Thomas and Matilda Cobb

Submitted by Jean Walker. The information for this family history was developed from researching items found in The Bisbee Restoration Museum, The Bisbee Daily Review, and Ancestry.com.

Thomas Cobbe was born in Ireland in July 1849. He immigrated into the United States in 1865. Ten years later, he married Matilda Emilie Schmidt. She was born in Liebertwolknitz, Saxony, Germany on November 27, 1849 and came to the United States on September 8, 1865 when she was 16. After living for a number of years in St. Paul, Minnesota, Thomas and Matilda moved to Bisbee sometime after 1890 with their children, Lee, Mae, George, Frank and Isabel.

Thomas Cobbe was known to have a terrific singing voice and played the bass during Bisbee musicals. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia on April 25, 1902. He was fifty-two years old.

Since Thomas died before he could become naturalized, Matilda filed on behalf of herself and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in Tombstone, AZ on January 27, 1908.

After remaining in Bisbee for a number of years, with just $200.00, Matilda bought 160 acres of land in Hereford where she became known as a pioneer in agricultural development. The value of her farm would more than double under her care.

Matilda died on January 27, 1919 during a visit to St. Paul, Minnesota. Both she and Thomas are buried in Bisbee’s Evergreen Cemetery.

Most of Thomas and Matilda’s children would eventually move to California. Their youngest daughter, Isabel, however, would marry noted banker Michael Joseph Cunningham and live out her life in Bisbee. She had one daughter, Natalie, from an earlier marriage to Nathaniel Grant. Natalie would later marry Paul Denny and she became a major force in the preservation and restoration of Bisbee’s historic district.

Both Michael and Isabel are also buried in Bisbee’s Evergreen Cemetery.

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