Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....Cochran, William (Jr.) 1776 - 1849
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 19, 2006, 2:49 am

Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   William Cochran Jr. (deceased), a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1776, and
is the son of William Cochran Sr., one of three brothers who came to America
from England in early times. The family originally came from Scotland. When a
young man he acquired a good education, for the time, and followed teaching
school for several years. While making his way westward he taught school in
South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Indiana, and in Terre Haute one year.
About the year 1820 he decided to locate in Fountain county and make a farm in
the wilderness. He was married to Deborah Custer, of Virginia, in 1813. She was
the daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Custer, both of whom were natives of
Virginia, by whom he had seven children. She died in 1852, aged seventy-three.
William Cochran served as a soldier in the war of 1812 one year. He came and
settled in 1822 in what is now Fountain county and Van Buren township. His
family was one of the first of three families who settled in Van Buren township.
He and Jonathan Birch were the men who took the steps by which Fountain county
was formed. He was appointed postmaster but refused to accept office. Mr.
Cochran took so active a part in Christianity that he had not yet prepared a
cabin for the reception of his family before his place was sought out and a
Methodist Episcopal church society begun which met for several years at his
house. When he was called from earth, which occurred in 1849, Fountain county
lost one of her respected citizens, whom even now all love to speak of in terms
of praise. His wife is no less honored for her piety than he. William L. D.
Cochran, their eldest son, lives on the old home place settled by his father in
1822. He was married in 1854, to Sarah J. Walker, daughter of James and Jane
Walker, who settled in the same neighborhood as William Cochran in 1826. They
have two children: Edmund and Mary. W. L. D. has a farm of 600 acres of fine
land situated just south of Stirling. He and his family are no less respected
for their honesty and integrity than was his father. He and his wife are members
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and have been from their childhood. One of
his grandmothers was of German descent, the other an English lady. His paternal
grandfather was a Scotchman.

Additional Comments:
Van Buren Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/fountain/bios/cochran840nbs.txt

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