Quaker Cousins - Eli Hockett

In the last 3 days I found and wrote about two 1st cousins of my great-grandmother, Mary Magdalene (Hockett) Albertson who were both named Phebe, born the same year. Today I am writing about another one of their 1st cousins, Eli Hockett, whose first name is the same as the cousin I wrote about day before yesterday. However, Eli Hockett was not born the same year as Eli Beard, but about 8 years later, after the family had moved to Iowa, so they were even born in different states. Since my great-grandmother was not born until 1855 she was a number of years younger than these cousins.

Eli Hockett was born 22 Jul 1843 in Henry County Iowa to John and Elizabeth (Pidgeon) Hockett. Eli was not yet 5 years old when his mother died in Feb 1848. John remarried 5 days after Eli's 5th birthday to Rebecca Gray, so Eli grew up with a step-mother and a number of half-siblings. John and his family moved from Henry County northward to Hardin County Iowa around 1855, so they were enumerated on the 1856 Iowa State Census. Eli was listed as age 12. By the 1860 census he was shown as age 16. The census taker only listed the initial for the first name, so he was E Hockett.

Although Eli was born into a Quaker household, he was one of those who chose to fight as a Union soldier in the Civil War. He enlisted 14 Aug 1863 and served as a private in Company G, Iowa 9th Cavalry Regiment until he was mustered out 3 Feb 1866 at Little Rock, Arkansas.

By 1875 Eli had moved to California where he registered to vote 29 Jul in Tulare County, giving his residence as Porterville. An online family tree states that he married Samantha Jane Farnham 23 Dec 1875 in Tulare County. Other records including the 1900 census showed her name as Cynthia Jane and her tombstone showed her as C.J. Hockett.

The online tree shows that she and Eli had 13 children, born between 1878 and 1894 and in a large number of locations: Oregon, Santa Cruz County California, Placer County California, Jewell County Kansas, Lamar County Texas and the last 5 in San Diego County California.

Eli was registered to vote in San Diego County in the "Great Registers" in 1890, 1892 and 1894. These voting registers are great resources for doing California research. Some of them include a physical description so I can read that in 1892-4 Eli was 5 ft 8 inches tall, had light complexion, light blue eyes and light hair. His occupation in 1890 was farm laborer, in 1892 it was farmer and by 1894 he was listed as a blacksmith.

On the 1900 census in San Diego County, Eli's occupation was shown as stone mason. Also in the household were his wife Cynthia J, and 5 of their children. It was 15 Dec 1900 when Cynthia died and was buried at Artesia Cemetery in Cerritos, Los Angeles County, California.

Another online family tree states that Eli married Mary Jane Yarrington 16 Aug 1905 in Los Angeles California. The 1910 census showed Eli by himself in Pasadena California, but was marked as married and was a laborer doing odd jobs. Sometime before 1920 Eli married a 3rd time to an Eliza, as she was listed on the 1920 census with him in Los Angeles. However the disabled veterans home in Sawtelle show him there from 1918 to 1923, then readmitted in Dec 1924. Eli died 18 Apr 1925 in Sawtelle and was buried at the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Los Angeles California.