Cockrill, Cockriel, Cockeril

Genealogy

cock·er·el (kòk¹er-el) noun.
A young rooster. [Middle English cokerel.]

The name Cockrill is a French name and was spelled Quoquerelle.  The first person of that name seems to have gone to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror.  He was a younger son of the Duke of Agincourt.  The name became Anglicized and became Cockerelle, then Cockerell or Cockerill.  The last "e" seems to have been the first letter that was dropped, but by 1851 when Queen Victoria gave the medal to Mark R. Cockrill for the finest wool in the world at the Crystal Palace Exposition, the name was misspelled Cockerill.

The Cockrills seem to have settled around Shakespears's country because there are many Cockerells buried in the church at Stratford.  The Cockrills married the younger sons and daughters of the Plantagenet royal line.  In the Oxford library one of their treasured possessions is a book done by hand by James Cockerell.

The English Cockrills continued to spell their name Cockerill.  As late as November 22, 1948 an article in Life Magazine stated the largest iron works in the world was the Seraing Plant near Leige, Belgium which employed 2, 500 workers.  It was founded by an Englishman named John Cockerill.

The first Cockrell to come to America was John Cockrell who was born in Wales between 1734 and 1740.  He was under Braddock's command in 1755 in fighting Indians.  He had a good education, a pleasing appearance and manner.  He was five feet, ten inches tall with brown hair and eyes.  In December 1757 John Cockrell decided to remain in Virginia where he received several land grants for his military services.  Soon he accumulated a number of slaves to work his large holdings.  Like Washington, Jefferson and the Randolphs he became quite wealthy due to his land grants for fighting the French and Indian Wars.

The name of John's first wife is may have been Tapling and  they hand a son Simon born about 1755 in Virginia, who always spelled his name similar to his father, Cockrell.  Simon, educated by private tutors, later settled in Kentucky.  He visited John, his father, a number of times in Tennessee, and at one time even considered moving here.  His descendants moved to Missouri and later sent a congressman to Washington.

Because of his position and knowledge John Cockrell was sent to the Virginia House of Burgesses.  During this time Lord Del La Ware was the representative of the British Crown and was governor of Virginia.  Later the state of Delaware was named for him.  While visiting in the home of Lord Del La Ware, John Cockrell met the young granddaughter, Barbara Fox who later became his  second wife.  A son born of this union was named John for the father.  Young John had private tutors and the plan was both Simon and John to complete their education in England.  However John was still a young boy when his father died.

Barbara Fox Cockrell, a young woman of great charm and now of wealth, married David Collingsworth.  All wealth and property of John Cockrell became the property of Mr. Collingsworth since at that time married women could not own property.  Soon young Cockrill had another half

Source of the above: The Cockrill Family by Mary Harris Cockrill.  Pages 44-45
 
 

Many of the colonists came to North America from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. But the New World attracted settlers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and other European countries as well.  The tradition has been handed down in several branches of the  family that the progenitors of the Cockrell family in America were two brothers who emigrated from England to Maryland with the first Lord Baltimore expedition in 1634 or shortly thereafter, that one of the brothers remained in Maryland and the other moved to Virginia. Although no record has been found to positively prove this, such records as have been available tend to substantiate it, and therefore until evidence is found to the contrary it will be assumed that this tradition is true.

By January 8, 1815 the  Battle of New Orleans and War of 1812 had ended.  Margaret Cockrill (nee Hudnall) came to settle in Warren County, Kentucky sometime between 1813 and 1816 with her husband and two small sons from Wythe County, Virginia.   When Kentucky had achieved statehood in 1792 an undetermined number of settlers inhabited the area. Four years later, in 1798,  when the region south of the Green River opened to Virginia's Revolutionary War soldiers, land hungry families from the eastern seaboard poured into the area. Many of the new residents held land warrants that granted acreage in payment for military services. Others had purchased warrants or land from veterans. More than a few were squatters.  Warren County, Kentucky had been created from a portion of Logan County in 1797.

Newcomers generally staked claims along water courses and in heavily forested areas that provided building supplies and fuel, avoiding the "barrens," a crescent shaped, woodless region extending from the present areas of Glasgow, Bowling Green, Franklin, Guthrie, and Hopkinsville.

Our Cockrills probably traveled through the Cumberland Gap and over the Wilderness Road.  (SEE MAP)  From there they may have followed the Green River down into Warren County.  Rivers and animal trails, used by Native Americans and later by settlers, served as the earliest thoroughfares. We have no way of knowing if Margaret and her family used pack animals or Conestoga wagons to transport their possessions. The only other access west, to the Kentucky lands, was via the Ohio River by flat boat.  Travelers endured many hardships to reach their destination. The pioneers were isolated on their farms which were often a distance of a few miles from any other families.

They came prepared for life on the frontier. Women brought household treasures and staple groceries such as coffee and flour, garden seeds, tree cuttings, and chickens. Men packed their tools, seed corn, guns and bar lead. If they came by land in the family wagon, families drove hogs and milk cows.

