Biographical Info

Probably born in the last two decades of the 18th century, Bob Scott likely lived his entire life as an enslaved laborer of the Cobb family. For much of that time he labored as the personal body servant and traveling companion to John Addison Cobb. When John Addison Cobb went bankrupt following the Panic of 1837, the family transferred ownership of Scott to T. R. R Cobb to protect him from public auction. Thereafter, Scott worked as a courier and carriage driver — usually in the household of Howell and Mary Ann Cobb. As a courier, Scott criss-crossed Georgia moving unsupervised between the Cobb-Lamar family’s extensive plantation holdings. His labors — and those of his fellow couriers — sustained the network which allowed the Cobb-Lamar agricultural empire to flourish, but also provided a critical means by which the enslaved laborers maintained contact with family and friends over hundreds of miles. Scott’s health had begun to deteriorate by the early 1850s, ending his work as a courier. During the last two years of his life he largely remained in the household of Howell and Mary Ann. Scott died on Christmas Eve, 1853. He was likely buried in the Old Athens Cemetery.