COCKRUM, WILLIAM MONROE: 1837-1924.
William Cockrum was born on Dec. 8, 1837, on the family farm, now the site of Oakland City, Ind.
He was almost entirely self-educated. While still a very young man he and his brother, James M. Cockrum, operated a general store and produce business which dealt mainly in pork and tobacco, shipped to the New Orleans market. After the Civil War Cockrum became a farmer and fruit grower.
He married Lucretia Harper on Oct. 5, 1856; they became the parents of nine children.
page: 62[View Page 62]Cockrum became active in Underground Railroad activities in southwestern Indiana when the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 gave an impetus to slave-hunting in free territory. When the Civil War was declared he enlisted in Company F, 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and rose, during the course of the war, from lieutenant to lieutenant-colonel. He was wounded at Chickamauga, was captured and taken to Libby Prison, where he was held for eight months. This experience impaired his health permanently.
Cockrum's life on a pioneer farm, and his later adventures in the Underground Railroad service, gave him resources of information which he put to good use in the writing which occupied his later years.
Information from the Princeton Public Library.
- Pioneer History of Indiana, Including Stories, Incidents and
Customs of the Early Settlers. Oakland City,
Ind., 1907.
- History of the Underground Railroad, as It Was Conducted by
the Anti-Slavery League. Oakland City, Ind.,
1915.
