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Cockrell Story

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structure with an eye to utility rather than beauty.

Their family pride is a quiet pride. Educators, lawyers, politicians , and business men in many lines dot the family ancestry and present connections. Leon — and Lida, his wife, with similar backgrounds — speak of these relatives occasionally but without either boasting or envying. Where these others battle the fierce currents of life, this pair is content with the quiet backwater of a cattle, cotton, and hay farm.

The father and five uncles of Len Cockrell battled for the Lost Cause. [comment in margins: too much battle] One uncle was killed in battle, one died of wounds, one received severe wounds from which he recovered, and another another [who was] an officer with Morgan, the raider, was captured during a raid into Ohio and spent many months in a Federal prison camp. But Len Cockrell did not tell of these things. He never tries to fight over the War Between the States as do many of his generation and section.

Despite its placid surface, his life has touched deep currents of tragedy. A son and a daughter who reached manhood and womanhood died soon after. Russell died suddenly when he was about 24; Minnie was nearly 30 when she died.

The only surviving son is 39 years old, and shows no interest in marriage. He is a smart farmer, industrious, a good manager and a thoughtful son. He lives at home but has his own interests, while the father ran the family farm until his health failed.

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