My Genealogy Hound

GEN. JOHN COCHRAN (deceased), one of the most distinguished of the early citizens of Brown County, was born in Franklin County, Penn., September 19, 1781. His father, William Cochran, an early pioneer of Brown County, was a native of Ireland, and born in County Antrim in 1722. He was married in his native country to Elizabeth Boothe, and about the middle of the last century emigrated to America. He served in the Revolutionary war and resided for some time in Pennsylvania, afterward in Kentucky, and about 1795 or 1796 came to the Northwest Territory and settled on the East Fork of Eagle Creek, near the present eastern boundary of Brown County. He died in March, 1814, aged ninety-two years. His wife, Elizabeth, died October 21, 1823. John was about nine years old when his father came to Kentucky. He lived for a few years in the vicinity of the old settlement at Washington. When a small boy he was at Fort Washington, on the site of Cincinnati, and saw corn growing on what is now Fourth street of the Queen City. He was with his father on his settlement north of the Ohio, as above stated, and when about eighteen years old became overseer of the Kanawha salt works, where he continued about seven years. Salt was one of the necessaries of life which it was most difficult for the pioneers of Kentucky and the Northwest Territory to obtain. John Cochran is said to have shipped the first boat load of salt down the Ohio to Louisville, Ky. He came to what is now Brown County about 1805 or 1806. He married Tamer Howard, daughter of Cyrus and Milly Howard, who was born in Montgomery County, Va. Her father for some years kept the ferry between Aberdeen and Limestone. John Cochran purchased a farm from Nathaniel Beasley, about six miles northeast of Aberdeen, on the East Fork of Eagle Creek, in what is now Huntington Township, on which he resided for the greater portion of the remaining years of his life. He served in the war of 1812 as Deputy Sergeant in the Commissary Department. He took much interest in the old militia musters and passed through all the grades from Captain to Brigadier General. He was known as Gen. Cochran. In the year 1824, he was first elected a Representative to the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1828, 1827 and 1828. In 1829, he was elected Senator from Brown and Adams counties, and was re-elected in 1830, thus serving six full terms in the General Assembly. Gen. Cochran had but little education from books in his early years, never attending school but three months in his life. He was, however, self educated. He was a man of strong mind and remarkable powers of memory. In his recollection of dates he was seldom found to be in error. He carefully cultivated his memory in his early business transactions by imprinting facts on his mind, and he became marked for the tenacity with which he could retain anything he heard or read. Gen. Cochran was the father of thirteen children, five sons and eight daughters — Joseph, John, Milly, William, Mary, Elizabeth, James, Tamer, Ellen, Thomas J., Sarah J., Malinda and Lydia. Of them, ten are now living. Mrs. Cochran died in 1855. She was an esteemed member of the Christian Church. Gen. Cochran was a Mason, and assisted in organizing the first Masonic Lodge in Brown County. In his business pursuits he met with good success, and died in possession of considerable property. In his old age he resided for a time in Illinois, but he returned to Brown County and lived with his children. His death occurred at the residence of his son-in-law, William Shelton, in Adams County. He lived eighty-three years and died on his birthday, September 19, 1864. His remains, with those of his wife, repose in the cemetery at Ebenezer Church. Gen. Cochran left behind him a high reputation for ability, sound judgment and patriotism, and his name finds a place among the honored men of Brown County.