When Sally Purkins was born in 1775 in Fauquier, Virginia, her father, John Purkins, was 39, and her mother, Elizabeth Turner, was 39.
She married William Cockrell on December 18, 1800, in her hometown. They had seven children in 22 years. There children in order of birth were: Elizabeth, Mary Jane Virginia, Jane, Mary, Sarah Ann, Thomas, James, Robert, and John.
She died in 1840 in Fauquier, Virginia, at the age of 65.