Note: Mary Medley in her book The History of Anson County says he is buried here at Cedar Creek Meeting House Cemetery. This marker is here and his first wife and three of his children are buried here, but his biography states he is buried in Sampson County, N.C. at the old Baptist church he had pastored. I have yet to find out for sure where he is buried.

Born in Jones County, N.C the son of William Donnell Cobb and Anne Spicer Collier Cobb. He graduated from Hughes Academy. His M.A. Degree in 1856 from the Universtity of North Carolina was the first earned Master's Degree granted by that university. His picture and diploma are in the Universtiy of North Carolina's Graduate Office in Chapel Hill.

He taught school in Wayne and Cabarrus Counties in North Carolina. He was the first teacher of short hand in North Carolina. He was admitted to the bar as a lawyer at Greenville, N.C. and practiced there for a while.

He changed his religious belief leaving the Episcopal Church to become a Baptist minister. He received a Doctorate of Divinity degree from Judson Colledge in 1869. He was State Superintendant of the Baptist Sunday School Board, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and President of the Baptist State Convention at times.

He served as pastor in Hickory, Fayetteville, Lilesville, Ansonville, Shelby, Waynesville, Goldsboro, Elizabeth City, Lincolnton, Rockingham, Chapel Hill, Morganton, Hillsboro. He was President of Wayne Institute and Normal College. He was Principal of Lilesville High School.

During the Civil War he was a chaplain in 14th North Carolina Infantry Company F & S. He was a historian and author of a book of verse A Poetical Geography of North Carolina. This book in rhyme and music included the 73 Rivers, 394 Creeks, and 96 counties of North Carolina.

He married Martha Louisa Cobb in 1859 and they had 12 children. She died in 1888 and in 1891 he married Ellen DeLisle Fennell from Sampson County and they had 3 children.