Cochran Family Cochran Family
Corp William Alfred "Wa" Cochran (1839 -1923) - born in Jasper County, Texas -
information submitted by Terry Lee CochranHenry C. Cochran (1808 - 1852) - information submitted by Terry Lee Cochran
Martha Elizabeth "Percival" Cochran of Jasper County, Texas - information submitted by Terry Lee Cochran
Buried in Ebenezer Cemetery, Jasper County, Texas. She was married to Henry C. Cochran (brother of Joseph and Nathaniel Cochran)
information submitted by Terry Lee Cochran
Children of AMOS GLASS COCHRAN JR. and MEHITABLE FULLER are: (Jasper County Only)
(21) viii. WILLIAM A. COCHRAN, b. October 05, 1802, Blandford, Hampshire (now Hampden), MA; d. April 11, 1879, Jasper Co TX.
(23) x. HENRY COCHRAN, b. April 08, 1808, Sharon, Franklin, Ohio; d. 1849, Jasper Co, Texas.
The article below shows Methitable moving to Texas… Thanks, Terry
It’s about the history of the Cochran Family and then some of them moving to Texas (lived & died in Jasper Cty Tx)
GLASS COCHRAN
Glass Cochran came to America about 1734 from County Armagh in Northern Ireland.
He was eighteen and of Scottish descent. He married Sarah Hamilton of
Marblehead, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Robert and Mary
Hamilton. Glass and Sarah settled in Blandford, Massachusetts, in the
northern part of the township, next to a large pond named in his honor, Cochran
Pond. He died in 1795 and is buried there along with his wife and several
family members in the old cemetery on Blandford Hill. He was the father of
Robert, John, Susanna, Cornelius, Abner, Molly, Amos. and Glass. Amos, we
assume, died before reaching adulthood, as we can find no further reference to
him. The youngest son, Glass married Mehitable Fuller of Connecticut.
Mehitable's family was the well established Fuller family of Massachusetts and
Connecticut, descendents of Robert Fuller, who came to America in 1636. Glass
and Mehitable "Hetty" were the parents of thirteen children, namely Nathaniel,
Harper, Lydia, John, James, Juliet, Charles, William, Joseph Sidney, Henry,
Harreson, Betsy, and Sarah. Only nine of these thirteen lived to marry and raise
families of their own. Lydia, Juliet, Charles, and Harreson, all died as infants
or young children. In 1803/ Glass joined a group of Massachusetts and
Connecticut Pioneers in forming the Scioto Land company and the family settled
in Franklin County in the newly formed State of Ohio, near what is now
Worthington. Here Glass was elected Justice of the Peace, as was his father and
brothers back in Blandford. He served, along with his sons, Nathaniel, Harper,
and John, in the War of 1812. About 1817, the family moved westward again
and settled in Palmyra Township in Knox County, lndiana. Glass died there in
1822. About this time, several of his children moved over into the newly formed
County of Greene. Here they operated a grist mill on Doane's Creek in
Taylor Townshjp. William married Mary "Pol1y" Bennington,' Betsy married Rubin
Bennington; James married Rosanna Manning; and Sarah married Obadiah Barker.
Eventually, Nathaniel, William, Joseph Sidney, Henry, Betsy, and their
respective families, along with their mother, Mehitable, traveled west by
covered wagon to settle in Texas. Harper went to Arkansas, and John settled in
Illinois. Only James and Sarah stayed behind in Greene County. There are
now five and six generations of the Cochran and Barker families that have called
Greene County home.
Submitted by. Judie Cochrane
Source: Greene County, Indiana
File No. 911 .242
Lewis Library, Vincennes, University
Information submitted by Terry Lee Cochran
From the Jasper County Archives: Cochran Family
Articles ran in the Jasper News Boy, Jasper, Texas
Wednesday, February 2, 1994
Cochran Family Came to Bleakwood in 1842
By The Jasper County Historical Commission
Barbara Smith of the Bon Ami community contributed the following information.
In 1842, William Cochran boarded a houseboat in Indiana and traveled by way of
the Mississippi and Red Rivers, across Louisiana to what later would become
Newton County. On the banks of Thickety Creek in the community now know as
Bleakwood, he and his brother-in-law Rueben Bennington, built a water mill.
Later they would sell this mill to Jesse Lee, who would build a sawmill,
gristmill and cotton gin there.
William, so of Glass and Mahatable Fuller Cochran, has been born in 1802 in
Massachusetts and around 1829 had moved to Indiana and married Mary Bennington,
a sister of Reuben who had been born in Kentucky in 1808.
For the first 13 years of their marriage William and Mary made their home in
Indiana. It was there they had the following children: Mahatable, born in 1830,
who would marry Eli White on Feb 23, 1853 in Newton County; Angelina, born 1832,
who would marry Alfred West in Newton County on Apr 3, 1851; Alfred J., born Jan
30, 1834; Washington D. C., born 1837, who never married and died in the Civil
War at Vermillionville, Louisiana, on Aug 10, 1863; and Lydia Ann, born 1840,
who married John Matthew Bivens on Jan 13, 1860 in Newton.
After their arrival in Texas, another daughter, Mary Ann was born in 1843. She
would later marry Henry Bivens on Feb 4, 1868 in Jasper County.
Alfred J. Cochran, third child of William and Mary, also served in the
Confederate States Army, but unlike his brother who was killed, would return
home to marry Missouri Ann Bruce on Oct 26, 1865. He and Missouri Ann had the
following six children: Robert B., born Sep 26, 1866; William W., born 1868;
Walter Hughey, born July 1873; Mary J., born June 3, 1878, who married Tom
Choats in 1894; Alfred Boyce, born June 1884; and Pearl, born Oct 3, 1886, who
married Jeff Havens.
