I was entering the subject of the iron ore furnaces in western ky. Had several replies to it. I have read in the Western Ky Journal some info I was going to pass on. Gideon Dyer Cobb and his wife Modena came to Eddyville Ky with some other family which included Thomas Chittenden and Matthew Lyon. Mr Cobb had several businesses such as a tavern and a wharehouse on the banks of the Ohio river in the 1840's that he shipped items to New Orleans. He also operated the Eddyville furnaces which he later sold to William Kelly. Gideons wife Modena was a niece to the governor of Vermont, Mattew Lyon. Gideons grandson was Irvin Cobb who was a journalist, humorist and writer. Robert Cobb built a home called the "Rose Hill". That home has now become a museum and is an historical site.
Hope this helps someone.

While much of this is accurate, a few corrections are in order in case someone should come across this...

Thomas Chittenden never came to Eddyville - he had been dead two years by the time the Lyon party got to Eddyville.

While the story persists that Gideon operated iron furnaces in Eddyville, I've found no evidence that he actually did. Several of his sons clearly did, and it was two of them, Robert L. and Gideon Dyer Jr. who sold the Eddyville Furnace to William and John Kelly on 12 Aug 1850.

Modena was the niece of Matthew Lyon (actually, the niece of his second wife) but he was never governor of Vermont. She was the granddaughter of the first governor of Vermont, Thomas Chittenden

Oh, I missed another one - Irvin S. Cobb was a great-grandson, not a grandson, of Gideon and Modena. His father was Joshua Clark Cobb, his grandfather Robert Livingston Cobb who reportedly built "Rose Hill" and was a son of Gideon