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Note: According to his son William Cobb's, 1880 census record, Semer Cobb was born in Virginia (Warren Co., Indiana, Pine Twp., pg. 26 or 17 of 22 on Ancestry.com). Semer Cobb (it looks like "Seamon Cobb" on the document) obtains a land grant for land next to John Rhode ("John Road on the document) and Caleb ("Calip") Hughes near St. Georges, Dorchester Co., South Carolina in 1897. In 1829, Semer receives a U.S. gov't land grant for land in Warren Co., Indiana; the grant states that says he resides in Vermilion Co., Illinois. But he has no deeds in Vermilion Co.; son Ira, also receives one in the same year which says he resides in the same county, but there are no deeds in Vermilion Co., Illinois for any Cobbs until much later. They may have been living with the Lewis families there. During the 1830s, Semer receives other land grants in Warren Co., Indiana through the 1830s. In 1820 and 1830, he was recorded in the Lawrence Co., Indiana census. In 1840, he is found with his son, Caleb and his family in Sugarloaf Twp., Marion Co., Arkansas, page 46 (pg 1 of 2 on Ancestry.com) One of his sons, bet. ages 30 and 40, was living with him and Esther. But he and Esther soon came back to Warren Co., Indiana and are enumerated in the census there as well. The son who was living with him also had a wife, a daughter age 5-10 and a daughter under five years old. A letter sent to Jonathan and Mary Harriet Anderson Rhode from Caleb and Rachel Little Rhode dated October 21, 1840 says that "Aunt Easter Cobb has got a most fat since she got here." This indicates that Semer and Esther Lewis Cobb moved back to Warren Co. sometime in the summer of 1840 after the census was taken in Marion Co., Arkansas and before the census in Warren Co., Indiana. Semer sold his land in Warren Co. Indiana after his wife Esther's death in 1847 and moved back to Lawrence Co., Indiana to live with his son Thomas and Thomas' family for a while. But later he moved back to Warren Co. and lived with son William and Allice Rhode Cobb; Semer seemed to be living with William and Allice when he died in 1858. His estate was filed in Warren Co., Indiana. Semer and Esther Lewis Cobb had three offspring who married Rhode cousins, the children or grandchildren of Esther Lewis Cobb's sister, Mary Lewis Rhode, and Mary's husband John Rhode: Semer and Esther Lewis Cobb's son, William Cobb, married Allice Rhode, the daughter of Jonathan and Mary Harriet Anderson Rhode and the granddaughter of John and Mary Lewis Rhode, Esther Lewis Cobb's sister. William and Allice were second cousins (or first cousins once removed.) Semer and Esther Lewis Cobb's daughter, Martha Cobb, married William Rhode, the son of William and Sarah Murray Rhode and the grandson of John and Mary Lewis Rhode, Esther Lewis Cobb's sister. (Again, second cousins or first cousins once removed.) Also, Semer and Esther Lewis Cobb's daughter, Sarah Cobb, married William Gray. William and Sarah Cobb Gray's daughter, Dorothy Gray, married Jonathan Rhode, the son of Seymour and Rebecca Hurley Rhode and the grandson of John and Mary Lewis Rhode, Esther Lewis Cobb's sister. (Note: Seymour Rhode's full name was Seymour Cobb Rhode, and he was named for Semer Cobb.) As the generations progressed, more Rhode-Gray-Cobb marriages would occur. From the "History of Pine Twp., Warren Co., IN William Cobb, whose parents settled on the old Cobb homestead when he was a child in the early 20's, before his death in 1897, related many of his early experiences in the early days of what is now Pine Township. The farm is located two miles northwest of Pine Village on the old Pottawattomie Indian trail, which led from Zachariah Cicot's trading post on the Wabash River, where Indepndence is now situated, in a northwesterly direction to Parish Grove. This farm is still in the possession of the Cobb family, the present owner being J. T. Cobb. Mr. Cobb related that when their family located at this place and entered the land, there were no other settlers to the west of them, the country being mostly a prairie, covered with ponds and sloughs, through which it was difficult to find a passage, especially in the spring of the year, and they thought there never would be any settlements any farther west than where they were located. He related, that he remembered vividly when a boy, the report would come that the Indians were coming from the northwest on the war path. The