Larkin Cockrill's middle name is believed to have come from his maternal grandmother, Lucy Davenport. His mother also had a brother named Larkin Venable.

Larkin came to Kentucky from South Carolina with his parents in 1804.

A Larkin Cockrille first appears on the tax rolls for Allen Co., KY (Allen County, KY Tax List, 1815-1848, roll 6) in 1823. No acreage or watercourse is listed, but it is assumed he is living on Bays Fork near his father. There is only one white adult over 21 in his household and his tax was $80. His name appears in these records sporatically over the next few years but with little additional information (also see, Herb Boothroyd's notes on Larkin's tax records).

From the Allen County Kentucky (Order Book) Day Book 1826-1837, by Martha W. Jackson (Scottsville, KY, 1992), partial list:

Mentioned is made of Larkin and his family in the Mary M. (Hammett) Peck letter of 1838 about the Cockrills moving from Allen County, Kentucky to Benton County, Missouri.

In Marriage Records of Allen County, Kentucky 1815-1865, compiled by Ona A. Willoughby (Scottsville, KY: 1938), there is a listing for a Larkin D. Cockrill, marrying a Diadima Stamps, 10-29-1829, with "no return" listed as the officiant.

From "Kentuckians Who Went That A Way," by Herbert J. Boothroyd, Kentucky Ancestors, Volume 30-2, 1994, pp. 82-83:

Anderson Cockrill, born 12 December 1778 in North Carolina, was married on 19 February 1799, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Rebecca Venable, born 5 November 1778 in South Carolina. Their son Larkin Davenport was born in Spartanburg on 4 Jan 1800. With Anderson’s siblings and parents (William Cockrell and Frances Jones), they moved in 1804 to Warren County, Kentucky, to the part which became Allen County in 1815. There eight more children were born. Educated in a rude log schoolhouse, Larkin Cockrill was a teacher and captain of a Kentucky military company for twelve years. In 1829 he married Deademia Stamps, born in 1809 in Kentucky.

In 1835 or 1838, Larkin and his family, with his parents and six surviving siblings, moved to what became Bates County, Missouri (in 1841). Larkin became the first teacher and first County Judge of Bates County. In 1849, Larkin's young brother James and two brothers-in-law went on the California trail to gold rush country near Sacramento. After several trips back and forth to Missouri, including one by walking across Nicaragua, they became aware of the need for cattle to use on land grants purchased in Sonoma County. On 24 April 1853, Larkin, his wife and ten children, his aged parents Anderson and Rebecca, three other siblings (each with six children), and one great grandchild left Missouri on the California Trail.

Cockrills were organizers of the 30-wagon train, with 125 people, 3,000 head of cattle (primarily milch cows and work oxen), and 100 thoroughbred horses, which arrived in Sonoma County, California, on 15 October 1853. There Larkin built the second house in the settlement he named Bloomfield (after an early home in Kentucky); he farmed and was elected associate judge. Four generations of Cockrills had been on the wagon train to California. The lives of the elders spanned from the American Revolution to beyond the Civil War and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Anderson Cockrill died in San Jose, California, on 27 October 1861, and Rebecca Venable Cockrill died in Salinas on 10 April 1872; Larkin Cockrill died on 12 May 1886 in Bloomfield, California.

Larkin is listed in the 1850 Census for Bates Co., MO, living in District No. 6, dwelling #289, as Larkin Cockrill, a 30 (!) year old farmer, born in South Carolina with $100 of Real Estate. Also enumerated in the same household are Diademia (a. 40, bp. KY), Ellesif (a. 20), Olliva (a. 18), Theodore (a. 15, "Laborer"), Helen (a. 13), Elizabeth (a. 10), Rebecca (a. 7), Ida (a. 5), William (a. 3), Robert (a. 1). All the children are listed as being born in Kentucky.

Larkin Cockrill was a member along with his family, as well as one of the leaders of the Hagans-Cockrill wagon train from Pleasant Gap, Missouri to Sonoma County in 1853.

In the 1860 Census for Sonoma Co., CA, Larkin is listed living in Analy Township (Sebastopol Post Office), dwelling #248, as L. L. Cockrill, a 60 year old farmer, born in South Carolina with $1000 of Real Estate and $2000 of personal estate. Also enumerated in the same household are Dradinia (a. 50, bp. KY), Theodore G. (a. 26, bp. KY, "Farmer"), Helen M. (a. 24, bp. KY), Rebeca L. (a. 17, bp. MO), Ida J. (a. 15, bp. MO), Robert B. F. (a. 10, bp. MO), and Bruce L. (a. 8, bp. MO).

In the 1870 Census for Sonoma Co., CA, he is listed living in Analy Township (Bloomfield Post Office), dwelling #22, as Larkin Cockrill, a 50 (!) year old farmer, born in South Carolina with $6000 of Real Estate and $1000 of personal estate. Also enumerated in the same household are Didama (a. 60, bp. KY, "Keeping House"), Ida. J. (a. 24, bp MO), Bruce T. (a. 18, bp. MO), and George E. Miller (a. 4, bp. CA).

