My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH COCHRAN, farmer and banker, Georgetown, Ohio, was born January 14, 1810, in what is now Huntington Township, Brown County, and is the eldest of thirteen children of Gen. John Cochran. He was reared on his native farm, where he remained until he reached his majority and learned the business of farming, which he has since followed with much success. The facilities for acquiring an education in his boyhood days were very meager, and the schooling he obtained was quite limited, but by close application to the various branches of business in which he has been engaged, he has become possessed of a fair commercial knowledge. He commenced life with little or no means, but by his energy and determination he has succeeded in becoming one of the wealthiest citizens of the county, as well as one of its most successful farmers. He resides on his farm in Lewis Township, where he is surrounded with the comforts and conveniences of rural life. He was an active spirit in the organization of the First National Bank of Georgetown, in the spring of 1882, became a large stockholder, member of the Board of Directors and was chosen the first President. He is a member of the Eden Methodist Episcopal Church and one of its trustees. The characteristics of the Cochran family have been longevity and strong constitutions, most of them having sandy or brown hair and light eyes. The subject of this sketch is one of the ten surviving children of his father. He was married, to Margaret Gilbert, a native of Brown County, and a daughter of William Gilbert, a farmer and trader in Huntington Township and a native of Virginia. By this marriage seven children were born, two daughters and five sons, of whom only two survive — Robert and Samuel. Mrs. Cochran died in 1855. Mr. Cochran for his second wife married Mrs. Mary McFarland.