Weldon J. Cobb, Chicago author, reporter, city editor, and real-estate dealer, wrote many tales for boys, published by Street and Smith, but only one for Beadle. Not much is known about him, and no obituary notice has been found in the Chicago papers. He was writing as early as 1866, for he is mentioned in the New York Tattler in the issues of July 17 and August 4, 1866, as an author from Chicago, and he had a story in the Southern Home Journal (Baltimore) in 1868. He first appears in the Chicago City Directories in 1869 as a journalist. In 1873 he was Manager of the Western Literary Bureau, in 1874 he was again listed as a journalist, from 1875 to 1878 as a real-estate dealer, in 1880 as a reporter on the Chicago Telegraph, in 1881 as city editor of the Chicago Morning Herald, in 1882 as journalist, 1884 as author, 1885 as clerk (but he was actually also writing at that time for the Chicago Ledger), in 1886 as publisher (Cobb, Baldwin & Co.), and from 1888 to 1891 as author. His name does not appear in the directory for 1892 nor thereafter, but his stories appeared in Golden Hours from 1891 to 1895 at least. †In the Newspaper Maker, December 10, 1896, page 5, appeared a notice that W. J. Cobb had resigned from the Kansas City World to become advertising manager of the Joplin (Missouri) Herald. He had †fifteen stories in the Nickel Library between 1877 and 1880.

Some of his stories printed by publishers other than Beadle are "Wild Nan," "Daring Donald, the Indian Scout," "At Her Mercy," "The Victim of a Crime," "Love of Her Life," "The Telegraph Detective," "The Manacled Hand," "A Barrel of Money," "The Golden Pirate," "On the Wing," "Partners Three," "Phantom Boy," "Up to Date," "A Battle with Fate," "The Golden Harpoon," "Held for Ransome," "Lucky Stone Dick," and "Slap, Bang & Co." The only pen name found in the by-lines of stories written by Cobb was "Genevieve Ulmar." Two serials in the Chicago Ledger, one with the by-line Weldon J. Cobb, the other with "Genevieve Ulmar," each has after the writer's name the words, "Author of 'Her Wedding Night,' and 'The Stolen Bridegroom'."

Beadle's Dime Library. No. 350

† Correction made as per Volume 3.