When Samuel Ellis Cockrell was born on 15 November 1896, in Arkansas, United States, his father, George Franklin Cockrell, was 37 and his mother, Mattae Teresa Childers, was 20. He married Mattie May Aaron on 28 November 1929. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 1 daughter. He lived in Canadian, Pittsburg, Oklahoma, United States for about 10 years and Judicial Township 17, Kern, California, United States in 1940. He died on 11 February 1953, in Taft, Kern, California, United States, at the age of 56, and was buried in Westside District Cemetery, Taft, Kern, California, United States.