U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Cockburn, Robert Jr. (1775-1824) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia by F. Vernon Aler, 1888 Printed for the Author by The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD. CHAPTER VIII. Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner. Pages 99-101, ROBERT COCKBURN, JR., The son of Robert Cockburn, of Cockburn Hill, east of Martinsburg, was born in 1775. When I first knew the father he was, at least 80 years of age. His long, flowing white hair, covering his shoulders and reaching far down his back, and his snowy beard sweeping to his waist, gave a striking and picturesque appearance to the old man. It was said, that he had been college-bred; that he had been educated in the best schools in Scotland and that he had amassed a rich fund of classical lore and historical knowledge. "Cockburn Hill," as it was then called, with its extensive orchard of cherries was well known to every boy in Martinsburg; and often has many an idle and truant urchin roused the excitable temper of the old hermit by pillaging his fruit before it was quite ripe. When matured and proper to be eaten, no one could be more generous and liberal than he was in the license granted to gather it. He had two sons, Adam and Robert. Adam was a dull and stupid boy; Robert the genius of the family, and upon him did the hopes of the old man repose. He was smart, loquacious, disputatious, and brimful of egotism, pertness and conceit. He had an extravagant idea of his scholarship and of his poetical talents. He selected the vocation of a schoolmaster. The birch and the ferule were no idle implements in his hands. He was self indulgent to his own vices, but inexorably severe on the peccadilloes of his pupils. He had all the learning at that period of our educational history, deemed necessary to an instructor of youth. 'Twas certain he could write and cypher, too, Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage And e'en, the story ran, that he could guage. In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill, For e'en tho' vanquished he could argue still. But it was not in his character of a schoolmaster that he became entitled to be noticed in these humble sketches. His gay, frolicsome and social temper — his familiarity with all games and pastimes at rural entertainments, his capacity for extemporaneous rhyming — made him the hero of all apple-butter boilings, quilting parties, cotillion assemblies and corn-husking festivities, for miles around. No party was deemed complete unless graced by the presence of "Bob Cockburn." He sang, played on the fiddle, told funny stories and extemporized verses for the relief of those who were amerced in poetical forfeits. But such a round of dissipation in those days of apple-jack and whisky — when no temperance lecturer had ever been heard of in the land — in the course of a few years began to tell on the habits of the frolicsome pedagogue — his nose began to blush — his eyes became weary and inflamed — and he soon fell under the dominion of that tyrant who has never been known to show mercy or compassion to his helpless victims. Bob was a patriot as well as a poet; at least I am justified in thinking so from a poem of his which I have seen in an old number of the Martinsburg Gazette and what is the only specimen of his poetical genius which has survived "the wreck of the matter and the crash of worlds." I can only take a short extract from it. It was written in June, 1818, one of the gloomiest periods of our last war with Great Britian. Norfolk, Portsmouth and all the towns and cities on the Chesapeake Bay and James River were threatened by a powerful navy and military force of the enemy. Two of the finest companies from "old Berkeley" were then at the scene of battle, encountering the pestilential air of the swamps of Norfolk, and the fire of the enemy, in protecting the sacred soil of Virginia from invasion, pillage and murder. The poem commences by representing a Berkeley youth deeply enamored of a charming girl dwelling on the crystal waters of the Tuscarora. He vows his love in most passionate terms; declares that for years her enchanting image has wholly absorbed his heart, and asks in a delirium of despair, what he shall do to assure him of the reward of his long and devoted affection for her. The Tuscarora maiden, in the-spirit of Boadicea, thus replies to him: If you sincerely wish my favor Then you possess a patriot mind; Your country droops, advance to save her, Nor sighing, linger here behind. Hear the inspiring shouts of praise — On to glory! — loud they call you! See youthful heroes crowned with bays Their envied lot may yet befall you. Robert Cockburn died on Cockbarn Hill in 1824, in the 49th year of his age. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Berkeley County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/berkeley/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------