Gabriel Cobb was born around 1853 in North Carolina. Cobb worked as a farm laborer and resided in Guilford County, North Carolina. Cobb was charged with larceny on December 8, 1873, and sentenced to four years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Cobb was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 781. In his sentencing records, Cobb’s race is noted as "colored." He was twenty years old when he was arrested, and was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Cobb was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on September 4, 1877.