Margaret's husband probably carried a Kentucky Long Rifle.  A good shooter cost half a man's yearly wage. Most were used for hunting on a daily basis. They were handed down from generation to generation.

We do not know the name of Margaret Cockrill's husband.  A search for his identity is underway.  There has been speculation that it was Presley Cockrill.  According to an 1810 Tax list  a William  Cockereel, and Johnson Cockerell (father and son respectively) were already residing in Warren County when Margaret and her family arrived.   Our Cockrills may have come from Wythe County, Virginia to be with other family members who had come earlier.   I wonder if William is a relative of Margaret's husband.  Perhaps they were brothers.  The 1820 Census has Prestly Cockrill living in Warren County.  By 1830 there are 3 Cockrill households.  William Cockrill is still there,  Margaret is taking care of 5 of her 6 children and  James (her son) is married and has his own home.   Prestley Cockrill has disappeared.

From the 1850 Census we know the  birthplaces of  James and John Cockrill (Margaret's 1st two children) is Wythe County, Virginia.  Margaret's third child, Eleanor Cockriel, was born April 04, 1816 in Kentucky .  It is obvious that the family came to Warren County sometime between 1813 and before April 4, 1816 from Virginia.

Until  the late 1800's "catching the baby" by the father or a neighbor while the mother delivered it from a squatting position or seated in a chair without a bottom had been the standard birthing procedure. Even in the late 1800's  the national mortality rate for white women in childbirth was 34 per thousand.  Up until the 1930s, an American woman was more likely to die in childbirth than from any other disease, except tuberculosis. The mortality rate was particularly high for pregnant women in rural areas where hospitals and qualified medical care were scarce.

My particular line of Cockrills continues on through John Cockrill, Margaret's 2nd child.  John married 4 times. He probably lost his first 3 wive to death during childbirth.   About 1832 John married Sarah Sirles daughter of James and Mary Sirles in Grayson Co., KY.   In 1845 he married Sarah Hayes in Grayson Co., KY , daughter of John and Tabitha Hayes . On   December 02, 1853 in Grayson Co., KY he maried Annie Allen, daughter of John Allen and Nancy Unknown.  August 11, 1857 he  married his 4th wife Rhoda Turner in Warren Co., KY, daughter of Reuben Turner and Elizabeth Lykins. John Cockrill dies in 1890 at the age of 58 having beget 22 children.

The traditional white Kentucky  family before the mid 1800's was tailored to the agricultural needs of the area. Farming was most productive when all the members of a large family were involved, and division of labor was sanctioned by specific skills being passed down to either boys or girls by parents and grandparents.

The survival of the family was the primary responsibility of all members including children. Children were used for labor during the agricultural period before the Civil War.  The strong family structure and agricultural lifestyle of Kentucky left many family members with few choices in life. When children grew up, they were expected to settle near or on family land and to assume the same trade or farming lifestyle as their parents.

It is through John and and his first wife, Sarah Sirles Cockrill, that my line continues.  In 1835 they had their 2nd child and their first son, James Cockriel.  When James was 20 years of age he  married (1) Jemima Allen on September 19, 1855 in Grayson Co., KY, daughter of John and Nancy Allen. On September 17, 1859 in Bowling Green, Warren Co., KY he married his second wife Phoebe Jane Turner, daughter of Reuben Turner and Elizabeth Lykins.

War clouds appeared on the horizon in 1860 as the nation divided over the states rights and slavery issues. Most Warren countians opposed secession. Throughout the summer of 1861 Kentucky's refusal to choose sides gave temporary respite. But as the state's neutrality melted away in the warm rainy days of late summer, both sides talked of controlling the Bowling Green area, for the town guarded the major avenues--the river, roads and rails--to and from the Kentucky-Tennessee border. On September 18 the first group of Confederates arrived at the Bowling Green depot; eventually about 20,000 southern troops camped along the waterways of Warren and adjoining counties. During their five month occupation of the area, the southern army experienced a frustrating stay. Believing that the county's 17,000 residents were sympathetic to the southern cause, the Confederates soon discovered the citizens were three-to-one pro Union. Thus, they encountered considerable hostility and acquired few recruits. Persistent rumors incorrectly told of large numbers of enemy troops pushing into central Kentucky.

At the age of  25, on  August 2, 1862 James Cockrill enrolled in the USA, Company A 33rd Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers.  He mustered on September 13, 1862.  He died February 03, 1863 in Company A Hospital, Munfordville, Hart Co., KY from Measles complications leaving behind  Phoebe Jane Cockrill who was 8 months pregnant with James Cockriell.  James Jr. was born March 15, 1863 in Warren Co., KY.  Phoebe Jane now had 2 small girls and a baby boy to raise in post Civil War Kentucky. We can only imagine the struggles this family endured.

