There is an odd listing for a James Cockrill, age 13 (! b. 1814), in Marriage Records of Allen County, Kentucky 1815-1865, compiled by Ona A. Willoughby (Scottsville, KY: 1938), as marrying a Elizabeth Venable, 7-16-1827, with A. Clayton as the officiant. If this is the same James and if this Elizabeth is connected to his mother's family is not known at this time.

There is also a listing for a James A. Cockrill, age 25, marrying Elizabeth Blackbourn, 10-16-1837, with Jesse L. Hickman as the officiant, which is assumed to be the record for this James A. Cockrill and Elizabeth Blackburn.

A Cockrel, James A. shows up listed in the 1830-1849 membership list for the Trammel Fork Baptist Church on the Allen County Kentucky searchable on-line database (extracted from "Minutes of the Trammel Fork Baptist Church 1819-1994, Allen County, Kentucky" by David C. Smith, Pembroke KY). James' brothers, Harrison, Larkin D., and William B. also appear to be members of this Primitive Baptist Church. All were "dismissed by letter," probably when they left the area for Missouri. However, James' first wife, Elizabeth nor any Blackburn family members appears on this list.

There is mention of the arrival of both James and Elizabeth to Mary M. Peck's house in Benton County, Missouri on November 13th and staying until December in her letter which is believed to have been written in 1838.

James is listed as a 37 year old laborer living with his parents in the 1850 Census for Bates Co., MO, District No. 6. Also enumerated in this listing are his son, William (a. 9, bp. KY) and daughter, Lucindia (a. 6, bp. KY).

In "Kentuckians Who Went Thataway," Kentucky Ancestors Volume 30-2, p. 82, Herbert Boothroyd writes that James A. Cockrill was said to have first come to California during the gold rush in 1849, and subsequently travelled back and forth between the gold fields and Missouri several times. It is believed that William Boyd Hagans and Henry Beaver (as well as some others), may have also been with him during some of these trips.

According to Jeanne Miller (from conversations), James returned once after the Gold Rush to Missouri to marry Mary Myers and brought her back to California in 1851 along with Ellender, his daughter from his previous marriage, as well as other members of the Cockrill extended family. Jeanne believes that James probably provided much of the funds from his diggings in the gold fields to bring out the rest of the Cockrill family in 1853. He had intended to lead this wagon train but had contracted small pox while buying supplies for the trip in the "gritty little town" of Napa.

In the California 1852 Census for Sonoma County (page 39, line 31) recorded August 19, 1852, James is listed as James A. Cockrill, a 36 year farmer born in Kentucky whose last residence was Missouri. Also enumerated with him are Mary M. Cockrill (a. 25, bp. IN), Lusindy E. Cockrill (a. 8, bp. MO), and Walter C. Cockrill (a. 2 weeks, bp. CA). James' family is listed right after William B. Hagans' family. The family of C. S. Stamps from Missouri, is also listed on the same census page (p. 39 #40). This could be Charles Stamps, brother to Larkin Cockrill's wife, Didamia Stamps, however the dates of his birth do not match.

From a Historical and Descriptive Sketch of Sonoma County, California, by Robert A. Thompson, editor of The Sonoma Democrat (Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1877), p. 75:

On the site of the brick-boarding house [later known as the "Beaver House"], near the Pacific Methodist College, James Cockrill had a residence as early as 1852; it was a long way out of town when the first survey was made. Mr. Cockrill died of small-pox, which was epidemic in 1853.

James Cockrill's frame house which he built in 1851, eventually became incorporated into the hand-made brick structure which Henry Beaver had built on his land in the early eighteen sixties.

From Jeanne Miller's Wild Oats in Eden, p. 43:

Statehood was imminent by January of 1850. The Forty-niners, discouraged in their search for gold in the hills, turned to the valleys for a livelihood. Farmers at heart, they decided to return to the "States" for their families and settle in this rich, new area. The story of the growth of the communities in Sonoma County is, therefore, the story of these families who made the long trip from the frontier to sow and reap in this virgin land.

Statehood was imminent by January of 1850. The Forty-niners, discouraged in their search for gold in the hills, turned to the valleys for a livelihood. Farmers at heart, they decided to return to the "States" for their families and settle in this rich, new area. The story of the growth of the communities in Sonoma County is, therefore, the story of these families who made the long trip from the frontier to sow and reap in this virgin land.

If the lands were to become productive, blooded livestock was needed. It was James Cockrill's brother-in-law, Col. William B. Hagans, who went back to Bates County, leaving his wife and family living in tents on Sonoma Mountain, for blooded cattle to breed animals for the new area.

While there he persuaded the remainder of the Cockrill family, from aged parents to infants, to form a train to come West with him as their guide. The journal of this trip is a testimonial to the thorough planning and good judgment of Hagans and Larkin Cockrill, another brother-in-law and one of the leaders. The journal also shows that the Cockrill-Hagans party had more than adequate financing, for they brought enough cash in a chest to make substantial loans in the new county.

Travelling by the South Pass route, the wagon train arrived on the western slopes of the Sierra in late September. Here quarrelling broke out and some of the young stock hands deserted to the mines. The main party arrived in the Santa Rosa Valley on October 3, 1853. Henry Beaver, a member of the party, purchased the land left by James Cockrill, who had died of smallpox the previous year. Here he built a home for his family and set to work at blacksmithing, well digging, and brickmaking.

These two parties brought many of the early settlers who help found the town of Santa Rosa. In 1851 the first settlement, later called Franklin, was a cluster of houses with neither doors nor windows. The farm purchased by Beaver and the land of Beaulieu on the north side of Caslamayomi Creek adjoined the settlement, which J. W. Ball laid out as Franklin in 1853...

From a typewritten note in Jeanne Miller's papers:

On July 12, 1852, James Anderson Cockrill and his wife, Mary Myers Cockrill, purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land from Julio Carrillo, subject to confirmation by the United States Government. This agreement to enter into a deed of sale at a later date was confirmed to his widow on the 29th day of November, 1854, subsequent to her remarriage to James M. Case, one year prior to the last deed... Mary Myers Case deed[ed] to her brother Dudley D. Myers on November 29th, 1854, the southwest quarter of the above described 160 acres for Five hundred dollars, containing 40 acres of land. On November 2nd, 1854, Mrs. Case had deed[ed] to Henry Beaver for six hundred dollars, the northwest quarter of the land above described. On December 6th, 1854 Dudley Myers agreed to sell to Henry Beaver the southwest quarter for seven hundred dollars.

The original deed or "written agreement" between James Cockrill and Julio Carrillo appears to have never been recorded in the Sonoma County Deeds book. Ellender Claypool, later contested the sale of James' property by her step-parents and accused Henry Beaver largely of orchestrating a take over of the property without recompense to James Cockrill's heirs, namely Ellender and her step-brother Walter.

James Anderson Cockrill's Probate Case is recorded in the Probate Court Records Book A Page 38 Number 38 for Sonoma County (link to an abstraction).