Ebenezer Cobb

Ebenezer Cobb II (22 March 1694 – 8 December 1801) was an American centenarian who may have been the oldest man ever until being surpassed by Pierre Darcourt in 1836. He may have also been the last man born in the 1600s.

Biography
Ebenezer Cobb II was born on 22 March 1694 in Plymouth, Massachusetts as the oldest of 10 children born to Ebenezer Cobb I and Mercy (née Holmes) Cobb. One of his brothers, Nathan, lived to be a nonagenarian. At the age of 10, in 1704, he recollected witnessing the funeral procession of Peregrine White, the first known person born on board the Mayflower.

On 28 July 1722, Cobb married Ruth Tinkham, and the couple had two children (Ebenezer Cobb III and Ruth Cobb). Ruth (Cobb’s wife) passed away in 1726 aged 26 shortly after their daughter’s birth. In late 1727, Cobb married again to Lydia Stevens, with whom he fathered eight children. Lydia passed away in 1745 aged 47, when their youngest daughter was a year old. On 14 December 1747, Cobb married a third time to Joanna Williamson, who later passed away in 1791 aged 87.

Cobb himself died on 8 December 1801 in Kingston, Massachusetts, at the age of 107 years, 261 days. He had lived in Kingston since 1735, having previously lived in Middleboro and Halifax (Massachusetts).