Silas T. Cobb

[JMadonna]

I don't necessarily think that a death certificate is the be all and end all document (even though it should be the end all). Case in point was my great grandfather. I cannot find a death certificate for him. It may not exist today. It may or may not have existed at some point in time. You never know, one of us could be bidding on Cobb's death certificate next week on Ebay.

Good point Jim. But if the death was accidental drowning
you have to believe there was an official report made and a death certificate drawn up. It's probable that whoever drowned was either misidentified as Cobb to the newspapers or identified as a different man to the coroner.