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Below is a family biography included in The History of Obion County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Hon. Solomon W. Cochran was born in Aurora, Portage Co., Ohio, on the 20th of March, 1808, son of John Cochran, and grandson of John Cochran, Sr., both born in Massachusetts, the former, June 6, 1778. The latter died at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1805. Our subject’s father was a farmer, and in 1804 removed to Portage County, Ohio, where he lived until his death, May 31, 1818. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. His wife’s maiden name was Clarissa Cannon; she was born November 13, 1782, and died in Michigan in August, 1863. Of eight children, our subject is the fourth, and is of Scotch-Irish and English descent. He was reared on a farm, and attended the early schools of Portage County. At the age of eighteen years he went to live with an uncle, and worked at the miller’s trade some two years. He then attended, and taught school until 1832, when he began the study of law at Cleveland, Ohio, in the office of Hon. Samuel Starkweather, who was United States collector of customs, at Cleveland. Mr. Cochran was appointed deputy collector and inspector under Mr. Starkweather, and remained in that city until 1835. In August of that year he was licensed to practice law at Cleveland, by the Ohio Supreme Court, and returned to his native county the same year. In January, 1836, he located in Franklin (now Kent), Ohio, and began the practice of his profession, continuing until 1840. He, at this time, removed to Henry County, Tenn., and for two years was engaged in pedagoguing. At the end of this time he moved to Troy, where he has since continued to live, practicing his profession until 1882. He was one of the leading lawyers of West Tennessee, for forty years, and has served as special supreme judge of Tennessee, by appointment. In February, 1874, he was appointed circuit judge of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, and served until September of the same year, and was twice appointed commissioner of arbitration, and in 1875 was associated with Howell E. Jackson and L. D. McKissick. In 1877 he was appointed to the same office, his associates being John L. T. Sneed and Joseph B. Heiskell. In November, 1880, he was elected on the Democratic ticket, to represent Obion and Lake Counties in the State Legislature, and was an active worker in the General Assembly. He was a member of the Democratic National Convention, which met in Baltimore, Md., in 1848, and a member of the convention that nominated Tilden at St. Louis in 1876. He was appointed brigadier-general by Gov. Harris, in 1861, and raised a number of companies, and mustered them into service. He was married on the 28th of December, 1834, to Miss Olive Riley, born in Ohio, on the 18th of February, 1814, and died in 1861. She bore our subject one child, named Edmond, who died in Troy, October 13th, 1843, in his seventh year. Mr. Cochran married Mrs. Ruth D. (Wilson) Clark, in 1861. She was born in Obion County, March 31, 1830, and died September 13th, 1883, and was the mother of three living children: Walter W., Laura and Samuel D. Mr. Cochran belongs to the Masonic fraternity, Western Sun Lodge, No. 88, and was Grand High Priest of Tennessee for two years. In 1840 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio, and after coming to Troy, joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he remained a member until 1879, when he again joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife is a member of the same.

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This family biography is one of 179 biographies included in The History of Obion County, Tennessee published in 1887 by Goodspeed.  The History of Obion County was included within The History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley & Lake Counties of Tennessee. For the complete description, click here: History of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley, and Lake Counties of Tennessee

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