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The photograph of my great-great-grandfather Anderson COCKRILL is of a stern-faced old man with his small wife sitting stiffly by his side, no information as to where or when it was taken. I know her father fought in the Revolutionary War and both she and her husband were born during that war. I've long been curious about "Anderson" being used as a given name and had somewhere heard there had been an earlier Anderson COCKRILL who had died in Virginia in the 1790's. First about my Anderson COCKRILL. He was the son of William and Frances (JONES) COCKRILL who had lived in Fauquier County, VA and then in North Carolinia before coming to South Carolina. William and Anderson COCKRILL are in the 1800 census next to each other in Spartanburg, SC. By then Anderson was married with one son. I know nothing of the parents of William and Frances. A few years later they all moved to Kentucky and about 1838 Anderson COCKRILL and other family members moved west to Missouri. My grandmother was born in Missouri in 1844 to James Anderson COCKRILL, son of Anderson COCKRILL, and in 1851 she came to California with her father and step-mother. The grandparents COCKRILL followed from Missouri in 1853, together with a number of relatives. Anderson COCKRILL died in California in 1861. He was a moving man! The name Anderson was not only part of the given name of my grandmother's father but it was used for others of the family. Anderson COCKRILL's older sister Diana who married Jesse HAMMETT named a son Anderson. One of my grandmother's stories of crossing the plains as a small child was about her teenage cousin "Anner" HAGANS. He was William Anderson HAGANS, son of Anderson COCKRILL's eldest daughter Lucinda who married William B. HAGANS. Anderson was used as a middle name for other cousins also. Did these names honor my Anderson COCKRILL or the earlier one? As far as I know the connection between the two Andersons has been lost to family tradition. It is a puzzle as to whether Anderson COCKRILL had a first name, but the records that come from his lifetime only say Anderson. Some descendants have thought his first name was William but the HAMMETT descendants have listed another son of William and Frances as William along with Diana, Nancy, Johnson J., Joseph G., Frances and perhaps Lewis and Mary. There is some indication that my great-grandfather was "junior" and therefore his father, James Anderson COCKRILL, Sr. Also Johnson as a given name may have a historical family connection. Now to the search. The 1790 census has a William COCKRILL in North Carolina where William the father of Anderson COCKRILL was said to have been. There is no William COCKRILL in the census for Virginia, nor is there the earlier Anderson COCKRILL, but the 1790 census was very incomplete. However it was not hard to find the will of Anderson COCKRILL who died in 1792 in Fauquier County of Virginia. In it he named as executors his son William and "brother" Jesse MOFFETT. This William would appear not to be the one who married Frances JONES and fathered my Anderson COCKRILL, partly because he was still a resident of Fauquier County in 1793 when his sister Rosanna, mentioned in the father's will, was married. Incidentally, Jesse MOFFETT also was involved in the sister's marriage documents, but no relationship mentioned. MOFFETT family information says Jesse MOFFETT was one of the sons of Henry MOFFETT, born in 1705. Henry's eldest son was born in 1736 and his youngest in 1765, and Henry was married twice, first to Mary, daughter of Walter ANDERSON, and after her death to her sister Elizabeth. Among his sons was also one named Daniel. Here the name ANDERSON enters the story. COCKRILLs were related to MOFFETTs and MOFFETTs to ANDERSONs! Back to the Fauquier County records we find a JOHNSON connection. In 1782 a Jeffry JOHNSON died leaving a will naming all his children among which was Mary COCKRILL. Anderson COCKRILL was a witness to this will as was Daniel MOFFETT. So Anderson COCKRILL was the son-in-law of Jeffry JOHNSON and the MOFFETT family again involved. Other early Virginia records show a succession of Jeffry JOHNSON -- more possible research. A Virginia court record of 1763 refers to transfer of land willed by Walter ANDERSON of King George Co., VA, to his daughter Mary the deceased wife of Henry MOFFETT. Here was the clue to search for Walter ANDERSON in King George County instead of Fauquier County. The latter county was only founded in 1759, and Walter died earlier. Also this 1763 record says Henry MOFFETT's wife was Hannah. So, who was she? Was Henry married three times? Birth dates of Henry's children indicate she may have been mother of Daniel MOFFETT or perhaps of Jesse. I've not been able to find the will of Walter ANDERSON, but his widow Mary filed the will in April, 1733 and there is an inventory of his estate that is quite lengthy and includes slaves. Also recorded at the same court session is a bond between Mary ANDERSON and a James JONES for a sum of ten thousand pounds or tobacco and the establishment of an "ordinary" on her plantation. The bond was dated February, 1732, and the court record, April 1733. What was the significance of these dates? Did Walter's wife have lands separated from his? What were his holdings? He must have been a man of considerable means. And so the search is not yet ended. Can I find the exact connection of these families: COCKRILL, MOFFETT, JOHNSON and how exactly were the two Anderson COCKRILLs related? What about earlier Jeffry JOHNSONs who are found in old Virginia records? REFERENCES: (1) 1850 Census, Bates Co., MO, p. 234, Anderson COCKRILL, b. NC. (2) 1800 Census, Spartanburg CO., SC, LDS, Salt Lake City Film No. 0181425, p. 201, William COCKRILL, Anderson COCKRILL, Lewis COCKRILL. (3) 1790 Census, NC, p. 70, William COCKRILL. (4) MOFFETT Family information compiled by R. Blythe Collings (sent to me by Herbert Boothroyd). (5) Fauquier Co., VA Deeds, 1759-1778, compiled by John K. Grott, published Heritage Books, Inc., p. 29, Walter ANDERSON land. (6) King George Co., VA, Probate Records, LDS Film No., 0032071, p. 159-60, inventory of estate of Walter ANDERSON. (7) King George Co., VA, Court Records Orderbook, 1721-1734, LDS Film No. 0032054 p. 632-3, Mary ANDERSON presented Walter ANDERSON's will in court, April, 1733. (8) King George Co., VA, Court Records, 1721-1735, LDS Film No. 0032061, p. 248, bond, Mary ANDERSON and James JONES. (9) Fauquier Co., VA, Mixed Probate Records, Vol. 1-2, LDS Film No. 0031566, wills of Anderson COCKRILL, and of Jeffry JOHNSON, 1783, marriage of Rossana COCKRILL. (10) Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Volume 1, by Beverley Fleet, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., (1988). (11) Shenandoah County, VA DEED BOOK Series, Volume 1: Deed Books A, B, C, & D, 1772-1784, Abstracted by Amelia C. Gilreath -- MOFFETT information. (Copied for CCT by Virginia Moore). |
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This page created on 12/03/01 15:19.