Person:Sarah Horton (54)

Dallas County, Texas, 1860 census:^[3]

Cockrell, Sarah H. 34 yrs Hotel Keeper (real estate = $78,500; personal estate = $13,525) b. Virginia

      Aurelia 10 yrs b. Texas

      Robert 8 yrs b. Texas

      Frank 6 yrs b. Texas

      Alex 4 yrs b. Texas

[+ 49 guests; this was the newly completed St. Nicholas Hotel, where she was apparently living, and which could burn down (with most of Dallas) later that year]

[Not located in 1870 census.]

Dallas County, Texas, 1880 census:^[4]

Cockrell, S. H. 61 yrs (wid.) Todd Flour Mills b. Virginia (parents, b. Virginia)

      R. B. 26 yrs Son Todd Flour Mills b. Texas (parents, b. Virginia)

      F. M. 25 yrs Son Atty. at Law b. Texas (parents, b. Virginia)

      A. C. 24 yrs Son Cattle Speculator b. Texas (parents, b. Virginia)

      Gellie 21 yrs Dau[/law] b. Texas (parents, b. Virginia)

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Handbook of Texas Online.

   After the family moved into the town of Dallas in 1852, Alexander Cockrell started a construction business, established a sawmill and gristmill, and erected a building for rental to business firms. His wife, in addition to her homemaking duties, kept the records, managed the money, and handled the correspondence for the businesses. After Alexander's death in 1858, Sarah took over the family enterprises.
   
   In 1859, Sarah opened St. Nicholas Hotel under her own management. When it burned in the fire that destroyed most of Dallas in 1860, she built the Dallas Hotel, which later became the St. Charles.
   
   In 1860, she received a charter from the Texas legislature to build an iron suspension bridge across the Trinity River. Construction was delayed by the dislocations of the Civil War, so that not until 1870 did she find investors for the Dallas Bridge Company, in which she retained the majority of the shares. In accord with social convention she never served on the company's board but left formal control to her son, Frank, and her son-in-law, Mitchell Gray. The bridge finally opened in 1872, linking Dallas with all major roads south and west. It cost $65,000, the ironwork being fabricated in St. Louis. Building this bridge has been called Sarah Cockrell's most significant contribution to the economic life of Dallas.
   
   By 1868, she was a member of the Dallas County Agricultural and Mechanical Association, which then had only four other women among its 100-odd members.
   
   In 1872, she purchased a one-third interest in the city's second commercial flour mill, Todd Mills, and in 1875 bought the remaining mill stock. In partnership with her son and son-in-law, she formed S. H. Cockrell & Co., at a time when flour milling was Dallas's major industry.
   
   She began investing in Dallas real estate about 1882 and handled numerous deals each year; she not only purchased but sold, leased, and rented lands to railroads, business firms, churches, individuals, and the city of Dallas. In 1889 she handled fifty-three separate land deals and in both 1890 and 1891 more than twenty. In 1884 she opened the Sarah Cockrell Addition, a residential subdivision, and in 1885 she and her son Frank commissioned construction of the five-story Cockrell Office Building. In 1892 she owned approximately one-fourth of downtown Dallas, plus several thousand acres in Dallas County, as well as smaller properties in Houston, Mineral Wells, and Cleburne. She has been called "Dallas's first capitalist."
   
   Cockrell, Sarah (Horton)

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Find A Grave.

   Sarah Cockrell

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Dallas, Texas, United States. 1860 U.S. Census Population Schedule
   p. 311, dwelling/family 1296/1307 ("Hotel").
4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Dallas, Texas, United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule
   ED 54, p. 9B, dwelling/family ---/219 (106 Commerce St).
5.   Dallas (Texas) City Directory
   p. 107, 1886.

   Cockrell, Sarah H. (wid Alexander) (S. H. Cockrell & Co.) r 106 Commerce cor Broadway

6.   Polk's Dallas (Texas) City Directory
   p. 174, 1891.

   Cockrell, Sarah H. (wid Alexander) h. Alexander Cockrell

7.   Dallas (Texas) Daily Times-Herald
   p. 5, 27 Apr 1892.

   Death of Mrs. S. H. Cockrell in This City Yesterday.
   
   At 4:10 yesterday afternoon, there died at the residence of her son, Alex Cockrell, on South Lamar street, Mrs. S. H. Cockrell, an old landmark of the early settlement of this county, she having settled near Eagle Ford in 1844. She was the third daughter of Enoch Horton, a Virginian, and the widow of Alex Cockrell, a Missourian, who settled in Dallas one year after the time that the afterward Mrs. Cockrell came to this county. She was an honored member of the Dallas County Pioneers' Association and was well known for her good old-time hospitality. Frank M. Cockrell and Alex Cockrell, both well known and prominent business men of this city, are her only surviving children, one brother and one sister having died. Mrs. Cockrell leaves a magnificent estate, embracing large farms and some of the best business property in the city.
   The funeral will take place to-morrow afternoon at 2:45 from the Commerce Street Methodist Church. Rev. C. O. Jones will preach the funeral sermon.

8.   Dallas (Texas) Daily Times-Herald
   p. 1, 28 Apr 1892.

   Funeral of Mrs. Cockrell.
   
   The funeral of Mrs. S. H. Cockrell was attended by a large concourse of people, the First Methodist Church being filled to overflowing to pay the last sad rites to one who was well known and loved by all, old and young. The city council and city officers attended in a body. The floral offerings were beautiful and in profusion and the funeral procession was one of the largest ever seen in Dallas.

9.   Dallas (Texas) Daily Times-Herald
   p. 5, 28 Apr 1892.

   CITY FATHERS IN SESSION.
   
   The following resolutions of respect to the memory of Mrs. Sarah H. Cockrell were offered by Mr. Conroy and adopted by a unanimous vote:
   
   Whereas, Mrs. Sarah H. Cockrell departed this life at the residence of her son, Alex. Cockrell, in this city, on Tuesday afternoon, the 26th instant, and,
   
   Whereas, she was one of the pioneers of Dallas, and has fallen asleep and now sleeps the sleep of the blessed, after an eventful life, which, by reason of strength, has extended to four score years; and,
   
   Whereas, she has been respected by more than a generation of people, among whom she has lived for nearly half a century; and,
   
   Whereas, in all the essential attributes of nobility of soul, unostentatious charity and hearty hospitality she was to the older settlers and their descendants "a very mother in Israel;" and,
   
   Whereas, to the end that we may pay proper respect to her memory and also that coming generations may be profited by the virtues and example of her life, therefore be it
   
   Resolved, by the city council of the city of Dallas:
   
   1. That the calling home of the venerable lady, one idolized by her children, loved by her friends and neighbors and honored and respected by the entire community, breaks a link in the chain which connects us with the past, that saddens our hearts and shadows our homes.
   
   2. That to her as one of the founders of our city, we can ever refer with pride, for she was one whose life was blameless, whose name was above reproach, whose reputation was spotless, and whose character emphasized the Christian graces of unwavering faith and unfaltering trust.
   
   3. That as a further tribute to her memory, this council attend the funeral of Mrs. Cockrell at the First Methodist Church in this city to-morrow afternoon at 2:30 o'clock in a body, and that the mayor be requested to order the heads of the different departments of the city government to close their offices during that hour.
   
   4. That to the family of the deceased, F. M. Cockrell, a former member of this council, and to his brother, Alex Cockrell, we tender our profoundest sympathy in this, the time of their greatest bereavement.
   
   The council then adjourned until May 7.