| Dallas County, TXGenWeb

J. M. Cochran, dealer in real estate and land, with offices at 1812 1/2 Main Street, Dallas, has the honor and distinction of being the oldest male native citizen of this city. It has been his privilege to see Dallas grow from a village of one house at the time of his birth to the greatest city in Texas. He is one of those honored and patriotic veterans of the Civil War and his has been a career of interest and continuous activity. Having devoted his entire life to the development of Dallas and its surrounding country, Mr. Cochran is peculiarly fitted for the real estate business and for the past sixteen years has been very active in that line.

A native son of Dallas County, J. M. Cochran was born at Farmers Branch, seven miles north of the city of Dallas, on the first day of June, 1846, one month before Dallas County was officially organized as a governmental agency. He is a son of W. M. Cochran, who was one of the first county clerks of this county and was the first representative to the State Legislature that the citizens of this county ever elected. Born on the plantation of his father's located north of Dallas, Mr. Cochran had all of the privileges of the Southern boy of those days. He received his primary educational training in the country schools of this county and later attended the McKenzie College, in Red River County. At the outbreak of the Civil War he volunteered, although only sixteen years of age and saw service in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana under General R. M. Gano. He was wounded twice in a battle at Roseville, Ark., on the Arkansas river, but served throughout the remainder of the war. At the close of the war he returned home and from 1869 to 1904 was engaged in stock raising upon his mother's farm, which has gained the title among old timers of this county as Cochran's Chapel. This farm consisted of three hundred acres and a part of the land which he later purchased is now incorporated into Love Field, one of the training fields for the United States Aviation Corps. In 1904 Mr. Cochran removed to Dallas where he became engaged in the real estate business which he has followed since that time.

Miss Bolin, a native of this county became the bride of Mr. Cochran and they are the parents of nine living children, six of whom are daughters and three sons. Mr. Cochran has been affiliated with the Masonic Lodge since 1868 and is also a member of the Tannehill Lodge. At the last meeting of the Confederate Veterans he was selected as General of the Third Division. In 1904 he served as a county commissioner of this county and has always been active in its development.

A veteran of the Civil War, a pioneer citizen of this county, an active supporter of all civic improvement, a former official of Dallas County and above all a venerable and most highly respected Southern gentleman, J. M. Cochran is a historic figure of this state and his achievements shall forever live as a token of its glory.

The Encyclopedia of Texas, compiled and edited by Ellis A. Davis and Edwin H. Grobe, published by Texas Development Bureau, Dallas, Texas, ca. 1923, vol. 1, p. 284