Often listed in contemporary genealogies as William James Anderson Cockrill but this is an error (perhaps partially derived from a Pleasant Gap, MO history?). From Herbert J. Boothroyd (in a letter to Jim Burgess, 21 Oct 1999):

...the 1778 son of William Cockrill and Frances Jones is simply Anderson Cockrill, NOT William James Anderson Cockrill. I keep trying to eradicate that, no one has ever produced a contemporary record with either, let alone both, those given names attached to the 1778 Anderson.

From a letter to me, 15 June 2000:

I continue to insist that Anderson b. 1778 had only that given name. First Wm was added in material prepared in 20th century, then James, and then both! I keep asking anyone to cite a record during his lifetime with those given names without response. Only one of his siblings had two given names, even two uncommon at that time; and his parents named the next son William; also, the nephew named in his honor was simply Anderson Hammett.

Carolyn Claypool Thorsen wrote an essay, "The Puzzle of Researching a Given Name," in about 1989 about Anderson Cockrill, which deals with the confusion surrounding his name, his possible genealogy, and the complex connections between the Cockrill, Moffett, Anderson, and Johnson families.

It is believed that Anderson Cockrill moved with his wife and children, as well as his parents and siblings, in 1804 from Spartanburg County, South Carolina to Warren County, Kentucky near Walnut Creek.

A Cockril, Anderson is listed in the 1810 Census for Barren Co., KY. The listing includes one white male under the age of 10, one white male between the ages of 10 and 16, one white male between the ages of 26 and 45, two white females under the age of 10, and white female between the ages of 16 and 26. In 1810, Anderson would have been about 32 years old, Frances would have also been 32. Their children, Cynthia (a. 1), Lucinda (a. 4), William Barrett (a. 6), Larkin Davenport (a. 10) does not quite fit this census though. Also, the previous listing to this Anderson in the 1810 Census was a Cockrit, Wm, which one could speculate as being another related Cockrill.

In the early tax records for Warren County, only Anderson's father, William, and brother, Johnson J. Cockrill, appear listed beginning in 1809. Allen County was formed from part of Warren County in 1815 and Anderson's name first appears in the Allen County tax records in 1817. His name is on these rolls until 1838. Anderson's property was on Bays Fork of the Barren River (on the border between Warren and Allen counties) and he had no slaves. The land increased in value during the first years but was then in a slow decline in worth. In 1829, he was taxed for land which has the same description of the property which his father had owned on Walnut Creek. He appears to have disposed of this particular parcel sometime after 1831.

Kentucky records from the time when Anderson's family lived there, though by no means complete, are extensive none-the-less. For example, entries for the name Anderson Cockrill in the Allen County Kentucky (Order Book) Day Book 1826-1837 by Martha W. Jackson (Scottsville, KY, 1992) are extracted here.

Anderson is listed in the 1820 Census Records for Allen County, Kentucky as Anderson Cockrel in a household with 3 males under 10, 1 male 16-18, 1 male 16-26, 1 male 26-45; 1 female under 10, 2 females 10-16, 1 female 26-45 and no slaves.
In the 1830 Census Records for this county, he is listed as Anderson Cockrell in a household with 1 male 5-10, 1 male 10-15, 2 males 15-20, 1 male 50-60; 1 female 5-10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 20-30, 1 female 50-60, and no slaves.

At about the age of sixty, Anderson and Rebecca moved with their children to Missouri. There is a letter by Mary M. (Hammett) Peck apparently written in 1838 which describes the arrival of Anderson Cockrill's whole family to Benton County, Missouri from Kentucky. The Cockrills settled near a little village known as Pleasant Gap in an area which was later organized as Bates County in 1841. Members of Anderson's family became entwined in the early history of Pleasant Gap.

Anderson is listed in the 1850 Census for Bates Co., MO, living in District No. 6, dwelling #233, as Anderson Cockrill, age 70, a farmer born in North Carolina [sic]. Enumerated with Rebecca (a. 65, bp NC), James (a. 37, a laborer born in KY), William (a. 9, bp. KY), and Lucindia (a. 6, bp. KY). James Anderson Cockrill was living with his parents along with his two children, after his wife died. Harrison Cockrill and his family were living in dwelling #234 in this census.

