TARVER-L Archives

From: Lotus Cirilo <>
Subject: [TARVER-L] Tarver-Cockerham, SC & MS
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 20:37:26 -0800 (PST)

Of John Cockerham Sr's children - four intermarried with TARVER families.
John Cockerham, Jr.
Nancy Cockerham
Judith Cockerham
Elizabeth Cockerham

Elisha Lott Tarver, who married Hannah French Hamilton, purchased the
Cockerham homeplace from the estate of John Cockerham, Sr.

On September 4, 1824 - John Cockerham, assignee of Hardy Coward, patented
a tract of land from the US Govt ... W1/2 of NW1/4 Section 7, Township 2,
Range 5 East ... recorded conveyance Deed Book 25, p. 588. Part of
property presently owned by Reggie Wicker about 4 miles east of Liberty on
Hwy 24/48 in Amite Co., Mississippi. Property subsequently sold as part
of John Cockerham's estate to highest bidder, Elisha Lott Tarver, who is
buried on the property along with a brother-in-law whose grave is marked
with a CSA marker: John French Hamilton. Gravesite photos on Tarver-Gen.

Copies of all deeds of transfer on this property from it's purchase in
1824 through the present owner are in my Tarver-Gen research files. The
file is a duplicate of the title search performed when the land was
purchased by its current owner, which Mr. Wicker generously allowed
me to copy in 1998.

Additonally, a copy of every document in the John Cockerham probate/estate
file from Liberty, Amite Co., MS is in Tarver-Gen files.

John Cockerham Sr., who came to Amite fm SC, died in September, 1844, in
Amite County, Mississippi. A deed on record, Vol D, p. 10 (FHC film
no. E56845 0023284), in Barnwell District, SC, identifies his father as
William Cockerham:

Know all men by these presents that I John Mason for a consideration of
Eighty three Dollars to me in hand paid by John Cockerham, son of William
forever quitclaim all my right title or interest or claim to a certain
tract or parcel of land containing one hundred & fifty acres originally
granted to the said John Mason bearing date the 4th day of August
A.D. 1800 in the district of Barnwell on a branch called the Widows branch
waters of Tinker Creek bounded on the north side by land granted Isom
Coward not the property of John Obier, the west side by land the estate of
James Roberts on the sourh and south east side by land granted to David
White and on Nest side by land laid out to John Bowlan. Given under my
hand and seal this 30th day of August anno dommonia 1807 Signed sealed
and delivered in the presence of Gest John Ashley & Edward
Cleveland. /s/ John Mason

Census data & probate records confirm John Sr was about 108 years old at
the time of his death. Some researchers suggest his place of birth as NC,
others suggest VA, and others still say he was born in SC.

In any case, in 1785 he is a taxable person in Orangeburg Dist, SC. In
1790, JOHN COCKERHAM And JOHN TARVER both are on the census as heads of
households in Orangeburg District, in the area now known as Barnwell.

The 1830 Amite Co., Mississippi gives John Sr.'s age as between 90 and 100
years old. He died between August 22 and September 23, 1844. His estate,
settled on January 9, 1845, amounted to about $23,000 (a modest fortune in
those days). Forty one slaves are named and subsequently sold in the
inventory of his estate. The administration papers indicate the slaves
were sold in December of 1844 for a total of $20,564. John Cockerham's
household was among the approximately two dozen households that owned 31
or more slaves when the census was enumerated in 1830.*

(*Smith, Dale Edwyna, The Slaves of Liberty: Freedom in Amite Co.,
Mississippi, 1820-1868, (Ph. D. Dissertation. Harvard University,
1993. Garland Publishing, ISBN: 0815330820). - I bought this book fm
Amazon.com three or four years ago.)

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http://www.tarver-genealogy.net/records/miscellany/cockerham_tarver.txt

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• [TARVER-L] Tarver-Cockerham, SC & MS by Lotus Cirilo <>