In 1834, he left his family and made his home with the Cherokees, learning their culture and language. He also learned the stock business.
He first came to Texas before 1848 in pursuit of escaped slaves. He then settled in Dallas, engaged in the stock business, and hauled freight with ox teams from Houston, Jefferson, and Shreveport.
In 1848, he established a claim on 640 acres in the Peters colony, situated ten miles west of Dallas on Mountain Creek.
On 7 Aug 1852, he purchased the part of John Neely Bryan's homestead that included the Dallas townsite and the Trinity River ferry concession.
On 21 Mar 1853, he moved his family from their White House Ranch to Dallas and began operating a brick business, one of the variety of Cockrell enterprises that established the main lines of trade and development in Dallas. Assisted by his wife as bookkeeper (he was unable to read or write), Cockrell operated a sawmill, lumberyard, gristmill, and freighting business.
In 1854, he replaced the toll ferry with the first bridge across the Trinity River, which was authorized in 1854. The bridge and causeway gave the inhabitants of Hord's Ridge (now the Oak Cliff section of Dallas) better access to Dallas. To protect his toll bridge, Cockrell acquired hundreds of acres of land on the river.
In 1857, he began building the large, fine St. Nicholas Hotel.
Cockrell, Alexander
