John Hardy Cobb and the Cobb Family Cemetery

The Cobb Family Cemetery in Haywood County, Tennessee has always been one of my favorite burial grounds because its in such an expected location. You can find it at the end of an unmarked gravel road off Poplar Corner Road. If you’re headed down Poplar Corner, its about one fourth mile after you pass Zion Road.

The land was designated as a cemetery by my 3rd great-grandfather, John Hardy Cobb (1798-1880). He was a son of John Hardy Cobb (1750-1809) and Sarah Capehart Cobb (1753-1818). His paternal grandparents were Henry Cobb (1700-1763) and Mary Hardy Cobb (1710-1745) of Bertie County, North Carolina.

John Hardy Cobb married Harriet Warren Castellaw in 1821 in Bertie County.

According to Joe H. Cobb, John Hardy and Harriet Castellaw Cobb recorded in their family Bible that they departed for Haywood County, Tennessee from Bertie County, North Carolina on March 6, 1834 and arrived April 22, 1834. The journey in a covered wagon took nearly 50 days. Harriet’s father, John Dawson Castellaw, led many wagon trains from Bertie County to Haywood County then settled there himself in 1834. It’s very likely he led John Hardy Cobb’s group through Tennessee.

John Hardy Cobb’s two sisters, Mourning Cobb Outlaw and Frances Cobb Steele and their families had already migrated to Haywood County by the time he arrived.

John Hardy Cobb eventually became one of Haywood County’s earliest magistrates. In 1835, his seven-year-old daughter died and in 1838 his two-year-old son, Monroe Clinton, died. The creation of a cemetery was of obvious importance to Cobb and his family. His two young children were possibly buried there but no record was made.

It appears the first person recorded as buried in the Cobb cemetery was Cobb’s mother-in-law, Zilpha Castellaw, who died in 1842.

In April of 1859, Cobb sold a portion of the land surrounding the cemetery but maintained ownership of the 9,328 square foot cemetery itself. At some point, family members added an iron gate and later a cyclone fence. Currently, the cemetery is surrounded by small residential homes, trailers and sheds and is maintained by Cobb’s descendants.

Today, there still exists headstones for some of the Cobb family there, but many of the graves are unmarked. Known to be buried in the cemetery are the family members of John Hardy Cobb and his sons Simeon, John Charles Warren and William Thomas. I’ve always been fascinated by the family story that when one family member, Champ Watridge, lost his leg while cutting down a tree, his mangled limb was buried somewhere in the cemetery. If that was the case, the rest of his body didn’t join its appendage as Champ was buried down the road in the Holly Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.

Those we know for certain are buried there are:

Family of John Hardy Cobb and Harriet Warren Castellaw Cobb:

Family of Simeon Amhearst “Sim” Cobb:

The Family of John Charles Warren Cobb and Penelope  White Cobb:

Those with Unknown Connections but Buried in the Cemetery:

On August 21, 1986, a small group of Cobb ancestors cleaned up the old family cemetery and created a committee and a fund that would make certain the cemetery was maintained in the future.

Cobb Cemetery Clean-up Day, 1986

Back row, l to r: Nancy Helen Cobb, Lawrence Amherst
Cobb and Joyce Maness Cobb
Front row, l to r: Guy Brantley,
William McKenly Cobb & William Cobb.

You can find more photos and information from the clean up day more than 30 years ago on this blog post from 2011, more about the Cobb family at HaywoodCountyLine.com or more blogs posts on my blog page.