Biography of Stephen A. Cobb by Ben Donsbach

Stephen Aratas Cobb was born on

December 9, 1887 to parents Stephan Aratas

Cobb Sr. and Harriet Chadwick in Gardiner

Maine. Stephen Cobb Sr. was a steamboatman and

prominent figure among the small towns of

Maine. Stephen A. Cobb Jr. was raised in Gardiner

where he attended Grammar and High

School.1 In 1892, his younger brother Percy

Chadwick Cobb was born. Dr Cobb attended Bates

College in the class of 1909, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts

degree. Cobb then attended Harvard Medical College, graduating in

1914.2 While attending Harvard, Cobb practiced medicine as an intern

at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and Boston City Hospital, both in

Boston Massachusetts.3 His profound skill in the medical field was

commemorated when Governors Milliken and Brewster awarded

Cobb with the title of medical examiner of York County.4 In 1914 after

graduating from Harvard, Cobb opened his own practice in Sanford

Maine and began to put his talent to work. Cobbs practice offered

general medical services as well as industrial surgery. Being the

medical examiner of York County, Cobb was an important and

respected member of the York county medical society.5 Cobb was also

a member of the Maine State Medical society and the American Medical Association.6 On

Christmas day, December 25, 1915, Stephen Cobb married Ruby Varnum Wood in Bowdoinham

Maine.7 The married couple settled down in Sanford Maine which was the location of Dr. Cobbs

practice. In 1917, Dr. Cobb enlisted into the American Army where he became A Medical officer

in World War I.

When Stephen Cobb enlisted in the Army in

1917,8 where he joined the Medical Corps and was

assigned to the Camp Jackson Base Hospital. Camp

Jackson was a famous training camp located in Columbia

South Carolina. Camp Jackson was one of the many

training camps that emerged, as the United States

recognized that they needed to train the mass amount of

soldiers that were flowing into their ranks through the

draft.9 . Stephen Cobb was assigned to the Base Hospital

in Camp Jackson, as he was a member of the Medical Corps. The Base Hospital at Jackson was

opened October 22, 1917 where it had a staff of 30 doctors, 40 nurses, and nearly 440 other

enlisted men.10 The Hospital could hold a limit of one thousand patients, and had a receiving

ward, isolation ward, and psychiatric ward.11 The

camp stayed open throughout the war, and closed

its doors in 1919. The Camp opened again for

WWII, and again for the Korean War, it then

remained opened and is still training soldiers. After

Camp Jackson, Cobb was transferred to American Expeditionary Force Base Hospital No. 54.12

Base Hospital No. 54 was located in Mesves France and was part of the Nievre department.13

The hospital was one of the two hundred and thirty eight hospitals established by the American

Expeditionary Forces in World War One. Base Hospital No. 54 was established in May of 1918

when men were organized in the States after training. They received additional training and were

then shipped to France on August 14, aboard the Patricia. The men arrived in Brest France on

August 25, and proceeded to Mesves, Department of Nievre on September 6. No. 54 was the

fourth medical unit to arrive in Mesve.

The Base Hospital consisted of type A

wooden barracks and a large number of

marquee tents in case of a crisis

expansion. The normal bed capacity at

this hospital was one thousand beds with

a crisis expansion capacity of two

thousand beds. The largest number of

patients that the hospital was able to hold

during the duration of the war was 2,288 patients. On January 20, 1919, No. 54 expanded to take

over patients and hospital property from Base Hospital No. 50. The Medical group departed from

France on May 16, 1919, and were officially demobilized on May 30.14 Doctor Cobb served at

this camp in France for a year where he achieved the rank of first lieutenant.15 After the war

came to an end, Cobb remained involved in military affairs and became a Captain in the Medical

Reserve Corps.16 Cobb then was called to service once again as the second World War came

around. In WWII, Doctor Cobb served as Chief of Surgical

Service with the 67th General Hospital. Cobb was promoted

to Executive Medical Officer, and placed in charge of a

United States Army General Hospital in England where he

served for three years. After the second World War, the doctor

retained the rank of colonel in the Army Medical Corps

Reserve.17

After the war, Cobb returned to Sanford Maine to

continue his practice that had been opened before the wars.

Cobb and his wife had a daughter named Helen Elizabeth

Cobb. Cobb remained in Sanford for the remainder of his life

and became involved in the local football team. A Portland Press Herald article from 1949 details

how the local team would honor him during their game, and host a “testimonial dinner” for the

doctor after the game.18 The article also details how Dr.

Cobb was present at many local sports events and often

assisted many of these athletes who were injured during

the game. On November 11, 1954 the Sanford Football

stadium was dedicated to the doctor and named after

him.19 Several articles from local newspapers detail how

Cobb was constantly active in treating patients around

the community. Another article from the Portland Press

Herald details how two victims of a lab fire were treated

by Cobb in his Sanford office.20 Additionally, Cobb in partnership with Dr Edward Holland, Dr.

Robert Vachon, and Dr. Varl Richards, organized the first community medical clinic for

Stanford.21 Cobb was a member of many organizations around

the community and was constantly involved with his

community. Cobb was a “past president of the Sanford Town

Club, past exalted ruler of the Sanford Lodge of Elks, a charter

member, past commander and life member of the Thomas W.

