Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Robert Lewis Cobbs Letters, 1817, are part of Lynchburg (Va.) Chancery Cause: John Motley & wife, Etc. vs. John P. Cobbs, Etc. [1848-002] and are digitized and available through the Chancery Records Index on the website of the Library of Virginia. The image range for the letters within the case is roughly image 123-128. Please use digital images.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Robert Lewis Cobbs Letters, 1817. Accession 41682. Personal papers collection. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court papers from the City of Lynchburg.

Processing Information

The original chancery cause came in through a transfer of court records which was described and processed by the local record department as part of the Chancery digitization project. The identified letters where then photocopied and gifted to the private papers department where they were described as a personal papers collection.

Encoded by G. Crawford, 2005; edited by M. Mason, November 2023.

Biographical/Historical Information

Robert Lewis Cobbs was born on December 25, 1789, in Virginia. He attended Hampden-Sydney College. Cobbs moved from Virginia to Tennessee in 1813. He resided in Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee where he practiced law. Cobbs moved back to Virginia in 1819 where he continued to practice law. He died in 1856.

Scope and Content

Robert Lewis Cobbs Letters, 1817, consist of correspondence used as evidence in the Lynchburg, Va., Chancery cause styled John Motley & wife, Etc. vs. John P. Cobbs, Etc. which excuses William Cobb, Robert's brother, of inadequately fulfilling his role as executor to Robert Cobbs, their father's, estate.

Letter are sent from Robert Lewis Cobb when he was living in Tennessee to his father Robert Cobbs in Campbell County, Virginia.

Letter dated June 14, 1817, written from Nashville, Tennessee in which Robert L. Cobbs informed his father of the hardships he's encountered in starting a law practice in Tennessee. He explained to his father why he moved to Tennessee giving a brief description of the area where he lived.

Letter dated November 28, 1817, written from Pulaski, Tennessee in which Robert L. Cobbs provided a brief description of the "western country" in an attempt to convince his father to move to Tennessee from Virginia. He cited the cheap land that produced bountiful cotton and would rapidly appreciate in value within ten to fifteen years.

Related Material

The chancery suit, John Motley and wife and others versus John P. Cobbs and others, can be found in the Local Records Collection at the Library of Virginia. The index number is Chancery Cause 1848-002.

See also: Lynchburg (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1805-1945

See also: William Cobbs letters, 1827-1841

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Lynchburg (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1805-1945 at the Library of Virginia.