Cobb, Charles Morris, 1835-1903.

Charles Morris Cobb, the only son of Gaius P. and Lucia Cobb, was born on December 20, 1835 in Woodstock, Vermont. Both Gaius and Lucia Cobb were musically inclined; Gaius played the flute, fife and drum and Lucia played the melodeon (reed organ) and sang. Gaius Cobb was a skilled shoemaker and the son of a fairly successful farmer. After his father's death, Gaius used his share of the estate to buy a small farm but proved a poor farmer and generally lost money farming. The farm was sold in 1854 after which Gaius worked at the A. W. Whitney machine shop in West Woodstock for awhile. The Cobb family's situation could most often be characterized as hand-to-mouth living with shoemaking and beekeeping as the chief sources of income.

Charles Morris Cobb worked primarily as a musician. He sang and played the violin, string bass, clarinet, B-flat and E-flat cornet, accordion, melodeon, alto, tenor, and bass horn and was familiar with the piano, fife, flute and drum. Beginning in 1857, Charles also worked as a band teacher for various local bands. Additionally, he worked as a machinist in the A. W. Whitney machine shop in West Woodstock from 1859 to 1870, when Mr. Whitney moved the shop to Smithville, New Jersey. However, Charles identified his occupation as "Musician (spare hand in Machine Shop)" in the 1900 U.S. census. From a young age, Charles' father, Gaius, encouraged him to learn to play music and, despite the family's poor finances, spent money on instruments, singing and dancing schools, and performing opportunities. By January 1849, Charles was fiddling at informal kitchen dances, and, by 1852, he had begun playing on brass instruments. In the fall of 1852, Gaius paid a fee of $20 to allow Charles to join the newly formed Woodstock Cornet Band where he initially played the alto horn but later also performed with other brass instruments.

In 1854, Charles briefly relocated to Lowell, Massachusetts, after his uncle, Charles Raymond, wrote that he could find Charles work there. While in Lowell, Charles joined the Lowell Brass Band and worked in the shop of Hezekiah B. Smith for a brief time before returning to Woodstock. From 1855-1863, Charles either formed or joined a dance band to perform in Vermont each winter. Charles also spent some time touring as a musician with other bands in this period. For example, he joined the Boston Brass Band in 1858 but paid a substitute to play for him in Cobb's Quadrille Band while he was touring.

Charles continued to work as a performing musician and band teacher throughout his life with Woodstock remaining his home base, although he still toured occasionally and made some return trips to Lowell where he played with the Lowell Brass Band. For the most part, however, the Woodstock Cornet Band remained the chief focus of Charles' performing life. Over the course of his affiliation with the Woodstock Cornet Band, he served as a performer, music director and teacher.

On September 9, 1867, Charles married Lucy J. Shaw of Northfield, Vermont. Lucy died in 1876, about a week after their 9th wedding anniversary. Charles and Lucy had two children, Charles J. Cobb and Ada Cobb. After Lucy's death, Charles remarried to the widow, Mrs. Eunice Thomas, in 1877. Charles Morris Cobb died on March 7, 1903 in the house where he was born, leaving behind an estate that included 400 or more acres.

From the description of Charles Morris Cobb diaries, 1850-1862 . (Vermont Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 235968261