Grizel Cocke

Parish Sims, first husband of Grizel Kissiah, made his will November 26, 1807, and died within a few months. His will, recorded in 1812, in Lincoln County (later destroyed by fire), named his wife Grizel as inheriter of all his estate for the sole purpose of supporting and raising his children during her lifetime, "and in the case of her marriage or death, leave my estate to be equally divided among my children".

In September of 1810, a petition was sent to President Madison, and one of its signers was Grizell Sims, widow of Parish. Parish's mother Elizabeth also signed the petition. This petition asked the President not to allow the removal of the settlers even though their purchase of the land from the Cherokees was in dispute by the Chickasaws. This "trouble with the Indians" is significant in that it may be how widow Grizel Sims, referred to in some records as Kissiah Sims, came to meet and know William Cocke, who was later appointed as the Agent for the Chickasaw Indians. It is thought that her maiden name was Kissiah, a family name in North Carolina and Virginia.

http://home.earthlink.net/~carolet1/WilliamCocke/William_Cocke_Repo...

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12915202 Grizel's name is just that. Kissiah is from the name of the wife of another man, Parrish with 2 r's. The Cocke tombstone does have Kissiah but that it because the designer was a hack hired by the State of Mississippi (before 1900) who did not know anything first hand, did not even know when Grizel died (he left spaces!). A lot of people get very confused but the Parish Sims who made his will in 1807 was married to Grizel (who knows what her maiden name was) and not to Kissiah. Parish and Grizel would have known Cocke by 1790, when Parish was a voter and Cocke was a candidate. They all knew each other in Hawkins County, early. Maybe Cocke encountered her again as Agent--that would make sense. He was very very good to her grown children in Columbus. They are my GGGG Grandparents, Parish and Grizel. Hershel Parker