Cole Post, American Legion; past president of the

Sanford-Springvale Rotary Club, and past secretary of the

Maine Board of Registration of Medicine”.22 Cobb had

additional affiliations with the Sanford fire department and

was a deputy sheriff. Doctor Cobb was a very active citizen,

and an overall asset to his community.23 Cobb continued to live

in Sanford for the remainder of his life, until he passed away

on December 4, 1968, at the age of eighty. Cobb died having

been a veteran of both World Wars and having practiced

medicine in Sanford for 54 years. Cobb

died in Sanford Maine and is buried

there.

Endnotes

1 Harrie Badger Corrie. “Maine Biographies”. Baltimore, MD.: Clearfield, 2002. 2 Ibid 3 Bates College. General Catalogue of Bates College and Cobb Divinity School, 1863-1915. Place of Publication Not Identified: Nabu Press, 2012. 4 Harrie Badger Corrie. Maine Biographies 5 Ibid 6 Ibid 7 “Maine, Marriage Records, 1713-1937.” Ancestry. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/family-tree/person/tree/3434144/person/24059101234/facts 8 Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/interactive/6482/005207073_01215/25763327?backurl=https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/family-tree/person/tree/3434144/person/24059101234/facts/citation/100127687662/edit/record 9The Birth of Camp Jackson: A Collection of Photographs, Maps and Papers Documenting the Development of Camp Jackson near Columbia, South Carolina. Including a Discussion of the Need for Training Camps and Soldiers in World War I, the Offer Presented by the City of Columbia to the Army to Help Fill That Need, the Construction of Camp Jackson and the Structures Built There, the Units and People Who Populated the Camp, and the Training That Converted Average American Citizens into the Worlds Greatest Soldiers. Fort Jackson, SC: United States Army Basic Combat Training Museum, 2016. 10 Ibid 11 Ibid 12 Harrie Badger Corrie. Maine Biographies 13 "BASE HOSPITALS of the AEF." The Great War Society: Relevance Archive. Accessed June 12, 2018. http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/basehosp.htm. 14 "Office of Medical History." AMEDD/NCO Enlisted Soldier History. Accessed June 12, 2018. http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/adminamerexp/chapter24.html. 14 Harrie Badger Corrie. “Maine Biographies” 15 Harrie Badger Corrie. “Maine Biographies” 16 "Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s." Newspapers.com. Accessed June 12, 2018. https://basic.newspapers.com/image/9013866/?terms=Stephen Cobb. 17"Dr Stephen Cobb (1887-1968) - Find A Grave..." Find A Grave. Accessed June 9, 2018.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22925380/cob#view-photo=63444709. 18 "Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s." Newspapers.com. Accessed June 12, 2018.

https://basic.newspapers.com/image/9013866/?terms=Stephen Cobb. 19 Ibid 20 Ibid 21 "Dr Stephen Cobb (1887-1968) - Find A Grave..." 22 Ibid 23 Ibid

Bibliography

"BASE HOSPITALS of the AEF." The Great War Society: Relevance Archive. Accessed June 9, 2018. http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/basehosp.htm. Coe, Harrie Badger. Maine Biographies. Baltimore, MD: Clearfield, 2002. College, Bates. “General Catalogue of Bates College and Cobb Divinity School, 1863-1915”. Nabu Press, 2012. Accessed June 9, 2018. https://books.google.com/books?id=VsBBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=Stephen+Aratas+cobb&source=bl&ots=-2bothIQ2z&sig=4TuGXeLPZFhsGAOMfovU8JPWy4w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiItrvu-M7bAhWp7YMKHXvjC8EQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Stephen%20Aratas%20cobb&f=false "Dr Stephen Cobb (1887-1968) - Find A Grave..." Find A Grave. Accessed June 9, 2018.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22925380/cob#view-photo=63444709. "Dr Stephen Cobb (1887-1968) - Find A Grave..." Find A Grave. Accessed June 9, 2018.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22925380/cob#view-photo=8385288. "Historical Newspapers from 1700s-2000s." Newspapers.com. Accessed June 12, 2018.

https://basic.newspapers.com/image/9013866/?terms=Stephen Cobb. “Maine, Marriage Records, 1713-1937”. Ancestry. Accessed. June 9, 1018 https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/family-tree/person/tree/3434144/person/24059101234/facts “The Birth of Camp Jackson: A Collection of Photographs, Maps and Papers Documenting the Development of Camp Jackson near Columbia, South Carolina. Including a Discussion of the Need for Training Camps and Soldiers in World War I, the Offer Presented by the City of Columbia to the Army to Help Fill That Need, the Construction of Camp Jackson and the Structures Built There, the Units and People Who Populated the Camp, and the Training That Converted Average American Citizens into the Worlds Greatest Soldiers.” Fort Jackson, SC: United States Army Basic Combat Training Museum, 2016. Accessed June 9, 2018. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Ancestry. Accessed June 9, 2018 https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/interactive/6482/005207073_01215/25763327?backurl=https://www.ancestryclassroom.com/family-tree/person/tree/3434144/person/24059101234/facts/citation/100127687662/edit/record