Theophilus Cockburn, Land Investor/Speculator

Around 1820, a great deal of land in Alabama was opened up for sale, after the forced removal of Native Americans from most of the state.  Andrew Jackson was involved in the Indian Removal not only as president, but also as a military commander during the War of 1812/Creek War period.  And while he was securing land for the expansion of the United States, he was also purchasing land and making money off of it.  His associates John Coffee (well known early settler of Florence, and an officer who fought with Jackson [and my ancestor William Russell] at Horseshoe Bend) and James Jackson (prominent landowner in Alex Haley's Queen who lived at the Forks of Cypress) also were major land buyers.  These events, which I learned about in the book Jacksonland, set the context for the early "settlement" of Alabama.  (Quotation marks used because of course there were people living here already before that.)

Theophilus W. Cockburn was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina around 1790.  In 1804, he married Winifed Hogan, granddaughter of Brigadier General James Hogan, a patriot who died as a POW in the siege of Charleston.  He joined the Masonic lodge in Tarboro in 1812 and was listed as a member in 1819.

In 1818, lots were sold for a proposed new town called Marathon to be laid out at Melton's Bluff in Lawrence County.  This was the site of a plantation which overlooked the Tennessee River and commanded a beautiful view.  Theophilus W. Cockburn was one of the buyers, as were General Jackson and John Coffee.  This town never was actually built.

Another proposed town was to be laid out at a place called York's Bluff, in what is now Sheffield.  This project also did not see completion.  One of the buyers there in 1820 was a Walter Cockburn.

It would appear the Walter and Theophilus are two different people.  But Theophilus is known to have died before Dec. 9 of 1836, for an estate sale of his slaves was announced that day in the North Alabamian. (Theophilus is known from a family story passed down in multiple lines of the family to have died while on a business trip to Mobile.  According to a granddaughter of James Smith Coburn, he died when his boat was caught in a sudden storm.)  Also on 9 Dec. 1836, an estate sale of the late Walter Cockburn was held to sell the York's Bluff lots.   So they could possibly be the same person (Theophilus Walter Cockburn), or they both died at the same time, which might mean they were brothers or close relatives who perished on the same business trip.  The 1820 Franklin County census lists a Theop. A. W. Cockburn, and two lines later a Walter Cockburn, which seems to confirm that they are two different people.  Could they be brothers?  The will of George Cockburn (III) mentions Theophilus and 4 daughters but no Walter.  But George III is also thought to possibly be the father of George Benton Cockburn, so maybe he did not name all his sons in his will.

In the 1820 census.  Theophilus has a wife, 9 children, and 16 slaves.  Walter has no wife, 6 children, and 8 slaves.  "My" Theophilus only had 1 child born before 1820 that I know of (George Lemuel).  So it is unknown who all these children were.

Interestingly, both Theophilus and Walter were involved in legal actions involving land deals. Theophilus's case even caused the attorney general to write a letter advising the US attorney on a course of action.



17 Jan 1821, Office of Attorney General U.S.
Theo. W. Cockburn is a purchaser of lands in Alabama.  He is being sued for those lands in the state of Georgia.  In the event of his eviction, he would have a fair claim for the purchase price.  But the US cannot be a defendant.  Instruct the DA to attend the defense in behalf of the US.  --Wm. Wirt (US Attorney General)

July 13, 1832
Enacted by US Congress.  President authorized to issue patents to Walter Cockburn for lots 29, 32, 67, and 33 at York Bluff, purchased by him at public sale.

Feb. 13, 1833.  Journal of the Senate.
Mr. Moore [Gabriel Moore of Alabama] presents a petition of citizens of Franklin Co., AL, asking for relief of Walter Cockburn's balance owed for a quantity of public land.  It was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Roy W. Coburn, WWII paratrooper

I had never heard of Roy Coburn, but he was a second cousin to my grandmother, from the Colbert County Coburns.  I ran across his death record from WWII and was curious about his service.  This is what I found.

Roy Walker Coburn was born in 1921 near Tuscumbia to Herman Edison Coburn and Annie Mae (Lewis) Coburn.  Herman's father was Theophilus Bester Coburn, Jr. and his mother was Katie Bell (Richardson).  In 1940, Roy was living with his father (now divorced) in Birmingham.  There he married Alice Elizabeth Cowherd.

He enlisted in the US Army and was assigned to the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company A.  This unit parachuted into Normandy on D-Day after training in the US and England.  They saw combat in France, Holland, and Belgium.  He died 23 Dec 1944 in Belgium and is buried in the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium (plot F, row 1, grave 19).  His rank was Private First Class.  His grave marker lists Florida as his home state, probably because his unit was based in Florida.

508pir.org gives detailed information on the history of the 508th.

New finds in Cockburn/Williams ancestry

My 5th great-grandmother was Frances Cockburn, wife of George Cockburn (1750-1799) of Martin and Edgecombe Counties, NC.  I had her maiden name as possibly Williams for a long time, but without much evidence.  (I can't remember where I found that now.)

I recently found a remarkable document online.  "Pedigree of My Mother's family, a part of which, is as was told to me by my Gr. mother,Mary Lanier, in 1856."  compiled by Cornelia S. Dickson ("Aunt Nealie") based on correspondence with family members.  This was posted to Geocities (!) in 1997 by Nita Munoz.