settlers would hurriedly load their families into rude wagons with what few belongings they could get in their wagons, and make all speed they could to the south in an effort to reach a refuge with the friendly Kickapoo Indians. On these flights they men with their rifles would keep a sharp lookout to the rear. On one occasion the report came in the night that the Indians were coming from the northwest on the war path. The settlers hurriedly left their homes and fled to the south, and when they reached their refuge, they missed a little child, which had been jolted from the wagon in their hurried flight. Two men volunteered to go back and look for the child, which they found unharmed by the roadside. From "The Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana by F.A. Battey & Co., 1883." "The first assistance furnished by the county of Warren to her indigent and poor was in 1831, when Levi Murdock was paid $20, upon the order of the Commissioners, for keeping John Campbell, a transient pauper, five months. After this, orders of a similar nature are found with great frequency. Each township had Overseers of the Poor, whose duty was to see that the helpless of his township were provided with the necessaries of life, and given a Christian burial upon their death. The bills of expense, when properly authenticated, were paid by the County Board. Occasionally, in more than one township of Warren County, the township officers would order poor persons to depart the township forthwith, that they might not become a township charge. But that barbarous custom soon gave place to one of broader charity and humanity. The custom of farming out the paupers to the lowest bidders took the place of all others, and was continued many years. Sometimes the poor fell into cruel hands, and received rough treatment and fare from the farmers who had taken the charge solely to make money. Generally, however, the humanity of the early settlers provided the county poor with comfortable homes. In 1833, Seymour Cobb was paid quite a sum for furnishing Elizabeth Bell, a pauper, with comfortable clothing and a home. James Foreman, a pauper, was buried at county expense in 1837. Thomas Thomas built the coffin. The annual county expense for the poor, during these years, ranged from about $20 to $70; but about 1837, the figures began to grow. Semer originated in Colleton County, South Carolina about 50 miles northeast of Savannah, Georgia. He came to Bedford in the early 1800's. Bedford where he lived is actually called Springville, Indiana at the present time. There is also a Russell Cobb who is buried with Semer and Esther Cobb in the cemetery with them. Semer was born in 1770 and died in 1857. His wife, Esther, was born in 1779 and died in 1847. Semer then left the care of his farm in the care of his son Thomas and moved westward to Warren County, Indiana where he purchases another farm. He lived there the rest of his life. Tom(?) said, "Semer seems to have been an adventuresome person to have left his home in South Carolina in order to establish a homestead in Indiana at a time when Indiana was still a wild frontier. And then he shows more tenacity when he did it all over again, moving from Bedford to resettle in Warren County. The Cobbs seem to have a flair for being unorthodox. Perhaps this tendency runs in our blood. We may have inherited it from Semer." Semer originated in Colleton County, South Carolina about 50 miles northeast of Savannah, Georgia. He came to Bedford in the early 1800's. Bedford where he lived is actually called Springville, Indiana at the present time. There is also a Russell Cobb who is buried with Semer and Esther Cobb in the cemetery with them. Semer was born in 1770 and died in 1857. His wife, Esther, was born in 1779 and died in 1847. Semer then left the care of his farm in the care of his son Thomas and moved westward to Warren County, Indiana where he purchases another farm. He lived there the rest of his life. Tom(?) said, "Semer seems to have been an adventuresome person to have left his home in South Carolina in order to establish a homestead in Indiana at a time when Indiana was still a wild frontier. And then he shows more tenacity when he did it all over again, moving from Bedford to resettle in Warren County. The Cobbs seem to have a flair for being unorthodox. Perhaps this tendency runs in our blood. We may have inherited it from Semer."
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