When I was in Salt Lake, UT at the Mormon Library, I found a little book and through it, Kathrine (the author) and I have pieced together our COCHRAN family history.

I have the old family bible which my mother had after Grandma COCHRAN died. This was helpful to Kathrine and the information she had from her mother was helpful to me.

Some excerpts from Kathrine's book are as follows: The Cochrans, my maternal grandfather's forbears, descendants of JOHN, Earl of Dundonald, of Paisley, Scotland, who went over to Ulster in the north of Ireland before 1570 with his three sons-HUGH, JOHN, and JAMES, believing they would be free to follow their faith in the Presbyterian church. But this was not to be. They were not allowed to worship openly and their marriages were not honored unless done in the State Church. They were taxed heavily and had no rights in government. So they fled Ireland to save their wealth, if not their lives, and came to America, very likely before 1720. Before 1724 COCHRANS first settled on the Susquehanna river, then the frontier. Scotch Irish fighters served as a shield to Penn's pacifist Quakers.

JOHN COCHRAN born ca 1720 married Margaret Sample. They had 3 children; JOHN, HUGH, and MOLLIE.

In Egles Historical and Genealogical Series he shows, in Capt. James Murray's Co. 4th Batt. of Lancaster Co., PA, commanded by James Burd, Esq. on March 13th 1776, shown under privates, was JOHN COCHRAN Sr., and JOHN COCHRAN Jr.

About HUGH, the second son of the immigrant JOHN, and our 3rd great grandfather. In 1772 at age 20 he was in Londenderry twp. Lancaster Co., PA. He had 65 acres, 2 horses, 1 cow, tax 3.0 In 1773 he had no land in Pa.

We have no record of him until 1776 when the family record, written by his daughter, Margaret, and finished by his son, Allen, about 1880 say: HUGH and Hannah Herron were married about 1776. their Ist child, JAMES, was born 19 April 1778. (bible)

HUGH signed the oath of allegiance in Lebanon, PA, Sep. 27, 1777. In 1779 he, Hannah and baby started to Kentucky. They stopped on the Monongehela river where, owing to the severity of the winter they were forced to remain until spring. This was known for many years as the "hard winter". During this time a second child, Elizabeth R. was born in 1779.

At this time Richard Henderson and North Carolina speculators signed a treaty with the Indians to buy all the territory south of the Ohio river, between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers. it was named Transylvania. HUGH and HANNAH no doubt thought it was a great opportunity to buy good land for $2.25 per acre. So in the spring they continued their journey and settled on 400 acres on Floyd's creek on April 16, 1781.

Here they lived until 1796 when the following children were born: JOHN in 1781, MARGARET in 1783, DAVID in 1786, HUGH in 1788, ANDREW in 1793, ALLEN in 1798, the last child born to HUGH and HANNAH in Ross Co., Ohio.

March 11, 1782, payroll papers signed by John Logan, by order of Col. Benj. Logan, lists HUGH CORGHAN as having served 31 days in Ensign David Cooks Co. of Militia on the Frontiers of Lincoln Co., KY. We believe this to be our HUGH COCHRAN. The book "Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution- Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, 1775-1783" by John H. Gwathmy, page 161 shows COCHRAN, HUGH as a Pvt. in the Virginia Volunteers. (Kentucky still belonged to Virginia at the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783.

The following was written by Margaret, 2nd daughter of HUGH and HANNAH, of their experiences in Kentucky and Ohio.
"Such glowing descriptions of the beauty of the scenery and the fertility of the soil in Sciota County, Ohio, having been circulated by Massie and others who had explored it in 1792, my father HUGH COCHRAN together with portions of the Presbyterian congregations at Cane Ridge and Concord, in Bourbon Co., KY., under the Rev. Robert Finley, determined to emigrate there in a body. They were, in a measure, induced to take this step by their dislike for slavery and the uncertainty that existed in regard to the validity of land titles in the state.

In the spring of 1795, a large concourse of people who wished to engage in the enterprise, assembled for the purpose to fix a date to meet at the three islands in Manchester to proceed on an exploring expedition. My father, together with about 60 men, met according to appointment. They proceeded on their way without interruption until they reached the falls of Paint Creek in Ross county, Ohio. When they had gone a short distance down the stream they found themselves in the vicinity of some Indians who had encamped at Reeves Crossing (now Seymours), east of Bainbridge.

The Indians were the ones who had refused to attend Wayne's treaty and it was decided to give them battle, it being too late to retreat with safety. The Indians, being attacked, soon fled with the loss of two dead and several wounded. The Whites gathered up all the plunder and retreated as far as Sciota Vrush Creek, where they were, as expected, attacked the next morning. One white man, Allen Gilfillan, was wounded. The next day they reached Manchester and returned to their homes.