Union or Confederate, the presence of soldiers for more than four years--the last troops left the area in 1867--drained Warren County of its resources. Troops of both sides bivouacked in orchards, drilled in clover fields, cut down trees, burned fences, stole livestock and horses, requisitioned food and forage (or paid with worthless money or IOUs). They also looted hen houses, smoke houses and vegetable cellars; wore out or destroyed roads and bridges; created frightening sanitation and health problems; violated civil rights and infringed on the dignity and serenity of civilians. At the war's onset the majority of area citizens had been pro Union. Nevertheless, nearly every family had at least one member in each army. The strain of divided sentiments, the loss of loved ones, the destruction of property and the indignities of real or imagined ill treatment created bitterness that remained long after the shooting stopped. Warren County residents, like other Kentuckians, became more "southern" after the war than they had been before it.

Warren County emerged from the Civil War in a sorry plight. Although the majority of residents had been loyal to the Union, the victorious Federals had treated them like foes. Martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus remained in effect for six months after the war's end.   Physical alterations were apparent. The railroad depot lay in shambles, the streets and roadways were riddled with potholes, becoming impassable quagmires in damp weather. During their evacuation, the Confederates destroyed bridges over the Barren River. The Union army had repaired the railroad bridge, but the footbridge had merely been replaced with a pontoon.

My Cockrill line continues through James Jr., the small baby boy born after his father died in a Union Hospital, the small baby body who never saw his father.  James grew into a large, tall, dark headed man with a long, handle bar mustache.  Christmas Eve,  December 24, 1888,  James Cockriel age 25  married Jeanette 'Nettie' Basham who had only 1 week before turned 15. She was the daughter of James Basham and Mary 'Polly' Phelps.  Nettie was short enough that it is said she could stand flat footed under his out stretched arm.  Most of the first years of their marriage James and Nettie lived in Richardsville,  Warren County, KY.  But for a short time they lived in Chicago, Illinois where they had a baby that died.

By the December 1900 James and Nettie were still living in Richardsville and had 2 girls and 2 boys.  Two years later another baby girl came along.  To this family  my grandmother, Nancy Ellen, was born.  Nancy Ellen Cockrill, 6th in a line of 8 children, was born 1908 in Richardsville, Warren County, Kentucky.
See Warren County, Kentucky Map
In 1910 her parents, James Cockriel  and Jeanette 'Nettie' Basham, moved just outside of Russlleville, Logan County, Kentucky for a short time (2-3 years).  Then they moved to Todd County, Kentucky where they lived until 1916.
See Todd County, Kentucky.
When Nancy was eight they moved the family back to Logan County near the Kidron community.
See Logan County, Kentucky Map

The years between 1900 and 1915 were peaceful ones for many residents of Logan County who seemed blissfully unaware of war clouds gathering in Europe. Yet, when the call to arms came in the spring of 1917 James Cockriel was 54 years old, too old to volunteer.  James's son Henry Washington Cockriel, was 24 years old, and  Huey Jackson Cockriel, his other son was only 16.  None of the Cockriels fought in World War I.

The decades between the two world wars witnessed many changes. The automobile emphasized the need for better roadways.  Cars also increased the demand for oil, and during the 1920s speculators, drillers, and oil company representatives flocked to the area to pump black gold from Warren County's shallow wells.

As teenager Nancy remembers sitting on her front porch and Joe Swallows riding up on his horse.  He had come calling.  At the age of 17 Nancy married 20 year old Joe Swallows.  The year was 1925.  They first lived in Adairville, Logan County, KY for a few months.  Later in  1925, a little over 100 years after Margaret, the first Cockrill, came to Kentucky , the last Cockrill in our line and her husband traveled down to Springfield, Robertson County, Tennessee to start their new life.   When they first moved to Springfield they lived with Ab Scarbrough, Joe's uncle. They had their first child in 1926.  Joe became a carpenter by occupation.  He had  a contractor's license.

The Depression years witnessed important building projects funded by the WPA.  In 1939 Joe helped to build the Springfield High School that was located on 5th Ave. At one time  he worked for E.I.du Pont de Nemours & Co. in Old Hickory, Tennessee. In 1939 he helped helped to build the Rubber company in Clarksville, TN. He also worked on the construction of Clinton Laboratory  renamed Oak Ridge National Laboratory  about 1943. Joe built a home for Nancy and their family.  Nancy was a housewife.  They had 4 children.  I remember her being a rather good story teller when I was a child.  Nancy was rather tall, had coal black hair and brown eyes.

Nettie Basham Cockrill died June 24, 1949 in Russelville, Logan Co., KY.   A year and a half later James Cockrill died December 28, 1950 in Russellville, Logan Co., KY.   They are buried in the back right hand corner of City of Russellville Cemetery, Logan Co.,  KY.

Cockriel Family  by Irvin Wayne Cockriel

Cockrell Collections by Jim Burgess

Disclaimer:  The purpose of this Web Page is to share information for the purpose of research.  I have not proved documentation of all genealogy material, nor have I kept source notes as I should.  But I had lots of fun and met some great people along the way..

If you find any mistakes please contact the Web Page creator, Trisha Carden  , and I shall try to correct them.

Site copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 Trish S. Carden (Please feel free to use this information but if you do please put a link back to this page)