Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 454 - 455

JOHN N. COCHRAN came to the city of in Wichita in 1881, and purchased two acres of ground in Hunter's first Addition, put up buildings, set out trees, and in 1887 platted one acre, which was named the Cochran Sub-division. For this property there has been a good demand, and his attention to this, in connection with various other real-estate transactions, employs the greater part of his time and attention. His own comfortable residence is pleasantly located at No. 409 Laura avenue.

            A native of the Buckeye State, Mr. Cochran was born in Perry County on the 1st of January, 1837. His parents, Rev. William and Elizabeth (Martin) Cochran, were natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Virginia, whence they removed to Ohio in their youth, and were there married. The father, a minister of the Methodist Church, entered upon his pious duties in his early manhood, and spent the remainder of his life in Ohio, dying in Perry County. The mother survived her husband less than a year.

            The brothers and sisters of our subject included four children, of whom but three are living, namely: Harriet, Mrs. Bitter, of Nebraska; Wesley, a wealthy farmer of Madison County, Iowa, and John N., of our sketch. The latter became orphaned at the early age of four years, and was reared by his maternal grandparents. When a boy of twelve he commenced to work out on a farm in his native county, at which he continued until a youth of sixteen. Then, in company with two uncles, he went to Iowa, where he spent one winter, and in the spring returned east as far as LaSalle County, Ill. There he employed himself on a farm, and in assisting to operate a ditching-machine, remaining in the Prairie State until after the outbreak of the late war.

            Young Cochran, in August, 1861, enlisted as a Union soldier in Company B, 12th Illinois Infantry, but on account of ill-health was only permitted to serve seven months. Upon leaving the army he returned to Ohio, visited friends three months, then migrated to his former home in LaSalle County, Ill. There for two years following he engaged in farming, and in the meantime was married, Jan. 5, 1864, to Miss Hannah M. Gay, a native of Pennsylvania, who was born July 13, 1843. Mrs. Cochran is the daughter of Rev. George and Nancy (Stuckey) Gay, natives of Center County, Pa. Her father entered the pulpit as a Methodist exhorter, but joined the United Brethren in 1863, at Mendota, Ill., where he entered formally upon the work of a minister. Leaving Illinois in 1866, he took up his residence in Ottawa County, Mich., where he labored until the spring of 1871. That year he crossed the Mississippi the second time, and coming to this county, took up his abode among the pioneers of Lincoln Township, and was one of the first representatives of the Southwestern Conference. In the pursuance of his pious labors he traveled many miles to and from in this State, frequently camping out in his wagon at night, but willing to endure sacrifices and privations for the sake of the end in view. In the meantime he took up a claim of eighty acres of land in Lincoln Township, the improvement and cultivation of which he proceeded with as time and opportunity permitted. He still occupies the home built up under many difficulties. He retired from the ministry in 1885.

            To the parents of Mrs. Cochran there were born five children, all living, namely: Hannah M., the wife of our subject; Mattie, Mrs. Walker, of Gratiot County, Mich.; Charles, a harness-maker of Winfield, Cowley County, this State; Emory, a carpenter of Wichita, and Frank, who is farming in Lincoln Township. Mr. and Mrs. C., after their marriage, settled upon a farm in LaSalle County, Ill., soon after going to Livingston County, Ill., where they lived until the spring of 1867, then removed to Ottawa County, Mich. There our subject became interested in the lumber trade and milling, but after a residence of eighteen months abandoned this, and took up his abode in Madison County, Iowa, where he carried on agriculture three years.

            Mr. Cochran upon coming to this State, in 1870, pre-empted 160 acres of land in Payne Township, this county, which he improved and lived upon six years. Then selling out, he purchased a quarter-section in Grand River Township, on the western line of the county, where he proceeded as before, cultivating the soil and making improvements, and in 1882 sold out at a good figure. The year previously, however, he had brought his family to the city, and secured possession of the ground already spoken of in Hunter's Addition. His prudence and industry have met with ample reward, and comfort-ably located in a pleasant home, he is enjoying a share of the good things of this life. Our subject, politically, affiliates with the Republican party, and is a member of Garfield Post, G. A. R., at Wichita. He is a member and Steward of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while his estimable wife finds her religious consolation in the doctrines of the United Brethren.

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