History of Adams County Ohio United States of America

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John A. Cockerill, journalist, was born in Adams county, Ohio, Dec. 5, 1845. He was employed in his boyhood in a newspaper office in West Union, Ohio, as compositor and assistant editor. In July, 1861, he enlisted as musician in the 24th Ohio volunteers, serving in western Virginia and with the army of the Ohio until mustered out in 1863. In 1865 he purchased and personally conducted the True Telegraph, Hamilton, Ohio. In 1868 he was editor of the Dayton Daily Ledger and was later on the editorial staff of the Cincinnati Enquirer, becoming in 1872 managing editor. In 1877 he went to Europe as war correspondent and was with the Turkish army in the Russo-Turkish war. In 1878 he returned to the United States and assisted in the establishment of the Washington Post, removing to St., Louis in 1879 to assume editorial management of the Evening Post-Despatch. In 1883 he removed to New York to become associate editor of the World. With his advent the circulation of that journal began to increase and during his connection with the paper it reached a degree of prosperity never before witnessed in American journalism. He was successively associate, managing and chief editor, resigning in May, 1891, to become editor of the New York Advertiser. In 1894 he relinquished the editorial chair and visited Japan as special correspondent of the New York Herald, during the Chine-Japanese war 1894-95. The emperor of Japan decorated him with the third order of the sacred treasure, a distinction seldom conferred upon foreigners. He died suddenly while on his way home, at Cairo, Egypt, April 11, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Adams County Ohio

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