In the 1880 Census for Sonoma Co., CA, he is listed living in the Town of Bloomfield, dwelling #10, as L. D. Cockrill, a 81 year old Justice of the Peace, born in South Carolina (father born in North Carolina, mother born in South Carolina), along with his wife, listed as Didamia (a. 70, bp. KY, father bp. SC, mother bp. KY, "Keeping House"). Also enumerated with them as their daughter is Ida (a. 30, bp. MO, "At Home") and their grandson, George Miller (a. 19, bp. CA, "At School").

I have only been able to find one Sonoma County deed for Larkin obtaining Bloomfield property from F. G. Blume. I assume however, that Larkin probably owned more than just these 90 acres, and perhaps the transfer was not recorded in the Sonoma County Deed Book (or else I missed a record or two). In the early history of this area of Sonoma County, Frederick Gustavus Blume was an interesting character in his own right even though he was often written out of the later histories by the post-Gold Rush settlers. Much of the original Spanish land grant that was his wife's was lost through "squatting".

There are a few deeds with Larkin as Grantor. From the Sonoma County Deed Index:

Grantor -- L. D. Cockrill:

Grantor -- L. D. Cockrill & Wife:

Grantor -- L. D. Cockrill, et al:

Larkin was believed by many Cockrill family members to have named the town of Bloomfield in Sonoma County.

From Wild Oats in Eden; Sonoma County in the 19th century, by Jeanne Miller (Santa Rosa, Calif., 1962), pp. 46-47:

Larkin Cockrill and William Zilhart came from their camp on Sonoma Mountain to Big Valley, between Valley Ford and Petaluma, in 1853 to settle and eventually purchase the land from the reluctant claimant to the Canada de Pogolimi Rancho, F. G. Blume. Here the community of Bloomfield was formed, possibly named for Blume, although the Cockrill family had originally come from a community in Kentucky called Bloomfield. Larkin Cockrill, presiding at the town meeting, may have had his way.

Several biographical details about Larkin's life, apparently obtained from family sources, can be found in the "Line of Obadiah Haight Hoag," Records of the Families of California Pioneers, DAR Collection, Volume 15, pp. 119-120.

A newspaper account of Larkin's and Didamia's 50th wedding anniversary in Bloomfield exists which contains some biographical information. The county of their marriage in Kentucky is listed as Blackburn which does not exist. The documented county on record was Allen and the Blackburn surname is associated with the Cockrills.

There is a biography of L. D. Cockrill in a History of Sonoma County, by J. P. Munro-Fraser, (San Francisco: Alley, Bowen & Co., 1880).

Several items about the life of Larkin Cockrill are described in Dirt Roads and Dusty Tales: A Bicentennial History of Bloomfield, Sonoma County, California, by Hannah M. Clayborn (Santa Rosa, Cleone Pub: 1976), including this anecdote (also recounted by Larkin's grandson, William Aaron Cockrill):

Local legend claims that Judge Cockrill was a man who enjoyed liberal amounts of whisky, and was an 'ardent Southern Democrat'. His grandson tells a tale about the Judge bursting out of a saloon during the Civil War years shouting, "Hooray for Jeff Davis!", whereupon the dear Judge was nearly lynched by his otherwise staunch supporters. The story goes that the noose was ready and waiting, when old 'Squire Hall' charged up in the nick of time with two horse pistols, saving the Judge's venerable skin...

Jeanne Miller, long-time Cockrill Family researcher, commented on a number of occasions during our discussions, that "Larkin was a force unto himself!" A Cockrill family member also pointed out to me that the Cockrills were generally "a well lubricated" family.

It is believed, from the passage in Zilhart's diary, that the "tall quarl" which the family had September 18, 1853, while camped on the American River, five miles outside ot Sacramento, split the family into two factions. Larkin, believed to have a difficult and willful disposition, was the leader of one faction and led them to settle in Bloomfield. The other faction composed of Henry Beaver, William Boyd Hagans, Harrison Cockrill and the others, settled in the Franklin/Santa Rosa area.

Larkin was a member of the Liberty Church which was held for a short time in the Liberty School House near Petaluma. This was one of the Primitive Baptist Churches which were founded in about 1859 by Elder Thomas H. Owen in California. Larkin's father was a member of another of Owen's churches in Santa Rosa, and probably a Primitive Baptist member back in Missouri and Kentucky as well. Larkin's grandfather was also a "messenger" of an old Old School Baptist church in South Carolina and later in Kentucky.

It appears that Larkin was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church back when he was living in Kentucky as well. A Cockrel, Larkin D. 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). Larkins' brothers, Harrison, James A., and William B. also appear to be members of this church. All were "dismissed by letter," probably when they left the area. A Cockrill, Dianna also shows up on this list which is probably Larkin's wife Didamia.

The following short obituary for L. D. Cockrill is from the San Francisco Daily Morning Call, May 14, 1886, p. 4, c. 1:

From The Sonoma Democrat, May 22, 1866, p. 1:

In "Bloomfield Cemetery Records, 1864-1967" copied by Susan Appleton (Santa Rosa Annex 929.379418 Bloomfield), there is a listing for "COCKRILL, L. D., Nat. of So. Car., Jan. 4, 1800 -- May 12, 1886" and "Damie, wife of L. D. Cockrill, Nat. of KY., Dec. 29, 1809 -- Oct. 24, 1886."