My Genealogy Hound

Seth C. Cocks has attained a prominence and merited reputation as one of the leading farmers of this county. Born at the Gayosa Hotel of Memphis, in 1860, while his parents were on their way from Mississippi to Crittenden County, Ark., he was a son of Philip A. Cocks, of Kentucky nativity, who moved from there to Mississippi, where he was married (in Washington County) to Miss Anna C. Egg, a native of that State. Mr. Cocks moved to Arkansas in 1860 and located on the farm he had purchased the previous year. He was an energetic and prosperous farmer and died February 5, 1869, on the place he settled, and on which his family still lives. Mrs. Cocks, his widow, survived him till 1878. They were the parents of three children, of whom Minnie was burned to death at the age of three years, in Crittenden County, Ark.; Seth C., our subject, and Blanche D., an artist of talent, is the widow of Charles L. Lyles, son of Col. Lyles, now of Memphis. [See sketch.] Mr. and Mrs. Lyles gave birth to one son, Philip Lyles. Seth C. Cocks attained his majority in this State, having continued to live on the place settled by his parents in 1860. He is a man of great energy and business ability and one of the successes of his career is seen in the position he now occupies, as the owner of a large farm. His parents having died while he was very young, he has, by his own vim and push, kept up the old place. He attended school in Memphis for two years, and then after spending four years at the Frankfort Military Academy of Kentucky, returned to the home farm and was married to a very estimable lady, Miss Mary Belle Lyles, daughter of Col. Lyles, one of the old and prominent settlers, and for many years clerk of this county, now numbered among the leading lawyers of Memphis. Mrs. Cocks is a very highly educated lady and an excellent conversationalist, and is in every way a woman to be admired. She and her husband are the parents of three children: Amy, Blanche and an infant girl. Mrs. Cocks is a prominent member of the Episcopal Church. Politically, Mr. Cocks is a Democrat. He owns a large farm under cultivation bearing all the latest improvements.