This document lists the children of one Joseph Williams Jr. and Mary Hix:

• Joseph Williams married Mary Hix daughter of Daniel Hix and his wife Edith Fonville, of Hix's ford, Virginia.
  His children were: Ben, Daniel, Theolopus, Hester, Susanna, Frances, Esther, Elizabeth and Mary.
  1. Ben Williams, son of Joseph, lived in Brunswick, N.C.
  2. Daniel Williams, son of Joseph, served through all of the Revolutionary War, moved to Dickson County, Tenn., which county was named for his nephew, Dr. William Dickson, as a compliment for services in Congress.
  3. Theolopus was killed.
  4. Hester Williams married Wm. Whitfield of Lenoir Co., Neuse River, N.C.
  5. Susanna Williams married Frederic Barfield, Duplin Co. N.C.
  6. Frances married George Cockburn of Birtie Co. N.C.
  7. Esther married James Morris of Newbern, N.C.
  8. Elizabeth married Charles Hooks.
  9. Mary married William Dickson of N.C.

Line 6 is clearly my ancestors, so this looks like pretty good evidence that Joseph Williams and Mary Hix are Frances' parents.

It also relates the following family tradition:
Theopolus and Ben Williams (fourth in descent from Oliver Cromwell through his daughter Frances) came from England. 
Theophelus Williams settled near Halifax, N.C. 
Ben Williams, Sr. married Christian Bryan. His sons were: Ben, John, James, Louis and Joseph.

If true, the bit about Oliver Cromwell is pretty interesting, that would be my most famous direct ancestor by far.
I think there is an error here about the husband of Christian Bryan.  I found another researcher that has done extensive research on the Williams family and he lists Christian's husband as Theophilus Williams rather than Ben (apparently they were brothers).

The Williams page can be found here.

The wandering mariner

Ernest Paul Coburn (1895-1973)
 Myrtle Esther Rumph (1898-1971)
with my grandmother,
Flossie Coburn(1918-2002)

My great grandfather, Ernest Paul Coburn was a representative in the Alabama House for many years.  The Coburn (originally spelled Cockburn) family has maintained a tradition of military and public service for many generations, going back to Scottish settlers in the 1700's.  His wife's family are more recent arrivals from Germany and have an interesting and sometimes enigmatic history of their own.  (This is a very interesting family for me to research, since all my other immigrant ancestors that I have found so far arrived in the 1600's and 1700's, and almost all came from the British Isles.)

Fred and Ella Myhan Rumph

Paul Coburn's wife was Myrtle Esther Rumph, the son of Fred Rumph who arrived from Germany as a child.  Fred's parents were named August Christian Wilhelm Rump(h) and Sophie Hendrix.  August and Sophie are buried in Oakwood Cemetery in my hometown of Tuscumbia.  I did not know these people, but my grandmother and her siblings remembered Fred Rumph's generation, and had stories about August and Sophie.  However, these stories were not always consistent...

Fred Rumph 

August and Sophie Rump
in their later years

According to the story, August was a crewman or guard  on a ship.  Depending on who told the story, the captain was either stealing something, or testing the guards, and August shot and killed him, not knowing who it was.  Fearing for his life, he abandoned ship in America and wrote for his family to join him, which they did.

A younger August and Sophie Rump 

Now here is where family lore meets historical documentation.  In 1870 and 1880, the Rumps are found in Madison County, Alabama.  By 1900, they are living in Colbert County, where some of their descendants live to this day.  The 1900 census relates that August (A.C.W.) and Sophie (listed as Josie) arrived in this country separately in 1866 and 1867.  In 1870, August lists his profession as carpenter, which is certainly a useful job on a ship.  So these things are at least consistent with the story.  (Note for future research--their neighbors in 1870 come from a surprisingly diverse set of places, including New York, Germany, and Ireland.)

One final piece of the puzzle is found in the New York Passenger lists.  In 18 July, 1868, we find Sophie Rumpff, a 30 year-old from Oberhammelwarden, with her children John (8), Fred (6), and Auguste (10 months) arriving in New York on the ship America from Bremen and Southampton as second class passengers.   My Sophie's children at the time were Joanna (8), Fred (5), and August (12 months).  I believe this is the same family, but they erroneously recorded Johanna as John, perhaps due to difficulty understanding the accent, or transcribing a form improperly.  The ages match except August is off by a year, but that could be an error in his birthdate as later stated.


As an aside, they must have moved from the New York (in 1868) to Huntsville (in 1870) pretty quickly.  What would make an immigrant family, likely with language difficulties, move so far?  Did they have family or other connections in Alabama?  Was there a known German community in Huntsville?  Was more land available in the south?  This is soon after the Civil War--one would think that the Southern economy hadn't recovered much, but perhaps men (especially carpenters) were needed to help rebuild.  Or maybe land was cheaper here without a supply of free labor.  (One of my uncles thought that perhaps the whole immigrant story was made up to avoid being labeled a Yankee in Reconstruction-era Alabama.)

S.S. Weser

There are still further records to be found, however.  An August Rump, born 1831 in Leesum and living in Oberhammelwarden, is found on the Bremen sailor's registry on several occasions as a crewman on the Schwan and the Weser.  These ships traded with England, and at least once came to America.   Even better, he is listed as a ship's carpenter.  While the name August Rump is not that unusual, the birthplace being the small village listed in Sophie's arrival papers really cinches it and ties together the story.  One more detail of note, he was a sailor for the North German Lloyd company (still in business today as Hapag Lloyd AG), which owned the steamer America that Sophie arrived on.

This is not the end of the story, however.  In the next installment, I will tell even more of my discoveries about this immigrant family.

Rump Family.