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1907 Past and Present Biographies

Charles G. Cockerill

Charles G. Cockerill, president of the New State Telephone Company of Sioux City, Iowa, and one of the large land owners of Greene county, Iowa, now living in Jefferson, was born in Quincy, Adams county, Illinois, in the year 1868. His father, Henry Cockerill, was a native of New York city and of English ancestry. He was a cabinet-maker by trade and after living in the east for some time removed to Iowa, where he continued in the same line of business. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the cause of the Union and served for three years as a member of Company D, Twenty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, bravely defending the old flag and the cause it represented. His life was actuated by high, manly principles, in harmony with his professions as a member of the Baptist church. His name was on the membership roll of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he also belonged to the Grand Army of tne Republic. His political allegiance was given to the republican party and he had firm faith in its principles. In his later years he retired from active business life and removed from Villisca, where he had resided for several years, to Jefferson, spending his last days in the latter city, where he died in May, 1904, at the age of sixty-nine years. He married Hattie Houser, who was born in Indiana and is now living in J efferson at the age of fifty-eight years. She is a member of the Baptist church and a lady of many excellent traits of character. She is of Scotch Irish descent and thus the blood of Scotch Irish and English ancestors flow in the veins of her children. By her marriage she became the mother of nine children who are yet living: May, the wife of C. H. Warrington; Charles G. ; Harry S., a physician and surgeon living in Moorland, Oklahoma; Park L., a member of the real-estate firm of Warrington & Cockerill; Pearl C., who is superintendent of the New State Telephone Company, with headquarters at Sioux City, Iowa; Eva, who is living with her mother; Elizabeth, the wife of George Missenger, of Atlantic, Iowa; Robert, a druggist residing in Quinlan, Oklahoma; and Clifford, who is local manager for the New State Telephone Company at Mapleton, Iowa.

Charles G. Cockerill accompanied his parents on their removal from his native county to Villisca, Iowa, where he attended school, and after putting aside his text-books he learned the watchmaker’s trade, at which he worked for some time in Jefferson. He became a member of the jewelry firm of Warrington & Cockerill Brothers at this place and after continuing in the business successfully for a time he turned his attention to the real-estate business in connection with his brother Park, in 1892. For six years thereafter he handled property and then in 1898 joined with others in organizing the Jefferson Savings Bank. He has long been recognized as a most active and enterprising resident of the county seat and has done much for business development. In 1891 he began building telephone lines in Jefferson and continued the extension of his system until 1905, when the New State Telephone Company was incorporated by Mr. Cockerill and others with a capital stock of one million dollars. The lines extend over northwestern Iowa, northeastern Nebraska, eastern South Dakota and southern Minnesota. Mr. Cockerill is president of the company, which is conducting an extensive, profitable and constantly growing business. He also owns land in Greene county, where he has about one thousand acres which is rich and productive and from which he derives a very gratifying annual income.

In 1898 Mr. Cockerill was married to Miss Neva Allen, who was born in Jefferson in 1874 and is a daughter of Dr. L. D. Allen, one of the pioneer dentists of Jefferson, who came to this county from Wisconsin at an early day. Her mother was Mrs. Mary Allen, nee Trainor, of Wisconsin, and both she and Dr. Allen are now deceased. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cockerill are well known socially and the hospitality of their pleasant home is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. He belongs to the Presbyterian church and his wife to the Baptist church, while fraternally he is connected with the Masons and politically with the republicans. Keen insight has formed one of the foundation stones of his character and his ready recognition of business opportunities has been another strong and effective element in his success.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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