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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 79 - 80 |
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FRANK J. COBBS
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The subject of this review is one of the able and representative young business men of the city of Cadillac, where he has passed the greater portion of his life, and here he has to do with affairs of broad scope and importance, being the representative of his father's estate in the well known lumbering concern of Cobbs & Mitchell (incorporated), one of the most important in this section of the state, while he is also president of the Cadillac State Bank, a popular and substantial financial institution of the county. On other pages of this publication appears a memoir of his father, the late Jonathan W. Cobbs, who was one of the pioneers of Cadillac, where he took up his residence at a time when the town still bore the name of Clam Lake, and as ready index reference can be made to said sketch it is not necessary to repeat the family history at this point. Frank J. Cobbs was born in Jackson county, Indiana, on the 5th of November, 1872, and came as a child to Cadillac, where he secured his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools, later entering the preparatory department of Notre Dame University, at South Bend, Indiana, where he continued his studies for a time and then became a cadet in the Orchard Lake Military Academy, near Pontiac, Michigan, and still later attended Olivet College, graduating there with the class of 1894. He then returned to the paternal home and for the ensuing year was employed as bookkeeper in the office of the firm of Cobbs & Mitchell, of which his father was the senior member. In November, 1895, he undertook to effect the organization of the Cadillac State Bank, and through his well-directed efforts this object was. successfully accomplished, and upon the final organization and election of the executive corps he was made president of the institution, an incumbency which he has ever since retained, while under his management the bank has gained high prestige and popularity in the community and retains a representative support, transacting a general banking business and affording the best of facilities, while the policy brought to bear is progressive and yet duly conservative. Shortly after assuming his executive duties as the head of this bank Mr. Cobbs found that there was placed upon his shoulders a still further burden of responsibility, which he assumed with characteristic determination and self-reliance. His father's health became quite seriously impaired at this time and it became necessary for the subject to represent his interests in the firm of Cobbs & Mitchell. His father died in September, 1898, and a short time afterward a reorganization of the firm of Cobbs & Mitchell was effected and the same was incorporated under the original title as a stock company, and the subject has since been actively identified with the management of its affairs, holding the office of vice-president and secretary. He is a young man of broad views and marked public spirit and is ever ready to do all in his power to further the prosperity and progress of his home city and county, while his personality is such that he has esteem and respect of all who know him. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party. In the city of Charlotte, Eaton county, Michigan, on the I4th of April, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cobbs to Miss Maude Louise Belcher, a daughter of the late Frank S. Belcher, who was president of the First National Bank, of that city. |