My father sold his place for $30.00 an acre. After Wayne's Treaty, my father, Col. Massie, and several of these explorers again met at the home of the Rev. Mr Finley, Organized a company and agreed to form a settlement the ensuing spring, 1796,to raise a crop of corn at the mouth of Paint Creek in Ross Co., Ohio. According to agreement they met at Manchester in the latter part of March, to the number of 40 or 50 families from Mason and Bourbon. They packed their goods and effects on pack horses as there were no roads larger than the Indian path from Manchester through to their destination at the Prairie Station in the Sciota Valley at the mouth of Paint Creek. They arrived April 2, 1796."

HUGH COCHRAN bought a great amount of land near Bourneville and Chillicothe which he and his boys farmed, and were active in community affairs. July 29, 1810 HANNAH died, and August 27, 1816 HUGH married again. REBECCA COONEY was his 2nd wife. HUGH sold the land that he owned in Ross County and bought land in Champaign county where he and REBECCA made a new home. They had 3 children: George Washington, born 1817; William Henry Harrison, born 1819; and Andrew Jackson. We do not have the date of Andrew Jackson's birth. This family lived in Champaign County Ohio until HUGH'S death, August 2, 1829.

HUGH and HANNAH'S oldest son JAMES was my 2nd great grandfather. He was the oldest child of 8 that HUGH and HANNAH had. As previously mentioned, he was born in Pennsylvania 19 April 1778, lived in Kentucky until he was 18, and went to Ohio with his parents and brothers and sisters in 1896. Near Chillicothe, Ross Co. Ohio he farmed on land he and his father had bought. August 30,1804 he married Rachel Kerr. Their children were: HUGH,born 27 July, 1805; William K. born 28 Aug. 1807; HANNAH born 8 AUG. 1810; MARTHA C. born 25, Nov. 1812; MARGARET C. born 18 May 1815; JANE C. born 25 Aug. 1817; Elizabeth C. born 20 Jan. 1820; JAMES H. born 25 Aug. 1822, died 29 Aug. 1823; DAVID A. born 13 Apr. 1825, died 15 July 1828. JAMES served as a private in the War of 1812. At that time he had 4 or 5 children.

As his father and grandfather before him, JAMES had the desire to conquer new frontiers. So in 1827 he took his family and went with several of his brothers to Tippecanoe Co., near Lafayette, Indiana. There, between 1827 and 1829, land tract records show he bought 760 acres of land and built, what he describes in his will as, "a mansion." A large Indiana map in our Boulder Library has the name COCHRAN printed on the area where his land was."

HUGH, JAMES oldest son and our 1st great grandfather, (the 1st son was usually named for his paternal grandfather) was born 27 July, 1805 near Bourneville, Ross Co., Ohio. Here he lived and worked on his fathers farm until his marriage to MARIAH STOCKTON, 29 Aug.1826. Soon after his marriage he and MARIAH left for Indiana with his father and uncles. The lst tract book of Tippecanoe Co., Indiana shows that HUGH bought 80 acres May 21, 1827. They lived there, farming their land until sometime between Nov. 1838 and 1840. HUGH and William K., his brother, were named administrators of their father's estate which was settled 29 Nov. 1838, after which and before 21 Sep., 1840, HUGH succumbed to the urge to migrate farther west.

They went first to Clay Co., MO. where their last 4 children were born. The first 5 children were born in Indiana. Their children were; JOHN S. b 17 Dec.,1827 and d 9 Oct. 1846. RACHEL b 27 Nov., 1829; MARY JANE b 3 Jan., 1832; MARGARET E. b 23 May, 1834; HANNAH M. b 14 May, 1838; EVELINE b 21 Sep.,1840; EMELINE, b 21 Sep., 1840; JAMES ALLEN b 31 May 1843. (My grandfather); WILLIAM B. b 13 Apr. 1846

In 1848 or 49 HUGH'S sister JANE and her husband, WILLIAM E. MARQUAM bought property in Caldwell Co. and platted and established a town called Mirabile. Soon after this HUGH moved his family there (I assume HUGH bought land and farmed, although after HUGH'S death, 12 May, 1857, the 1860 census shows his wife and 2 daughters and 2 sons living in the town of Mirabile.

The COCHRANS were staunch Presbyterians and helped to organize a Presbyterian church in Mirabile.

Now we are down to JAMES ALLEN COCHRAN, the father of a son JOHN and 2 daughters, NELLIE BURCH and SARAH (SADIE) SMITH. He was the grandfather of WILLIAM JAMES BURCH; GRACE IRENE BURCH; WANDA BURCH and NEVA SMITH; BYRON SMITH; and FRONA SMITH.

He and his wife, GRACE RANNELLS COCHRAN settled in Colorado permanently in 1868. They were married in Valmont Colorado July 21, 1864. He served in The Caldwell County Missouri Home Guards and was discharged on the 12th of October 1861. He and Grace had known each other in Missouri before the Rannells family came to Colorado.