Smith family.

The Cobb family from the late 1800s through the mid 1950s was one of the most prominent African-American families in Waco, Texas. Various members of the family served the community as a pastor, nurse, manager, and teachers and administrators. Outside of Waco, the two most famous members of the family were Robert Lloyd Smith, Texas educator and protégé of Booker T. Washington, and Jules Bledsoe, the internationally famous African-American opera star.

Stephen Cobb, the owner of the oldest documents in the collection, was a free black residing in Waco shortly after Emancipation. He helped found the first African-American church in Waco, New Hope Baptist Church, said to be one of the first free black churches in the state of Texas. During his eight years serving as the first pastor of the new church, Stephen Cobb oversaw a large membership increase and the founding of a regular Sunday School program. He also served as temporary pastor for four months in 1885 when the pastor went on a missionary trip to Africa. After a long and active career as community leader, Stephen Cobb died around the turn of the 19th century.

Stephen Cobb married twice, first to Mary Jenkins Cobb, and then to Feriba Crain Cobb. Two family trees detailing the extended Cobb family can be found in the appendices of the finding aid. Three children were born to Stephen and Mary, and ten children to Stephen and Feriba, though only eleven of the combined thirteen children lived past childhood. Not much is known about Mary Jenkins, but Feriba Crain was a nurse before she married Stephen Cobb. Feriba Cobb died in 1935 after raising her children and helping to raise her grandson Jules Bledsoe.

The entire Cobb family was musically gifted, beyond the obvious talent of professional performer Jules Bledsoe, grandson of Stephen Cobb. It is not known if Stephen Cobb's sons used their musical talent, but Stephen's daughters were accomplished enough to offer music lessons to local children. In fact, Stephen's daughter Mae Ollie Cobb Spiller was Jules Bledsoe's only music teacher until he went to college.

The many children of Stephen, Feriba, and Mary Cobb maintained their parents' high profile in Waco. Sisters Naomi Cobb and Ruby Cobb Smith received teaching degrees, and became teachers in the Waco school system, with Naomi teaching English and journalism at A.J. Moore High School. Ruby Cobb Smith later married the noted African-American Texas educator Robert Lloyd Smith. Once accepted into Robert Smith's educational activities, Ruby quickly became the manager of Robert's programs while he traveled the state raising money and giving speeches. Two other sisters, Jessie Cobb Bledsoe and Mae Ollie Cobb Spiller, also married. Jessie married Henry Bledsoe and they had a son, Jules Bledsoe, but the couple separated in 1899. Jessie went back to her family's home in Waco and raised Jules with the help of her mother and sisters. Jules later went to college, became a singer, and toured Europe and America giving vocal performances and starring in operas.

Stephen Cobb's many children began to pass away by the early to mid 1900s. Mae Ollie died in May 1941, Ruby died in February 1966, and Esau died in January 1968. As time passed, other members of the family passed away, until by the time this collection came to The Texas Collection in 1973, there was only one surviving member of the once-numerous Cobb family.

The Smith-Cobb Family Collection came to the Texas Collection after Baylor University was contacted in 1973 about a house on North Fourth Street in Waco that was about to be demolished. This house, almost certainly the old family home at 823 North Fourth Street, was discovered to still contain many of the family's old printed and handwritten notes, photographs, and sheet music. The collection, a mixture of Smith-Cobb, Bledsoe, and Farmer's Improvement Society materials, was separated into three collections and then given to the Texas Collection by Mildred Rhambo, the last surviving member of the Cobb family.