A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 55

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Indiana > A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I > Part 55

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father, and Willard, Dyar, John, and Elkanah Cobb are my brothers." She then told the boy that God was his Heavenly Father, and all mankind were his brothers, and asked him if he thought he could and would ex- tend the pledge to all of them, even to the end of his days. He promised that he would, and the knowledge that he has always built upon and kept that pledge sacredly has been one of the greatest consolations of his life, for to that almost entirely does he attribute what- ever success he has had, by making his word as good as his bond. In this way he has led thousands of his fel- low-men, and borrowed and controlled millions of their money, so as to better the financial condition of the com- munity in which he lives, to their joint local and na- tional benefit, thus far without making a failure. This has been done with little instruction other than what has been narrated. At twelve years of age he began attending school. This was at a little log school-house, to which he walked two miles through the forest. The teacher that presided was only required by the trustees to be able to read, write, and cipher to the single rule of three. The boy attended until he was twenty for three months each year, unless sugar-making began be- fore the three months had passed, in which case his time was cut short. 'At twenty he was set free, or, in other words, was allowed to go to work for himself. His father gave each of his boys a year to work for themselves before they reached their majority. This year of grace he hired to his father at thirteen dollars a month, and a dollar a day for one month during har- vest. He took full charge of the farm, led the harvest hands with a mowing scythe, did the teaming, and at- tended the wet weather saw-mill at night whenever it rained enough to run it. When his year was at an end he took his pay in poplar weather-boarding, at twelve dollars per thousand, with the use of the four-horse team to haul them to Aurora, where he had a contract to go down the river on a flat-boat as an oarsman, at thirty dollars for the trip, with the privilege of taking his lum- ber, on the floor of the boat, free of cost, to Natchez, Mississippi. On arriving at that city he had to wait until the hay was sold and unloaded, but he obtained employment as salesman at thirty dollars per month, and boarded on the flat-boat until spring. When the hay was unloaded, he sold his weather-boarding at forty dollars per thousand, making more money on it than is ordinarily made on a boat load of hay. When he went home to his parents he was in buoyant spirits, for since leaving them he had made nearly a thousand dollars, and gained a pretty good knowledge of flat-boating and trade in the South, so that he resolved to continue in the business. But for general trade he found himself deficient in his education. To improve himself he took a three months' course in the Greensburg Seminary, un- der Professor May, in writing and in Talbot's arith-

metic, a work that gave all its examples in dollars and cents, not in pounds, shillings, and pence. He told his teacher that he had wasted too much time on pounds and shillings, and now wanted to learn to make calcu- lations in dollars and cents. So the British currency was dropped, and the Federal taken up. At the end of three months he was as far advanced as any of his former teachers had been-that is, up to the "single rule of three." When he left Professor May his school days ended. Leaving the school-house, he stepped across the street and took a contract for making a dirt turnpike, being the lowest bidder per rod. He had worked with his father at that business before, and knew that he had a good contract ; so he borrowed his father's team, plows, picks, and scrapers, went to work, and in two months made more money than he had ex- pended in the previous three months while he was schooling himself. In the fall he returned to Aurora, ready to go at flat-boating. He bargained with Weaver & Cobb (his brother John), who kept a dry-goods store, to buy for him a flat-boat load of produce, such as he should select, not to exceed three thousand dollars' worth, he paying down all the cash he had, about thirteen hundred dollars, and the remainder to be on a credit until the following spring. He then finished and loaded the boat himself, but was obliged to hire a pilot to steer the boat down the river, and unfortunately he got, as he thought, the most ill-humored and slowest old pilot on the river. He knew every thing, and Mr. Cobb could not control him in any thing. He ran when he pleased and laid up when he pleased, but finally succeeded in steering the boat safely into Natchez, after eleven weeks, half the time being spent in fighting ice in both the Ohio and Mississippi, the boat being in great peril. A number of boats were cut down, both above and below his, but he had taken the precaution to line his gunwale boards with hard wood before he loaded, and that probably saved his craft from the fate the others met with. On arriving at Vicksburg he found some of his fellow-boatmen from Indiana in great trouble. They were selling their produce and taking their pay in Mississippi state and local bank paper, which was all at a heavy discount, and was only con- vertible into silver or New Orleans bank paper, which was equivalent to silver, at a discount .ranging from ten to ninety per cent. But the Mississippians seemed determined to give out nothing but their own paper, with which they would pay almost any price. The best of this currency, that issued by the Union Bank, gave no surety that it would be worth any thing in a week after it was obtained. Some of his friends had sold their hay at twenty-five dollars a ton in Union Bank paper, that being the best they could do, and he was told that he would find things worse than that at Natchez. This was not very encouraging, but he re-

