Cozzens Corner, west of Geyserville, is more than a blip on a map

Cozzens, or Cozzens Corner, was a hamlet west of Geyserville, at the intersection of Canyon and Dry Creek Roads. It was named for Davenport Cozzens, who settled there in 1852. Only a few sparse facts are known about him; like the settlement that took his name, little has survived.

Born in 1820, Cozzens grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Graduating from West Point just as the Mexican War broke out, he went off to fight. Soon after coming home, he boarded a ship bound for California, where the Gold Rush was just beginning.

On reaching San Francisco, Cozzens did not head to the mountains to seek his fortune. Instead, he became one of the city’s early merchants. By 1852, his feet were getting itchy again and he moved to the wilds of northern Sonoma County, a day’s ride from Franklin, the village that would soon become Santa Rosa.

Setting up a homestead in Dry Creek Valley, he opened what was probably the first general store in the whole north county. “Cozzens’” became a meeting point for settlers from far and wide. He was also probably the first grape grower in the Dry Creek area. At some point he met and married Louise Feliz. The couple had at least seven children, beginning with Davenport Junior in 1853.

Cozzens led a checkered life; while he apparently was a modestly successful businessman, the newspaper reported that he “must have been born under an unlucky star, as he has generally lots of trouble.” His difficulties ranged from losing horses and a cornfield ravaged by his escaped hogs to much more serious incidents. In ?1865 he was indicted for the attempted murder of one of Louise’s friends. Decades later and nearing ?80 years old, he was again indicted for attempted murder. It appears he was not convicted in either case.

Cozzens’ son, Davenport Junior, moved to Nevada as a young man and became postmaster of a small town. Returning home, he opened the Cozzens Post Office in 1881 and took over the general store from his father. He became known for the three ?raccoons he raised from cubs. He taught them tricks and they were popular with the stagecoach passengers that stopped at Cozzens’ store.

A biography of the elder Cozzens, written after he died in 1908, called it a “fitting recognition” that the place was named for him and recalled how he had “watched with pride and interest the steady growth of the little town.” But it would not long continue. The Cozzens Post Office closed in 1910 and today the most prominent sign at Cozzens Corner reads, “STOP.”