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Description
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Christopher Cockrill (1818 – 1873), born in Fayette, Virginia, moved with his parents and family to Missouri in the 1820s. His father, Starks S. Cockrill, Sr., obtained land grants on what is now Tyson Research Center Property, and in 1830, the Cockrill family held three people in slavery in Bonhomme Township. By the recording of the 1850 census, Starks S. Cockrill Sr., Starks Cockrill Jr., and Christopher Cockrill had all established separate households next to one another and worked as farmers. While the families of Starks Cockrill Sr. and Jr. moved to Texas by 1860, Christopher Cockrill continued to live in Bonhomme Township, where he enslaved five people according to the 1860 census and held land on what is now Tyson property according to an 1870 plat map.
The Cockrills were enslavers. The 1830 Census for Bonhomme Township lists two girls and a boy aged between 10-23 as enslaved by Starks Cockrill, Sr. In the 1850, he enslaved three men aged between 22-35, four boys aged between 4-10, a 30-year old woman and a 2-year old girl in Bonhomme Township. In 1860, Christopher Cockrill enslaved a 30-year old man, a 25-year old woman, and three boys aged 1, 6 and 11 in Bonhomme Township.
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Bio
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Christopher Cockrill (1818 – 1873), was born in Fayette, Virginia, to Starks Cockrill Sr. and Barbara (Barbary) Cotton. Starks S. Cockrill Sr. (1795-1862), born in Virginia and a veteran of the War of 1812 during which he served as corporal in a Kentucky regiment, moved his family to Missouri in the 1820s. By 1830, Cockrill Sr. held three people in slavery in Bonhomme Township. He received United States land grants in the region on several occasions, including in 1835, 1840, and 1853. The families of Starks S. Cockrill Sr., Christopher Cockrill, and Starks Cockrill, Jr. (1823 - 1875), all described as farmers in the 1850 census, lived next to one another in Bonhomme and held nine people in slavery. The families of Starks Cockrill Sr. and Jr. moved to Texas by 1860, but retained land in Missouri according to plat maps of 1862 and 1870. Starks Cockrell Jr. fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
The Cockrills were enslavers. The 1830 Census for Bonhomme Township lists two girls and a boy aged between 10-23 as enslaved by Starks Cockrill, Sr. In the 1850, he enslaved three men aged between 22-35, four boys aged between 4-10, a 30-year old woman and a 2-year old girl in Bonhomme Township. In 1860, Christopher Cockrill enslaved a 30-year old man, a 25-year old woman, and three boys aged 1, 6 and 11 in Bonhomme Township.
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Dates of Tyson Land Ownership
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1870