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solved to meet the emergency as best he could. had a week to study the matter before he reached that place, and by that time the Union Bank had failed, leaving plenty more of the same sort at Natchez when he reached there. The only difference was that there was at the latter place a greater variety of shinplasters and bank paper, which was generally at a higher rate of discount, such as the Brandon Bank, Holly Springs, Mississippi Cotton Company, and . many others. But the Hoosiers soon discovered that the Natchez merchants were shipping immense amounts of cotton to New Orleans, and then selling it, getting their pay in New Orleans bank paper or silver or gold, depositing it there, and buying Mississippi paper to pay out for produce in Natchez. To meet this emergency he suggested calling a meeting of all the flat-boatmen at the landing, which was done, and they resolved to take nothing but New Orleans bank paper or silver for any of their produce, at their price for hay at twenty-five dollars per ton, and all other commodities at proportionate prices, and to take Mississippi paper only at such a rate of discount each day as would bring their prices. To this resolution the buyers made great objections, and swore they would not buy if the boat- men would not take such money as they offered. They were told that the money would be taken at just what it was worth each day at the brokers' office, and no more. The resolve was adhered to, and the buyers yielded. Good money became the currency at Natchez, while at Vicksburg the boatmen continued to deal in shinplasters for months subsequently. Trade at the latter point was unremunerative, and nearly all who took loads there lost heavily, while at Natchez there were large profits. This action of the boatmen was of great advantage to Indiana, as it insured her farmers a safe and cash-paying market. Mr. Cobb's resolution proved of much value to him, as it made him a leader in his line of business, a position he afterwards main- tained with profit to himself and those associated with him. When he had sold out the produce he had shipped, he had many applications from both Western and Southern traders at Natchez for a partnership, or to work as salesman at one hundred dollars per month. He chose the latter for a few months only, and then returned to Aurora with a full determination to continue in the river trade. The next fall he superintended finishing and loading four flat-boats for hay-two for himself and two for J. W. Weaver and his brother John Cobb. The latter was to steer his own two boats, while O. P. Cobb determined to be his own pilot, although it was only his third trip down the river. He took great pains in rigging and manning his boats, then resolutely stepped upon his steering oar plank, called to his men to "let her go," and to his oarsmen to "go ahead on the starboard, back on the lar- A-17

He | board." This was his first command, and he tried to give it with as confident an air as possible, for he did not think it best to let his men know that he was not an experienced pilot, and not at all dependent upon " Captain Conkling's Navigator," a guide-book for pilots, or upon following his brother. From the beauti- ful and prompt manner in which his commands were executed by his oarsmen as they rounded out and rowed his boats from the Indiana shore, he felt sure that he had made a good beginning with his men. But when he had gone but ten miles, to Rising Sun crossing, a point very difficult to run, he was put into trepidation by his brother, through his great anxiety to aid. John Cobb was just ahead of him with his two boats, and as he went into the riffle he hallooed to his brother: "O. P., you had better let Bolander [one of his hands] take hold of the oars to steer you through; it is very difficult to navigate." At this the men stared at him, and he saw at once that this was a deathblow to his pilotship if not met promptly and resolutely, so he raised himself to his full size on the walk-plank, and shouted : "You attend to your boats and I will steer mine." He then called to his oarsmen : " Move lively, and give us good headway till we get through here." When this was done, and they were well into the riffle, he called out : " Back on the starboard, and go ahead on the lar- board," to help him straighten them up. " Now go ahead, all together; jerk her lively, boys." This com- mand, well executed, took them through the riffle and into the main channel, while his brother's boats flanked down into the slack water, and fell behind with his men in terrible confusion, whereas O. P. Cobb's went through in high glee. This event seemed to satisfy both crews that the younger brother was the better pilot of the two, and he had no difficulty thereafter in managing his men. After this he generally took the lead until he reached Natchez, while John Cobb went on to New Orleans. Each struck a good market. O. P. Cobb had a good general variety of Western produce, well fitted for the retail trade, with the exception of ear corn. This was very low, but in good demand, and he thought he could see some money in buying corn to re- tail with his hay and other produce; so he went into the market, and there found a brother Hoosier who offered to sell his load of corn for forty cents per bushel and throw in his boat gratis. This was very cheap, but the sale must be made, so that he could go home to raise another crop. This seemed all right, with the important exception that he had no money to buy it with. He went to a friend, stated the case and his prospects, and proposed that, if the latter would fur- nish the money, Cobb would do the buying and selling, and the profits and losses would be divided equally. The proposition was accepted, the money was advanced, and buying and selling was begun. He made more

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money in that season's trade than he did on the pro- | Since that time he has always been partial to independent duce he had shipped from home. At the end of four months he settled with his moneyed friend, paying over half the profits. The latter was so much pleased that he proposed a general partnership; but Mr. Cobb de- clined, preferring to paddle his own canoe, as he had then built up a good trade with the best citizens of Natchez, which he felt sure he could retain by fair dealing and a strict observance of the Golden Rule. He contin- ued in the Southern trade for some twenty years after that, until the Rebellion occurred. During the twenty years that he had traded down the river he had the well wishes and confidence of all good citizens, and they seemed to rejoice in his success in business. With his brother-in-law, Foulk, he at one time built one of the largest brick business houses to be found under the hill at Natchez, and also a large ice-house, and bought and owned eight or ten colored people, and in other ways ingratiated himself into good favor with the Southern people; so that each year he had orders from many of them for their entire year's supply of beef, pork, corn, flour, and tobacco (nearly all of which he shipped from the North) ; in fact, all their wants, except whisky, which he did not deal in then, either at home or abroad. But when the Rebellion came, and he took sides with the Union, all this availed him nothing with his Mississippi friends; for his boats were ordered from the landing, the services of his slaves were appropriated, and his other property seized, until his attorney, " Un- cle Abe," filed an injunction against them, and freed his property, by his agreeing to work for the United States during the war. At first Mr. Cobb differed from his attorney, "Uncle Abe," when the latter issued a proclamation saying that the easiest and best way cut of the difficulty was to free the slaves; for some of his had cost him as high as eighteen hundred dol- lars. Still, he thought it would not be safe or hon- est for us to go back on the attorney we had em- ployed, and concluded to stick to him until he obtained judgment in the higher courts. In 1843, at the age of twenty-six, he married Caroline S. Foulk, of Dearborn County, Indiana. He had heard her described by a maiden aunt to his elder brother John. After men- tioning her high standing and excellent Christian quali- ties, and praising the family connections, the old lady concluded : "But she is too young for you, John." The stood by, with his wife and children, until the last man that died with the cholera was buried. This he did, not because he did not fear death, but because he could not bear the idea of leaving his friends there in distress. If he had gone to the country, he would have been in danger of carrying the disease to the residents there. Before this calamity was fairly over, and while one-half the people were still out of town, Gaff's mill was burned down, and later the pork-house was burned, while full of pork and lard of O. P. Cobb & Co., of junior listened to all the description with great interest, but, when it was announced that she was too young for his brother, he thought: " Then she is just the right one for me, and I shall be sure to fall in love with her at first sight." He did so, although that first sight did not come for three years. When he finally saw her, he found another candidate for the lady's hand, but, thanks to him- self and the aid given him by the maiden aunt, the inde- pendent ticket was elected by an overwhelming majority.

