1. Howell Cobb, 1823-1969
- Scope and content:
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This series consists of correspondence to and from Howell Cobb, including both outgoing and incoming letters with members of the family, and financial material. Letters from overseer David G. Gibson regarding Hurricane Plantation are noted. Also noted are letters from Matthew Linam of Cherry Hill, Jefferson Co., Georgia, that discuss crops and the growing season. W. C. Daniell, a planter in Cobb's congressional district, wrote about the political situation. Included in the correpondence are letters from George S. Houston, John H. Lumpkin, Thomas W. Thomas, and Thomas D. Harris, some of which are noted in the inventory. James Gardner, publisher and editor of the Augusta's democratic newspaper the Constitutionalist, frequently wrote to Cobb. Throughout the 1851 and 1852 correspondence there is discussion of the Georgia Constitutional Union Party and Cobb's campaign for governor. Throughout the 1850s correspondence there is discussion regarding the Know Nothing Party, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and James Buchanan's presidential nomination and election. During Cobb's service as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1857-1860), there is a great deal of correspondence with Philip Clayton, who served as acting secretary during Cobb's absence from Washington, D.C and later served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States.
Throughout there is correspondence with Cobb's family, including his parents, siblings, and cousins. There is a large amount of correspondence between Howell Cobb and his wife Mary Ann Lamar, especially at the begining of their marriage (1835-1837) and during their first long separation (1843-1844), and his brother-in-law John B. Lamar. His mother Sarah R. Cobb and his cousin James Jackson wrote him regularly, and there is a small amount of correspondence with his father Col. John Addison Cobb. Also, Cobb corresponded often with Henry Lewis Benning.
- Arrangement:
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This series is arranged chronologically with undated material at the end.