Robert Cochran was the son of Robert and Catherine Cochran, an old pioneer family who settled in Allegheny county, where he was born in the year 1805. He learned the carpenter's trade when a boy and worked at it for fifteen years in Pittsburgh when that city was quite a small place. At first he received only seventy-five cents per day, and the largest wages her received were $1.50 per day. In 1835 he married Margaret Green, born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, about 1818, but then living in Harrison county, Ohio, where she had immigrated with her parents. Eighteen months after their marriage a child was born and the mother died. This child, Margaret Elizabeth, also died in her eleventh year.

In 1843 he married as his second wife Mary Richardson, who was born in Allegheny county, October 16, 1816. By this union were born five children, as follows: Robert L., born March 16, 1848; Edwin G., born September 10, 1850; Willison A., born April 7, 1853; Marietta Ann, born June 16, 1857; and Alice K., born December 16, 1860. Only Willison A. and Alice K. are now living, the latter unmarried and residing with her brother in Leechburg. The mother of these children died September 6, 1871.

Mr. Cochran came to this county early enough to experience some of the disadvantages of life in a comparatively new country. He planted corn on the ground where Leechburg now stands, when it was partly timbered. In that early day the articles which were put upon the table were cornbread, hominy, mush and milk, tea made from herbs grown in the garden, and coffee made from corn and rye. The clothing then worn was chiefly made from flax which the settlers raised. In Mr. Cochran's family the clothing was mostly of linen spun by his young wife. They were compelled to live cheaply in order to raise their little family of children and to educate them, and sometimes their clothing and food supply was not as abundant and they might wish. Mr. Cochran now lives a retired live, making his home with his son, Willison A. This young man is employed as a sheet-iron shearsman in the Leechburg ironmill, and by steady hard work has become the owner of several housed in Apollo which bring him in a fine income. He was married in 1879 to Miss Sarah E. Gosser, who was born in this county in 1858. They have one child, Robert Lee.

Source: Page(s) 616-617, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed April 2000 by Carl Waltenbaugh for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Carl Waltenbaugh for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)

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