candidates. Soon after marriage he bought a house in Aurora, Indiana, where he settled. That place had then only a few hundred inhabitants, two dry-goods stores and one grocery store, and no manufacturing establishment of any kind, save one of gingerbread. The roads lead- ing to the town were made principally of mud, and were laid out up the center of the ridges, without any regard to getting an easy grade; and the bridges were of hewn timber, without curve or stone abutments. These im- . provements, such as they were, were becoming badly worn. There was much work to be done in order to build up a city there, and but few citizens to do it, while there were rival towns of far greater dimensions on all sides. Wilmington was on the hill back of them, Lawrenceburg above and Rising Sun below them on the Ohio River, and all in Dearborn County. But the residents of Aurora were enterprising, and by giving some lots succeeded in inducing T. & J. W. Gaff to es- tablish a flour-mill and distillery. Then Mr. Cobb, with his brother John, built a pork-house, and began packing pork and shipping South, still continuing his business in Natchez, under the supervision of his brother-in-law, Mr. Foulk. The greater part of Mr. Cobb's time was devoted to buying and shipping to the South, and, in company with the Gaffs and his brother John, he spent much time in projecting and executing public works, such as free pikes, bridges, and joint-stock railroads, in that neighborhood. The other towns were in turn the county seat, and had besides been favored by legisla- tion, while Aurora had to depend upon her own citi- zens, meet the opposition, or else fall behind. This they were too ambitious to do, if it was in their power to help it. They built their own free pikes, bridges, and railroads, by the aid of outside subscriptions, and fifty thousand dollars in city bonds subscribed by the city. To accomplish this much hard work was needed, and Mr. Cobb was always placed in the front rank, without pay or allowances. His city has had his serv- ices ever since his first residence there, without a dol- lar's charge, and with no benefit other than what was received by all other citizens. This time included also the dreadful cholera year (1847), when many of the in- habitants left, fleeing from the dreadful disease, even including lawyers, ministers, and doctors. Mr. Cobb

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Natchez. The losses fell very heavily on their little | pal trade in the South. The matter was fully discussed city, as well as on the Gaffs and Cobbs; but the same and warmly contested, many times almost to blows, be- tween heretofore warm friends, and many otherwise good men hesitated. Mr. Cobb was naturally among the first called on to give his opinion as to whether the Union should be dissolved. He was known to have the largest financial interest in the South of any one in that vicinity, but he did not flinch. He answered, uncom- promisingly : " Gentlemen, we had better fight until the last grown man of us is slain, and then depend upon our boys and women to repopulate and save this glori- ous Union of ours, than to think for one moment of allowing the rebels to succeed in dividing this great republican nation. I, for one, am in favor of sustain- ing the Union at all hazards." Soon after this he gave some practical evidence that he meant what he said, by knocking down in the street with his fist the first man that he heard abusing the government and wishing that the rebels might succeed. This rash act drew the first blood in that locality, and brought about a division and taking of sides quickly, for the friends of the Union ral- lied, and sided with Mr. Cobb, while the opponents, almost to a man, swore vengeance against him. He received a vote of thanks from the ladies for his prompt action. Mr. Cobb promptly offered his services to Governor Morton, who asked him as to the best means of supplying the army with forage, as he knew that Mr. Cobb was an old boatman, and the Governor had ob- served that up to that time the manner of transporting forage, particularly hay, was very expensive, and at- tended with great damage and loss from exposure to the weather, being shipped on steamboats and open barges on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Tennessee Rivers, at a high rate of freight, and then tumbled on the landings to await removal by army teams to its destination in the country. Sometimes it had to be reloaded on steamers for other points on the rivers. By this method the for- age was generally much damaged by exposure and bad handling, and this to such an extent that it was becoming alarming to the Union forces. Mr. Cobb made the following suggestion: That the government buy coal barges along the Ohio Kiver in the hay dis- tricts, and roof and side them up so as to make floating forage warehouses of them. In this way the hay could be kept dry, and could be towed to any landing, as it was needed, by the government towboats, from place to place; and an immense saving would be the result, both to the government and the farmers, who were then re- ceiving only about fifteen dollars per ton for their baled hay from the speculators, while the United States had just offered a letting for hay delivered on the Upper Ohio River, payable in treasury vouchers, at which the lowest bid was forty dollars per ton, and not half enough to supply the demand was offered even at that price. He felt assured that by proper management the spirit, the same determination to always do what they could to help themselves and their fellow-men, was left to each of them. They had the entire confidence and sympathy of all the good people of the surrounding country, and a disposition to help each other. Gaff's mill was soon replaced with a larger and better one, and, when the time came for the Cobbs to rebuild their pork-house, they were encouraged in the same manner. The burned structure was replaced with a much larger one. There was, however, a greater difficulty. When the fire occurred the Natchez firm had large contracts to fill in the South, to meet which it had nearly exhausted its means and credit, as was supposed. The pork was all burned except the barreled pork and lard saved from the flames by the almost superhuman exertion of friends, with five hundred hogs that hung in the slaughter-house, not fully paid for, and no insurance on any thing. No sooner had Mr. Cobb disclosed his situ- ation than he was given both sympathy and credit, and was bidden to go ahead. The farmers of his acquaint- ance came forward and offered him their fat hogs on a credit. His city friends volunteered to lend him money on his own name, and he was almost overwhelmed with kindness. Deeply moved by these manifestations, as well as encouraged, he called all his hands together and began again. A shed was built for his cutting blocks alongside of his lard house, which was saved from the flames, flat-boats were used for the purpose of packing, and in less than a week after the conflagration he was buying hogs and packing again. A year had not elapsed when the partners had made up all their losses, and were able to restore to their friends all that they had borrowed. Business was increased in Aurora and Natchez, and it was carried on very profitably in both places without interruption or change for years. Dur- ing this time he built a dwelling-house on his farm near Aurora, where he removed with his family, deeming it the best place to rear and educate his children properly. They then numbered six. When the South rebelled he was called upon to decide whether he would serve his country or his Southern brethren. It took him but a moment to decide, in spite of his large pecuniary inter- ests in Mississippi, and he has never regretted his action, although it has served to keep both his body and brain at work at their utmost capacity for nearly twenty years, in conducting and settling up the war business. Much of the burden still hangs upon him in the way of liti- gation for money due him from the government and from the Illinois Central Railroad. It was no easy task at first to obtain a unanimous sentiment among the people of his neighborhood for the Union, as they lived on the borders, and a large proportion of the inhabit- ants were boatmen, who, like himself, had their princi-

