Terrell-Burke-Lee County GaArchives Biographies.....Cocke, John F. 1857 - living in 1913
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 1, 2004, 11:02 am

Author: William Harden
p. 1040-1041

   JOHN F. COCKE. A well-known and highly esteemed resident of Dawson, Terrell
county, John F. Cocke is distinguished both for his own life and work and for
the honored ancestry from which he traces his descent. The member of a Georgia
family that dates back to colonial times, he was born June 16, 1857, on a
plantation in Lee county, Georgia. He is a descendant in the fifth generation
from Caleb Cocke, the immigrant ancestor, his lineage being thus traced:
Caleb,[1] Zebulon, [2] John, [3] Isaac Perry, [4] and John F. [5]

   Caleb [1] Cocke, said to have been a lineal descendant of Lord High Admiral
Cocke, of France, immigrated to America from England about 1710, settling in
North Carolina. It is said that he was a very large man, and was called the
"Great Hunter." Zebulon [2] Cocke was born and bred in North Carolina. Coming
from there to Georgia in 1764, he located in Burke county on a two-hundred-acre
tract of land granted him by King George. During the Revolution he fought with
the colonists in their struggle for independence. At the opening of that war he
had upwards of five hundred head of cattle on his farm, and at its close he had
but one ox left with which to do his farm work, all of the other cattle having
been taken by the British. He was one of the very first Baptists in the state,
and a charter member of the Back Camp Baptist church, which was organized in
1788, and to which he donated four acres of land. He was twice married, his
second wife, great grandmother of Mr. Cocke, having been Mrs. Sarah Field, nee
Perry.

   John [3] Cocke was born on the parental homestead, in Burke county, Georgia,
September 4, 1784. Inheriting the patriotic ardor of his father, he served as a
soldier in the War of 1812. About 1828 he removed to Lee county, Georgia, where
he bought land that was in its pristine wildness, and with the aid of his slaves
cleared and improved a fine plantation, on which he spent the remainder of his
life. The maiden name of his wife was Lydia Davis. She was a daughter of
Benjamin and Elizabeth (Daniel) Davis, and a granddaughter on the paternal side
of Rev. Elnathan Davis, a noted Baptist preacher of Virginia. On the maternal
side, she was also of honored ancestry, her Grandfather Daniel having been
governor of the Carolinas before they were divided, and afterwards governor of
South Carolina. All of her grandparents spent the closing years of their lives
in Lee county, Georgia.

   Isaac Perry [4] Cocke was born in Burke county, Georgia, and subsequently
went with the family to Lee county. There he began life for himself, working as
a farm laborer at low wages. Industrious and economical, he accumulated quite a
sum of money, which he invested in land, later buying slaves with which to work
his property. During his earlier, life in Lee county deer and other kinds of
wild game were abundant, and often did much damage to the growing crops. There
being no railways in the state, he used to team his cotton to Macon, one hundred
miles distant, the trip being a long and tedious one. He did not depend entirely
upon cotton as a crop, but raised various other things, including cattle, hogs
and poultry. He was very successful in his operations, and as his means allowed
invested in other tracts of land, at his death having title to five thousand
acres of choice land. His home plantation, located eight miles west of Liberty,
was furnished with substantial buildings, and well stocked. He maintained a
summer home at Griffin, but otherwise lived on his home farm until his death, in
1863.

   Isaac Perry [4] Cocke married Almeda Griffin, who was born in Henry county,
Georgia, where her parents, William and Martha (Barnett) Griffin, were, as far
as known, life-long residents. She survived her husband, and married a second
time. By her first marriage she reared three children, namely: John Franklin,
the special subject of this brief biographical review; Almira Florine; and Isaac
Perry, Jr.

   John F. [5] Cocke obtained his rudimentary education in the public schools of
Carterville, later attending Bowdon College, in Bowdon, Georgia. Completing his
studies, he settled in Lee county on land that had come to him by inheritance,
and was there extensively and profitably engaged in agricultural pursuits until
1899. In order that his children might have better educational advantages, Mr.
Cocke then rented his large plantation, and settled in Dawson, buying an estate
of four acres, with good buildings thereon, in the village. He still lives on
that place, but has since bought another plantation, consisting of two hundred
and fifty acres of highly productive land, in Terrell county.

   Mr. Cocke married, in 1877, Annie Eliza Moreland. She was born in Lee county,
a daughter of John and Eliza (Sikes) Moreland, natives of Baker county, and
life-long residents of Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Cocke are the parents of five
children, namely: Annie Elouise; Charles Dudley; Stephen Moreland; and John
Edwin and Julian Franklin, twins. Annie E., wife of James Bascom Hoyle, has
three children, Annie Elouise, Mary Elizabeth, and Myra. Mr. and Mrs. Cocke are
both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally Mr. Cocke belongs to
P. T. Schley Lodge, No. 229, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.


Additional Comments:
From:

A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA
BY
WILLIAM HARDEN

VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
1913

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