in the Zion Baptist Church cemetery. His book is especially meaningful to me as many of those he documented are in my family lines.
After my ancestors arrived in Haywood County from Bertie County, North Carolina and had gotten their homes built and their farms started, they formed Zion Baptist Church. On Nov. 1836, they voted to send back home for my fourth great-grandfather, George Solomon “Sol” Williams, to come to Haywood County to be the first pastor. Years after his death in 1864, my father and I visited what we think was his long-forgotten grave. You can read about that here.
A Tribute to the Veterans of Zion Baptist Church
This booklet was compiled by Joyce Cobb Maness, Reese Moses Scallions and Lisa Conway in honor of the veterans of Zion Baptist Church in Haywood County, Tenn. When I first began doing ancestry research, I found the name “Reese Moses” showed up everywhere I looked on ancestry and genealogy blogs and message boards relating to Haywood County. I later discovered she was member of Zion Church and a prolific researcher. She passed away in 2005 at the age of 81. After her death, her research was saved and is maintained by the Elma Ross Public Library in Brownsville in their Genealogy Room. Joyce Cobb Maness was the daughter of Lawrence Cobb who was a son of Sim Cobb, my 3rd great-uncle. When I was a child staying with my grandparents, Guy and Virginia Lovelace, we would walk down to “Mr. Lawrence’s store” that was on Poplar Corner Road just for somewhere to go. According to the Tribute book, it was he who encouraged his daughter and others to compile all this great information.
Holly Grove Baptist Church, Celebrating
125 Years of Worship and Ministry, 1885-2010
This book was compiled by members of Holly Grove Baptist Church on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the church in 2010 and is loaded with helpful information, especially about the early years of the church. While the books about Zion help inform my research primarily of my maternal line, this book tells me more about my paternal line. On Sept. 27, 1885, a group of 38 members of Zion Baptist Church who were tired of having to travel so far on a bumpy, muddy wagon road to get to church “petitioned Zion for letters of dismissal” so they could form Holly Grove. They decided to build the church where my third great grandmother, Nancy Castellaw, had donated land and built a school ten years earlier. The last names of many of those founding members including Castellaw, Booth, Williams, White, Outlaw, Rawls and Williams also show up on both my maternal and paternal family tree.
I am so grateful to those who worked so diligently to preserve this history for those of us came along decades later. Hopefully, by sharing it here, I can contribute in a small way to making it more widely available.
You can explore my Haywood County family lines and others at HaywoodCountyLine.com or read blog posts about the history of West Tennessee on my blog page.