Alfred died on Oct 16, 1888 and was buried at Zion Hill Cemetery in Jasper
County. Missouri Ann lived to be 83, dying on Sep 23, 1926. She was buried
beside Alfred at Zion Hill.
Information submitted by Terry Lee Cochran
Article Not Dated
Henry Cochran Family Were Early Newton County Settlers
By The Jasper County Historical Commission
Henry Cochran Family and his two brothers, Nathaniel and Joseph, came down the
Ohio River from Evansville, IN, where the Cochrans’ had settled after migrating
from Massachusetts.
They entered the Mississippi River at Cairo, IL, and traveled to Baton Rouge and
Alexandria, LA. From there they came overland to Salem, on the Sabine River.
Henry Cochran was a single man, but his two brothers were accompanied by their
families.
The three Cochran brothers each pre-empted a league of land in the area of what
is today Newton County.
At Salem, Henry met Martha Percival, a schoolteacher from South Sandwich, MA. On
Apr 9, 1837 Henry and Martha were married at the Sudduth home in Salem.
Henry was a building contractor and before his marriage had promised to build
homes in Salem and what is now known as Old Zavala. From Zavala, where Martha
and Henry were living in November 1837, she writes to her sister Abigail in
Massachusetts, "We are living with Col. Lewis’ family in a new house, just
finished, and the best I have seen in Texas. They have many slaves and I am a
great favorite with them and if I knew how I could be waited on in great style."
This being her first experience with slaves, her New England conscience
inhibited her.
Henry and Martha later moved back to Newton County onto Henry’s league of land.
Here their three daughters were born, Abigail Percival in 1838; Mahatabel in
1839; and Sarah in 1845. While living here Henry died, leaving no will, so
probate court divided the Henry Cochran league among the widow and three
daughters, giving Martha one-half and the girls the other half. The court also
appointed an old family friend, George Swift, as guardian of the girls.
Martha continued to live on the land her husband had left, farming, raising
cattle and educating her daughters until their marriages. Abigail married J.
Thomas Morris on Nov 2, 1855; Mahatabel married William James West on June 27,
1860; and Sarah to Thomas H. Bright in 1866.
In 1875, Thomas and Sarah Bright were living in West Texas when at the request
of Abigail, Sarah’s sister, they moved to the Morris homestead in Jasper County
near Bevilport. In 1880 Thomas left home to go to Orange on business. He never
reached Orange and the family believed Indians killed him. Sarah and Thomas had
only one child, a son, who was born and died in 1871.
On Feb 8, 1857 Martha Percival Cochran married Seth Swift, who died in 1869.
After his death Martha moved in her daughter, Abigail’s, home at Bevilport in
Jasper County. It was with Abigail she lived until her death in 1882. She was
buried in the Ebenezer Cemetery, while Henry is buried in Newton County.
Information submitted by Terry Lee Cochran
Article Not Dated
Martha Percival Writes Home To Sandwich About Marriage
By The Jasper County Historical Commission
The following was taken from "Benjamin Percival Dairy, 1777-1817," published by
Frank R. Barrow, 1995.
Henry Cochran and Martha Percival were married April 9, 1837 at the Suddeth home
in Salem, Newton County. The following month on May 17 Martha wrote to her
younger sister back in Sandwich, MA.
"Dear Abby, You cannot think how glad I was to see your handwriting once more,
no dear sister! I could not believe you had forgotten me if all the rest had.
For I am sure I would never forget you if I should never see your face again,
which I hope I shall in many a time yet in the land of the living.
My health is much better than it has been. I feel nearly as well as ever I did
in my life although I have not got my flesh and strength quite yet. Tell my Dear
Mother not to worry herself about me so much, I think I shall do very well now,
I will try to at least.
Mr. Swifts seeds, that he brought out did not come well, which put him back
some, but he succeeded in obtaining others, and they’re now growing finely.
I rejoice to hear that Jean Elizer is become one of our family, may you long
live together in the bonds of friendship and love. I should be truly glad to
make one in your little midst for a few days or weeks, but do not expect to at
present. I have now a tie here.
Yes, dear Abby you have a new brother if you did but know it, now do not cry!
For I love you just as well as ever I did. I think you would like him very much
if you should see him, he is only five years younger than myself, that is all,
and is not a widower. Tell Father he is a good moral character as far as I have
known him, does not yet drink, nor swear, which is a rare thing, in this
country, he sends his respects to you, says he should be glad to see any, or all
of you in Texas, and I should wish you were all here if I thought you would have
your health, but I should not be (over) willing you should any of you come, to
suffer as much as I have, and I do not think you would, if you come in the right
time of year, I think much depends on that.
We arrived in the midst of the sickly season, and were very much exposed which I
think is the cause of our sickness – I was married the ninth of April to Henry
Cochran, now I suppose Abby you will feel interested to know what sort of
wedding we had, what I was drest in and all bout it. I do not much like giving
you a description but will try, the wedding was at Mr. Suddeths’ as he had a
daughter married at the same time and it was thought best to have it together.
It was like most of the weddings in this country, they have a violin and dance
most of the night.
As for my dress it was white swiss muslin, and I looked far more like a ghost
than a bride. I guess that will do for description now. Abby what do you think
about coming to live with me, don’t pray tell Mother that I asked you, for she
will scold so. Henry says I must send for one of my sisters to come and live
with us, and I am sure I should be very glad for you to come.
I expect some to go to Zavalla this summer, but when he settles on his own land
it will be about fifteen miles from cow creek. All the family send much love to
you. Sarah says you must write her and says you must be sure and come out here."
Martha
