Charles F. Cobb, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Charles F. Cobb
CHARLES F. COBB. One of the native born citizens of Porter county, Indiana, and a scion of one of the oldest families in the county is Charles F. Cobb, whose name forms the caption for this review. He is one of the representative agriculturists and sterling business men of Porter township and we herewith present a brief history of his career. He is so well known throughout this section of the state the he needs no introduction to the people of Porter county.
Mr. Cobb was born in this county June 30, 1865, and he is the elder of two children born to James M. and Addie (Devore) Cobb. His sister, Luella G., lives in Valparaiso, Indiana. The father was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1836, and he passed to the life eternal in Porter county, Indiana, in 1907. He was an infant of but eight months of age when his parents removed from the Buckeye state to Porter county, where his father purchased a large tract of land in the vicinity of Valparaiso, then only a hamlet. His educational training consisted of such advantages as were offered in the district schools and after reaching man's estate he became an agriculturist and a mechanic. He was a Republican in politics and was an ardent worker for such men as Lincoln, Blaine and Grant. At the time of the inception of the Civil war he enlisted as a soldier in Company D, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry, but he never participated in any battles. His wife, whose maiden name was Addie Devore, was a native of Wisconsin, where her birth occurred in 1842. She survives her honored husband and maintains her home in Valparaiso. She is a devout member of the Christian church, with which her husband was likewise affiliated.
To the public schools of Porter county Charles F. Cobb is indebted for his rudimentary educational training. After leaving school he was a teacher in the district schools of Liberty and Washington townships for a number of years. In 1890, after his marriage, he and his wife settled on a farm of forty acres in Porter township. On March 22, 1892, they removed to their present homestead, which comprises one hundred and eighty-nine acres and which represents some of the best farming land in this section of the state. Mr. Cobb devotes his attention to the growing of wheat, corn and potatoes. In politics he is a true blue Republican and cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield. He is an active worker in behalf of the Republican party and has on various occasions been selected as delegate to county conventions.
On May 7, 1890, at Valparaiso, Indiana, Mr. Cobb was united in marriage to Miss Louise S. Harbeck, who was born in Porter county, Indiana, November 16, 1869, and who is the oldest in order of birth in a family of three children born to Fred and Catherine (Hill) Harbeck. Concerning the brother and sister of Mrs. Cobb, Anna is the wife of Joseph Bentley, an agriculturist in Porter township, and they have four children; and Otto is a prominent farmer in 'Washington township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Harbeck were both born and reared in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, whence he came to America as a young man, in 1863. He was a stranger in a strange land and for a time after his arrival in the United States was a resident of Valparaiso, Indiana. He worked for wages for a period of twenty-five years and during fourteen years of that quarter century was a resident of the city of Chicago. He purchased a tract of one hundred acres of land in Washington township, Porter county, and there he and his wife are now passing the declining years of their lives. He is a Republican in politics and both he and his wife are devout members of the German Lutheran church.
Mr. and Mrs. Cobb became the parents of six children, of whom five are living at the present time, in 1912, namely, LeRoy, who was educated in the public schools, remains at home with his parents. He is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association at Valparaiso. Geneva H. is a senior in the high school at Valparaiso and she has received considerable musical instruction. Charles McKinley graduated from the eighth grade in June, 1912, and will enter Valparaiso high school in the fall of 1912. Mary is a pupil in the fourth grade, and Louise, the baby of the family, is in the first grade. Mr. and Mrs. Cobb both come from old families in Porter county and they are well known for their social showing as citizens worthy of the highest respect and esteem of their fellows.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 591-592
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook