Genealogical and Family History
of the
STATE OF MAINE

Compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little, A. M., Litt. D.

LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York
1909.

[Please see Index page for full citation.]

[Transcribed by Coralynn Brown]

[Many families included in these genealogical records had their beginnings in Massachusetts.]

COCHRANE The Cochrane family traces its descent from Ayr, in Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is spelled variously Cofran, Cofren, Cochran and Cochrane. Among the signers of a petition to Governor Shute of Massachusetts, asking, from the north of Ireland, March 26, 1718, for a grant of land are John, Andrew, Alexander, James, John, William and B. Cochran. William was an original proprietor of Londonderry, N. H. in 1722; grants of land were given in 1720 to Peter and John, also the Widow Cochran. (I) Deacon John Cochrane, immigrant ancestor of this branch of the Cochrane family, settled in Londonderry, N. H. about 1724, and was a prominent man and a deacon of the Presbyterian church. Children: 1. James, mentioned below. 2. John, married (first) Mary McHard; (second) Margaret Owens. 3. Ninian, settled in Londonderry. (II) James, son of Deacon John Cochrane, settled in Pembroke, N. H. in 1750. Children: 1. Joseph, born 1740, married Margaret Murray. 2. William, born 1740, married ____ Gile. 3. James, born 1743, mentioned below. 4. Samuel. (III) Major James (2), son of James (1) Cochrane, born in 1743, died Jan. 23, 1815. He married Mary McDaniel, born 1744, died June 23, 1822. He was a soldier in the revolution; second lieutenant in Col. John Waldron's regiment, Gen. Sullivan's division, in 1776; in the continental army in 1781 as captain in Col. Kelley's regiment, later having the rank of major. Children: 1. James, born 1768, mentioned below. 2. Sarah, born 1770, married June 6, 1790, Samuel Martin. 3. Nehemiah, born March 7, 1772, married Joanna Morris. 4. Mary, born Jan. 2, 1773, married Mark French. 5. Daniel, married Nancy Moore. 6. Jenny, married Oct. 24, 1797, Moses Cochran, of Londonderry. 7. John, born 1780, married Mary Ann McDaniel. 8. Patty, married Feb. 24, 1801, Stephen Bartlett. 9. Robert Scott, born 1787, married Polly Moses. 10. Mancy, [sic?] married Sept. 28, 1808, John Knox. (IV) Ensign James, son of Major James (2) Cochrane, born in 1768, died July 31, 1819. He married July 24, 1788, Lettice Duncan, born 1764, died Aug. 1, 1838. Children: 1. Samuel, born Dec. 18, 17__, died unmarried Sept. 28, 1818. 2. Betsey, born June 29, 1790, married Jonathan Stanyan, of Pembroke. 3. John, born Aug. 10, 1792, died unmarried, at Natchez, Mississippi. 4. Mahala, born Feb. 1, 1797, married John Wheeler, of Concord; died Oct. 24, 1832. 5. Chauncey, born Jan. 29, 1799, died 1801. 6. Chauncey, born Nov. 24, 1801, mentioned below. 7. James, born Jan. 17, 1804, married Mary Jane Cofran. (V) Chauncey, son of Ensign James Cochrane, born in Pembroke Nov. 24, 1801, resided in Pembroke until 1834, when he removed to East Corinth, Maine. He married (first) Nov. 26, 1828, Sally Cofran, born Feb. 24, 1805, daughter of Moses and Jenney (Cochran) Cofran. She was killed June 23, 1833, by Abraham Prescott. [trans note: and they just leave it at that?! There's a story here somewhere.] [I just found a book on Google: "Report of the Trial of Abraham Prescott, for the Murder of Mrs. Sally ..." By Abraham Prescott, Sally Cochran, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Court of Common Pleas (Merrimack County), Court of Common Pleas (Merrimack County) Type the title into Google books for a full description). He married (second) Feb., 1838, Maria Gay, of New London, born Dec. 20, 1810, died Dec., 1903. He was educated in the common schools of Pembroke. His father died when he was sixteen years old, and the are of the farm devolved upon him until he removed to East Corinth. Here he opened a general store, and continued this business until 1860. After he retired from active business he invested his savings largely in real estate mortgages, and was occupied in attending to his property, continuing active and capable to the time of his death in 1883. He was a Republican and represented his district in the state legislature. Children of 1st wife: 1. Sarah, born Aug. 26, 1829, died Oct. 11, 1849. 2. G. Newton, born Oct. 23, 1830, died July 7, 1869. Children of 2d wife: 3. Josephine D., born Oct. 16, 1838. 4. John D., born Oct. 16, 1838 (twin), died Oct. 12, 1839. 5. Maria A., born Feb. 8, 1841. 6. Avilda A., born April 18, 1844. 7. Chauncey A., born Aug. 19, 1846, died Aug. 18, 1855. 8. Jasper D., born Dec. 2, 1851, mentioned below. 9. Justin B., born Dec. 2, 1851 (twin). (VI) Dr. Jasper Duncan, twin son of Chauncey Cochane, was born in East Corinth, Maine, Dec. 2, 1851. He attended the public schools of his native town, Central Maine Conference Seminary, at Bucksport, the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, at Kent's Hill, Readfield, the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut, where hw as graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1880, receiving the Master's degree from his alma mater in 1883. He studied his profession in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, graduating an M. D. in 1886. He began teaching school when he was seventeen and taught in the public schools in Levant, Charlestown, Dover, Lincoln, Maine, and Stetson, Maine, high school. Upon receiving his medical degree he began to practice in East Corinth, removing to Saco, Maine, 1888, and continuing in that city to the present (1908) time with marked success. A Republican in politics, he has served several times on the board of aldermen, and has been a member of the board of health several years. