Nicholas H. Cobbs

The Right Reverend Nicholas Hamner Cobbs D.D., S.T.D.
Bishop of Alabama
Church	Episcopal Church
Diocese	Alabama
Elected	May 1844
In office	1844-1861
Successor	Richard Hooker Wilmer
Orders
Ordination	May 23, 1825 by Richard Channing Moore
Consecration	October 20, 1844 by Philander Chase
Personal details
Born	(1796-02-05)February 5, 1796 Bedford County, Virginia, United States
Died	January 11, 1861(1861-01-11) (aged 64) Montgomery, Alabama, United States
Buried	Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama
Nationality	American
Denomination	Anglican (prev. Presbyterian)
Parents	John Lewis Cobbs & Susannah Cobbs
Spouse	Lucy Henry Laudonia (m. 1821)
Children	10

Nicholas Hamner Cobbs (February 5, 1796 – January 11, 1861) was a minister and evangelist of the Episcopal church who served as the first Bishop of Alabama from 1844 to 1861.

Biography

He was born in Bedford County, Virginia. Cobbs was raised a Presbyterian and educated privately. He was subsequently confirmed an Episcopalian and ordained a deacon on the same day, May 23, 1824, in Staunton, Virginia. He was ordained priest on May 23, 1825. He served several parishes in Virginia.

In 1843, Cobbs was called to the rectorship of St. Paul's church, Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1844, he was elected bishop of Alabama, being the first to preside over that diocese, and was consecrated in Christ Church, Philadelphia, 20 October 1844. A slave owner, Cobbs nonetheless opposed Alabama's secession from the Union and ordered Alabama clergy to omit prayers for the Confederate Congress and President from services.

Cobbs died in Montgomery, Alabama, on the day of his state's secession from the Union on the eve of the American Civil War. The Bishop Cobbs Home for Orphans in Montgomery was named for him.

External links

• Consecration sermon October 20, 1844
• Nicholas Hamner Cobbs