Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb

     Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born on 23 Jun 1876 in Paducah, Kentucky.^9,10,11 He married Laura Spencer Baker, daughter of Marcus S. Baker Sr. and Fannie Krenson, on 12 Jun 1900 in Savannah, Georgia.^12,13,14 He died on 10 Mar 1944 in New York, New York, at age 67.^15,16 He was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Paducah, McCracken Co., Kentucky, under a granite boulder inscribed "Back Home."^17,18
     According to Robert's grandson, an unknown person , the prison's death house was located where his grandmother's rose garden had been. That story seems to have been an exercise of poetic license, or perhaps connected to or even the source of the identification of the hospital with the "White Hall." The death house, in Irvin's time, was at the north end of cell house 3, on what had been lot no. 21. That lot has never been found to have been owned by the Cobbs, and being a full block from the site of "White Hall," seems a very unlikely spot for her rose garden.^19,20,21 He appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of Locust St., Paducah, McCracken Co.,, Kentucky, in the household of Reuben Saunders, his grandfather, with his parents, Joshua Clark Cobb and Manie Saunders.²²
     Irvin attended pubic schools for the most part. From 1886 to 1888 he attended a private school run by Dr. Lewis Schuck, the minister of the First Baptist Church. In 1890 he was enrolled in a private school run by William A. Cade in the suburb of Arcadia.²³
     Irvin's father's eyesight grew much worse from his war injuries, and in early 1892 the steamboat company he worked for changed hands and he was fired. The family's plans for Irvin to go to military school were abandoned when he had to go to work to support the family.^24,25 He was became an apprentice reporter for the Paducah Evening News. He became managing editor four years later, in 1896. He later worked for the Louisville Evening Post, and as a reporter there developed a reputation as a trial reporter. He returned to Paducah in 1901 and worked at the Paducah Democrat until 1904, when he left for New York City in Paducah, Kentucky.²⁶
     He appeared on the 1900 Federal Census of Paducah, Kentucky in the household of his mother, Manie Saunders.⁸
     He later worked in New York for the Evening Sun and the Evening Herald. His reputation as a humorist and reporter grew until he was widely syndicated throughout the United States. He also wrote fiction, most of which focuses on his Kentucky childhood. Many of his stories were published in the Saturday Evening Post. He was hired by the New York Post and went to Europe in 1914 to cover World War I. He and four friends were captured by the Germans and later released. An illness interrupted his plans to return to Europe, and led to his best-seller, Speaking of Operations, published in 1915.^26,27,28,29
     He was a friend and supporter of President Woodrow Wilson and as such reluctantly supported the U.S. involvement in World War I. He again worked for the Post in Europe in 1917 and 1918, this time reporting on the state of the American soldiers there. He was the most popular source of war information in the country. He reported so favorably about the black American soldiers that he became a hero among black Americans, a group of which honored him in Paducah in December 1918. He made a speech at Carnegie Hall in 1918 with Theodore Roosevelt in support of relief for black soldiers.
     In 1923 he left the Post for Cosmopolitan and there published more fiction and humorous essays. He sold several scripts to Hollywood in the 1920s. He and his family moved to California in 1934 so he could advise his friend Will Rogers on a movie, Judge Priest, based on Cobb's fiction. Cobb was Master of Ceremonies for the 1935 Academy Awards and played the Mississippi riverboat captain in the 1935 film "Steamboat Round the Bend." He appeared in five other movies and in 1936 had his own radio show called, "Paducah Plantation."²⁶
     Irvin and Laura Spencer Baker appeared on the 1920 Federal Census of Ossing, Westminster Co., New York, enumerated 6 Feb 1920, reporting that the family owned its home. Their daughter Elizabeth was listed as living with them.³⁰
     Irvin and Laura appeared on the 1930 Federal Census of New York City, New York, at 830 Park Ave., enumerated 17 Apr 1930, reporting that they owned an apartment valued at $30,000, and owned a radio. Their daughter Elizabeth was listed as living with them, as were two maids, a 24-year-old from Ireland and a 37-year-old from Germany.³¹ Irvin and Laura also appeared on the 1930 Federal Census of East Hampton, Suffolk Co., New York, enumerated 21 Apr 1930, reporting that they owned a home valued at $90,000, and owned a radio. Their daughter Elizabeth was listed as living with them.³²