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of Corinthian Lodge, No. 59, of Odd Fellows, of East Corinth; Mystic Tie Lodge, No. 7, Knights of Pythias, of Saco; Saco Lodge, No .9, Free Masons; York Chapter, No. 5, Royal Arch Masons; Main Council, Royal and Select Masters, of Saco; Bradford Commandery, No. 4, Knights Templar; Maine Conclave, No. 1, Knights of Red Cross of St. Constantine, and also of Kora Temple. He is a life member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is one of the trustees of the Biddeford and Saco Savings Institution. He has been since 1896 U. S. pension examiner, is a member and has been president of the York County Medical Society, member of the Maine Medical Association, the American Academy of Medicine, and of the surgical staff of Webber Hospital, Biddeford, Maine. Dr. Cochrane married, 1896, Ida M., born Fryeburg, Maine, Oct., 1861, daughter of Seth and Sarah P. Hutchins, of Lovell, Maine. Children, b. in Saco: 1. Chauncey, born Dec. 3, 1901. 2. Sarah Abbott, born Oct. 9, 1902. COTHREN/COCHRANE This is an old Scotch-Irish name which has had many spellings and various pronunciations, and has been borne by many valuable citizens of the United States. Its usual spelling appears to be Cochrane. It is varied in many cases by omission of the final letter and various modifications have been used. It is derived from two Gaelic words which together signify "battle-cry," and it appears to have first belonged to the great and warlike clan of Campbell, in Scotland. One of its earliest members was closely associated with the varying fortunes of Mary Queen of Scots, and from him the Cothrens of America claim their direct descent. There seem to have been several reprsentatives of the name from the early settlers in New England. (I) The first known ancestor of this line is William (1) Cochrane (as then spelled), a wealthy manufacturer, who resided in Paisley, Scotland, and removed thence, about 1740, to Plymouth, England. (II) William (2), son of William (1) Cochrane, came to America when about nineteen years of age, and took up residence in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, Mass., whence he removed about 1759 to Falmouth, Maine. He married, in Chilmark, Nov. 1, 1758, Experience Weeks. As the removal took place soon after that event, their eldest child was born in Falmouth. (III) David, son of William (2) and Experience (Weeks) Cochrane, born Nov. 1, 1768, in Falmouth, settled in Farmington, Maine, in the spring of 1795, died in North Carolina, Feb., 1802. He married, in Falmouth, March 26, 1788, Eunice Backus, who survived him and was married in 1808 to Stephen Dillingham. She died April 1, 1841, at the age of seventy-five years. Children: Keziah, William, Nathaniel and Tamar. (IV) Captain William (3), elder son of David and Eunice (Backus) Cochrane, was the first of the line to adopt the present form of the name. He was born Oct. 31, 1791, in Falmouth, Maine, and was four years of age when he accompanied his parents to Farmington. His childhood and youth were spent amid the scenes of wild pioneer life, and he was subjected to the hardships common to all new countries. He followed farming for a livelihood, and was pleased with this honorable and independent calling, in which he was highly successful and gained material rewards. He served three months as soldier in the war of 1812, and was later the captain of the local militia. He was a trustee of the Farmington Academy from 1845 until the institution was closed in 1862. To his sons he gave an academic education, and three of them pursued a collegiate course. He married Jan. 14, 1819, Hannah Cooper, born Feb. 19, 1798, in Pittston, Maine, died Nov. 29, 1831, in Farmington. He married (second) Nov. 15, 1835, Nancy H., widow of Stephen Titcomb Jr. She died April 19, 1840, and he survived her more than thirty-nine years, dying July 30, 1879. Children: 1. William, born Nov. 28, 1819, graduated in the class of 1843 at Bowdoin College. He practiced law at Woodbury, Connecticut, and was the author and publisher of a voluninous history of that town. 2. Charles, born June 16, 1822, graduated in 1849 and settled at Red Bank, New Jersey. 3. Nathaniel, mentioned below. 4. George Webber, born July 12, 1829. 5. Wesley Roger, born of the second marriage Dec. 15, 1837. (V) Nathaniel, third son of Capt. William (3) and Hannah (Cooper) Cothren, born June 21, 1825, in Farmington, graduated from Bowdoin College in the same class with his elder brother, Charles, in 1849. He taught school a few years, then adopted the profession of the law, and was admitted to the New York bar in Dec., 1856. For many years he was a successful practitioner in New York city, where he died. He married April 2, 1854, Elizabeth W. Corliss, of Eatontown, New Jersey, born July 13, 1838. (VI) Frank Howard, only child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth W. (Corliss) Cothren, born July 10, 1871, in Brooklyn, New York, prepared for college at Adelphi Academy. He entered Bowdoin College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1892. He decided to adopt the profession of his father, and with that purpose entered the office of the latter to prepare himself, and was admitted to the bar in 1894. While at college he was distinguished as an athlete, and was a member of the football team for three years, 1889-1892. He practiced law in company with his father until the death of the latter, since which time he has been actively engaged independently. He has taken an active interest in political matters, acting with the Republican party, and was a member of the New York state legislature during the years 1903-04. He married June 29, 1905, Marion Benedict, who is the mother of one child, Frances, born March 3, 1907.