Jeremiah V. Cockrell

Jeremiah Vardaman Cockrell, also known as Vard Cockrell, (May 7, 1832 – March 18, 1915) was a U.S. Representative from Texas, after having served as a field commander in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the political South–Cockrell–Hargis family. Early life Cockrell was born near Warrensburg, Missouri, to Joseph Cockrell (the sheriff of Johnson County) and Nancy (Ellis) Cockrell, who had migrated there from the Upper South. He attended the common schools and Chapel Hill College in Lafayette County, Missouri. He was the older brother of Francis Marion Cockrell, who also served as a Confederate officer and later as a US Senator from Missouri. As a young man, Cockrell went to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He worked as a miner and a merchant near the Bear River. Cockrell returned to Missouri in 1853, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, studied law and, for a time, was a minister in the Methodist Church. Marriage and family On April 7, 1852, he married Maranda "Jane" Douglas. They had five children together.