Tulare County Biographies

WILLIAM J. COBB

Transcribed by Jeannie Miyama

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
William J. Cobb of the Cobb Drug Company, druggists in Porterville, is one of 
the best known and most firmly established merchants of that city, a recognized 
factor in the general commercial life of the community.  He is a native of the 
old Empire state but has been a resident of California for the past fifteen 
years and is in full accord with the common recognition of this state as a 
desirable and agreeable place of residence.  He was born in the village of 
Ransomville, not far from the lake in Niagara county, northwestern New York, on 
February 17, 1886, and is a son of George L. and Josephine L. (Eldredge) Cobb, 
both members of old colonial families in New York state, and the latter a 
granddaughter of a soldier of the Revolution, and both of whom are deceased.  
George L. Cobb was a merchant in Ransomville and a substantial citizen of that 
place.
 
Reared in his native town, William J. Cobb acquired his education there, going 
on through the high school, and early became interested in the drug business.  
After clerking for some time in a local drug store he entered the pharmacy 
school of the University of Buffalo and after a course of two years of study was 
graduated and became a certified pharmacist.  Since that time he has engaged in 
the practice of pharmacy in Colorado and California.  In 1911 Mr. Cobb came to 
California and engaged in the drug business in Pasadena, presently moving from 
there to Los Angeles and in the latter city was similarly occupied until 1917 
when, in association with Joseph Maurer, he bought the store in which he now is 
in business in Porterville, the partners carrying on under the firm name of the 
Cobb Drug Company.  This store is conveniently located on Main street and has 
long enjoyed a deserved popularity as one of the leading commercial 
establishments of its kind in the valley.  The store is well stocked and 
admirably equipped, its general appointments being in full accord with 
up-to-date requirements in that line, and does an extensive business, a staff of 
eight persons being necessary to take care of the trade.
 
On July 20, 1912, in Pasadena, William J. Cobb was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary Busch, who was born in Cripple Creek, Colorado, daughter of Peter Busch.  
Mr. and Mrs. Cobb have a very pleasant home in Porterville.  Mr. Cobb is a 
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a noble of Islam Temple of the 
Mystic Shrine, and is also affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of 
Elks.
 
History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen Edwards Small & 
J. Larry Smith, Vol. I, Chicago, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1926, Page 
175