Edward E. Cockerill

As printed in 1914

EDWARD E. COCKERILL.

One of the earliest pioneer families to settle in Fayette county, Ohio, was the Cockerill family, which was first represented in this county by William S. Cockerill, a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, who was born in December, 1790, and came to Ohio in 1812, shortly after his marriage, settling first on the Ohio river just above its union with the Hocking river. Here he lived until 1821, when he came to Fayette county and purchased land of John Rowe in Perry township. Here he lived for one year and then bought land of Mr. Connor on the Little Wabash. William S. Cockerill was a man of decided literary tastes and more than ordinary intellectual ability. For several years after coming to this county he followed the profession of teaching in connection with farming. He served in the War of 1812 in an Ohio regiment. William S. Cockerill was married four times, his first wife being Anna Lehman, to whom he was married in Virginia in 1809, and whose death occurred in Fayette county, Ohio, in 1821, shortly after the family moved to this county. Nine children were born to this first marriage, Elizabeth, William, Milly, Samtel, Eldridge, Thomas G. and three who died in infancy. Thomas G. is the father of Edward E. Cockerill, with whom this narrative subsequently deals. The second wife of William S. Cockerill was Phoebe Mooney, the daughter of Judge Mooney, and to this second union nine children were born, Mary A., James, Lydia J., Harmanus, Amanda, Eliza, Anna and two who died in infancy. The second wife died in 1855, and in 1857 Mr. Cockerill married her sister, Eliza Mooney, who died in 1862. The fourth and last marriage of William S. Cockerill occurred in 1864, when he was united in marriage to Mrs. Doster, who died in 1873. William S. Cockerill lived until December 19, 1879, being nearly ninety years of age at the time of his death. He was a prosperous farmer and left an

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Google estate of four hundred acres of excellent land, which is now held by his descendants.

Thomas G. Cockerill, the son of William S. and Anna (Lehman) Cockerill, was born in 1812, and was married September 29, 1 831, to Sylvitha Cochran, the daughter of Barnabas and Charlotta Cochran, natives of New Jersey and early settlers of Ohio, who came to this state in 1806. To Thomas G. Cockerill and wife were born nine children, William Newton, Martha J., Edward Estell, Jacob, Thomas, Samuel S., James W., Amelia O. and Eldridge W. Four of these sons were in the Civil War, where they made a distinguished record for themselves. All of the nine children grew to manhood and womanhood, married and reared families of their own.

Edward Estell Cockerill, named in honor of the Rev. Edward Estell, was born January 22, 1837, in the township where he has always lived except ten years in other states. He is the third child of Thomas G. Cockerill and wife and one of the most highly honored residents of this county. He was born in a log cabin in Perry township, and spent a few months of his boyhood years in the primitive schools of his home neighborhood, and early in life became used to hard manual labor. He married two years before the Civil War opened and left his wife and two small children to serve his country. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served for four months toward the close of the struggle. Immediately after being mustered out of the service he returned to his farm and has been following that vocation since. He bought his present farm of two hundred and thirty acres, six miles from Washington

As printed in History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions (1914). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.