Lucinda Ellender (Cockrill) Claypool, who was born in Bates County, Missouri, narrated some of the details about her childhood there (transcribed by her granddaughter, Carolyn Claypool Thorsen), including a story about her grandparents before their wagon train journey to California. From a “Story about Generation Gap in 1851” (grandfather here is Anderson Cockrill):

My grandfather kept the post office. I remember the day my father was married [her mother had died], on the day after you would call it a reception, they called it infair dinner. My aunt gave him the dinner. My aunt had a large house. She had lots of turkeys, all kinds of cake and pies, loads of things. I liked to see her cook as she had the first stove and the only one in that county. My grandfather would not eat unless it was cooked the old fashioned way by the fire place. They never had matches, it was a curiosity to see matches. They struck two flint rocks together, held toe under it, caught the sparks, blew it until it blazed, then covered the coals every night.

In 1853, Anderson and Rebecca, who were both around the age of 75, walked 2000 miles to California from Missouri as members of the Hagans-Cockrill immigration which settled in Santa Rosa. It does not appear that they owned property there. A few years later, it appears that they were part of Henry Beaver's extended family when he moved from Sonoma County to Santa Clara county in the late 1850's. However, since there appears to be no 1860 Census record for Henry Beaver, a record for Anderson and Rebecca in the 1860 Census can not be found either.

Anderson Cockrill was a member of the Old School Baptist Church or what is now called the Primitive Baptist Church. It appears that he may have belonged to the church in Pleasant Gap and possibly earlier (though no documentation has been found yet). Anderson's father was also an active messenger and minister in the Baptist Church though it is also unknown if he was an Old School Baptist. Anderson's possible grandfather, William Cockrell, also appears to have been active in the Primitive Baptist Church.

Shortly after arriving in California, it appears that Anderson came in contact with an Old School Baptist minister, Elder Thomas H. Owen, who organized at least six such churches in California. Anderson was a member and a messenger of the Santa Rosa Church of Old School Baptists, along with his son, William Barrett Cockrill, his son-in-law, Henry Beaver. The brother of another one of Anderson's son-in-laws, John Smith Hagans, his wife, Rebecah, along with his son, Alfred Huddleston Hagans (who became a minister of the church), and wife, Mary were also members of this church. Another of Anderson's sons, Larkin Davenport Cockrill, was a member of a Primitive Baptist Church known as Liberty Church. One can also be assumed that probably other members of the Cockrill extended family were members of these churches as well.

This information comes through the gracious courtesy of Elder Robert Webb, a Primitive Baptist minister, church historian, and church webmaster. The attempt to find more information about the existence of these particular churches in Sonoma County has been unproductive so far.

Anderson Cockrill's obituary is also listed in the Primitive Baptist publication, Signs of the Times (New York) , Vol. 30, No. 21, page 168. Nov. 1, 1862 issue:

Suisun, California, June 30, 1862.

BROTHER BEEBE:- Please publish the obituary of our aged brother, ANDERSON COCKRILL, who departed this life October 27, 1861, aged 82 years, 10 months and 15 days. He has left a wife nearly 83 years old, with a large connection of children, relatives and friends to mourn our bereavement. He lived many years out of the church after he had seen the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and had been taught by the Spirit of truth that Salvation was all of grace. He joined the Old School Baptist church some years ago, in Missouri, and afterward emigrated to California, in 1853. He was one of the constituent members of the Santa Rosa church, in 1854, and remained an orderly and much esteemed member until his death. He was opposed to all the new schemes and inventions of men to help the Lord save his people, and contended that Salvation was all of grace. He died in Santa Clara county, California, to which he had moved, with his son-in-law, Henry Beaver, the spring before he died. I learn that his confidence in his Savior was unimpaired, and that he died in full assurance of a blessed immortality. The church has lost a faithful and attentive member; his seat was seldom vacant on church meeting days; but he has gone from a distracted and troublesome world to fill his seat above.

THOMAS H. OWEN.

There is some question to where exactly that Anderson died (or where Henry Beaver's family was actually living at the time. In Helen Olivia Hoag's 1927 documents about the Cockrill family for the Santa Rosa D. A. R., she states that Anderson died in San Jose and was also buried there. Cathy Berry has also pointed out an obituary for Anderson which needs to be confirmed, from the Petaluma Journal, November 8, 1861, page 2, column 6:

Died in San Jose, October 27th, Mr. Anderson Cockrill, recently a resident of Sonoma County, aged 83 years and 11 months. Deceased was a native of North Carolina, emigrated to Kentucky in 1803, to Missouri in 1838, and from there to California in 1853.

Regardless, I have not been able to find the location of Anderson's burial in San Jose (or much of anything else about his supposed time in San Jose). Ross Williams, a Beaver Family researcher, has reasoned that since Henry Beaver was believed to be working for Henry Miller in Gilroy at this time, there is a strong reason to believe that Anderson was living in Gilroy at the time he passed away.