Daniel Cobb b. 14 Nov 1792 at Gorman, ME was s/o William Cobb (1768-1844) and Lydia Cates (1770-1796). In 1815 he established a Boot & Shoe – wholesale / retail store at 14 N. Main Street in Providence, RI. He married Ruth Almy d/o Peleg and Sussanne (Sherman) Almy in Providence on 20 Mar 1816. In 1820 he sold his store and moved to Baltimore, MD and with partner William Lytle established circa 1822 Cobb & Lytle a wholesale domestic goods store at 258 Baltimore Street. In 1829 the store was with a new partner Samuel Wyman as Cobb, Wyman & Co. at 214 w Baltimore Street and by 1835 he was the sole owner. Daniel and Ruth had 2 sons and 2 daughters: Anna Almy b. 29 Sep 1818 d. 18 Mar 1890, William Almy b. 25 May 1823 d. 30 Jul 1845 was a physician, Elizabeth b. 4 Sep 1824 d. 14 Aug 1879, and Edward Daniel b. 14 Mar 1826 d. 20 Jan 1898. The family was residing in Baltimore at the corner of Franklin and Catherdral Streets in 1829 and on 28 Sep 1835 he and his wife bought “Clifton” an 1803 mansion and out buildings on 167 acres of farm lands from Henry Thompson who took back a mortgage. In 1837 Henry Thompson died on August 24th at age 63 and on October 7th Daniel Cobb died at age 45. Daniel’s wife Ruth was unable to pay the mortgage now due to the estate of Henry Thompson and consequently it was adjudicated in the Baltimore County land court and went to auction in 1840. Johns Hopkins, philanthropist of a Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital, won the auction bid and deed was transferred in 1841. “Clifton” became Johns Hopkins’ summer home in 1852 after extensive alterations by architects Niersee & Neilson that transformed it into an Italianate Villa style as it appears today in Baltimore’s Clifton Park.

Quote in a letter by Charles Edward Grinnell, Daniel Cobb’s grandson, dated 8 Oct 1905:
“Daniel Cobb was born in Maine and when a young man went to Providence and married Ruth Almy and moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he died at the age of 45 after a very active and successful business life and was buried in the Friend’s Burying Ground, where his store now is. His wife is buried by his side.” “He went into real estate to an extant which was probably too speculative or which was at least not sufficiently conservative because at his death his family were not left well off as they had been. I have always heard him spoken of in Baltimore as an able business man whose plans were rather “ahead of the times” or the market, and who died before he could carry them out.”