Bios: JAMES COCHRAN, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens
  
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      JAMES COCHRAN,
  
  [p. 476] a retired farmer and a representative citizen of Shenango
  Township, residing on his farm of fifty acres, on which he and wife have
  lived since 1861, was born in New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsvlvania,
  October 30, 1832. His parents were Thomas and Rose Ann Meehan Cochran.
  
  Samuel Cochran, the grandfather, was born in Westmoreland County,
  Pennsylvania, and moved to Beaver County in early manhood. Thomas
  Cochran was born and reared in Beaver County. In his early married life
  he came to New Castle with his team and worked on the construction of
  the canal, but later returned to Beaver County and there engaged in
  farming during the rest of his active life. His death occurred when aged
  sixty-eight years. Of his eleven children, nine reached maturity:
  Patrick, James, Louisa, who is the widow of George White, resides at
  Brighton, in Beaver County; Margaret, deceased, was the wife of Timothy
  McCarthy; Marjorie; Mary, who is the widow of Frank McGuinness; John,
  who lives at Beaver, Pa.; Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of John
  M. Murray. Thomas died young and two babes died nameless. The mother of
  the above family was a consistent member of the Catholic Church.
  
  James Cochran was reared in Beaver County. He obtained his first
  knowledge of books in an old log school-house, which had puncheon floor
  and seats and where much less attention was given to sanitary conditions
  than to perfection in the elemental branches, the only ones taught. In
  1852, Mr. Cochran was married to Mary Ann Kerr, who is a daughter of
  Robert Kerr, and was born December 3, 1832, in Shenango Township,
  Lawrence County. For a number of years following his marriage Mr.
  Cochran worked at building furnaces and the character of the work made
  it necessary to live for a time in different places. In 1861, however,
  he settled on his wife's homestead and bought the farm in 1868. For many
  years thereafter he engaged in general farming and dairying, but in the
  last year has given up active labor and has his land under rental,
  contemplating selling it in the near future and retiring to a pleasant
  village not far distant. In 1875 he built the comfortable residence and
  has done much improving in years past. Mr. and Mrs. Cochran have had six
  children, namely: Sarah Elizabeth, who is the wife of Sylvester
  Nicholson, of Beaver County; Robert Patrick, who is deceased; Franklin,
  Esther and John, all are deceased, and Rosa, who is the wife of Thomas
  Book, of New Castle. Mrs. Cochran is a member of the Christian Church.
  
  Robert Kerr, the father of Mrs. Cochran, was born in County Armagh,
  Ireland, not far distant from the city of Dublin. There his parents
  died, and when he was nineteen years of age he came to America with his
  sister Esther, joining an older brother, John Kerr, who lived in the
  city of New York. From there Robert Kerr subsequently came to Pittsburg,
  where he engaged in contracting, finally settling on his farm in
  Shenango Township, Lawrence County. He married Electa Noggle, who was a
  daughter of John Noggle, who owned land on the present site of Wampum.
  Ten children were born to Robert Kerr and wife, as follows: Mary Ann,
  James, Eliza Jane, Mrs. Esther Wyse, Mrs. Elizabeth McConnell, John,
  Mrs. Margaret Yoho, William, Electa A. and Robert. James and Eliza Jane
  are deceased. Robert Kerr was a member of the Presbyterian Church and
  his wife belonged to the Disciples or Christian Church.
  
  Mr. Cochran is not much interested in politics, both of the leading
  parties having drifted, in his opinion, far from their original
  standards, but he casts his vote with the Democrats. At the opening of
  the Civil War he offered his services, but was rejected on account of
  physical disability. Nevertheless, Mr. Cochran is a well preserved man
  and both he and wife bear the weight of years easily. They have many
  friends who recall their hospitality, kindness and sympathy and these
  regret their proposed departure from the community in which they have
  spent almost the whole of their fifty-six years of married life. Mrs.
  Cochran has lived on the present farm ever since she was seven years of
  age, with the exception of eight years after her marriage, which were
  spent in Beaver and other parts of Lawrence County.
  
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  20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and
  Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing
  Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
  
  Updated: 27 Oct 2001