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army could be well supplied at a much less rate from the farmers, giving the farmers at the same time a much better price than they had yet received. The government should furnish barges and lumber to finish them, employing agents to buy, load, and pay the farmers in currency for their hay, and setting its price from time to time; Mr. Cobb then suggesting from twenty to twenty-five dollars per ton, and the agents to receive three dollars each ton for buying and loading the baled hay, payment to be made in government vouchers. By this method ten dollars per ton would be saved to the treasury, besides getting the hay to the army in better condition and with less expense of trans- portation. Governor Morton approved his suggestions, and they were reported to the chief quartermaster at St. Louis and Louisville (General Allen), who at once adopted the suggestion, and appointed Mr. Cobb quar- termaster's agent to carry it out, fixing the price at twenty-five dollars to the farmers, and three dollars more per ton for delivering it to the government in barges, as above described. This was a larger under- taking than he had ever managed before, both finan- cially and in amount of work, but he accepted the situation, entering at once upon the discharge of his duties. His first step was the organization of a firm of ten men, selected from among the oldest hay merchants on the Ohio, and those whom he thought best suited to carry on the undertaking with him, under the firm name of J. & O. P. Cobb & Co. The members were Messrs. Greer, Small, Cheek, Blasdell, Folbre, Williams, Christy, Foulk, his brother John, and himself. From the very start they met with terrible opposition from the hay speculators, from Gallipolis, Ohio, to Memphis, Tennessee, and from the latter point to St. Louis and above, from parties who had been furnishing forage up to that time at ruinous rates; but the new firm over- came all opposition so far as to keep the government well supplied for one year. This undoubtedly saved the United States millions of money during the war, although the contractors made less than eighteen thou- sand dollars for the year's business, for the warehouse system of transportation on barges was kept up after that, not only for hay, but for other forage. After the first year, however, the opposition was so great that the government went back to the former system of sup- plying her demands principally by contract. That was very satisfactory to the new partnership, for they began to see that they had an elephant on their hands. After furnishing the government another year a large amount of forage supplies by contract at lettings, on which they did much better than in the agency business, the firm of J. & O. P. Cobb & Co. was dissolved. Then, in order to enable him to furnish forage for the govern- ment in such quantities and in such places as they were likely to require it, in addition to his old house of

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A biographical history of eminent and self-made men of the state of Indiana : with many portrait-illustrations on steel, engraved expressly for this work, Volume I, Part 55

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1038

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Cincinnati, Ohio : Western Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1038