JAMES C. COCHRAN

John Cochran, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1869. His wife was Jane Gould, born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1804, and died at Iowa City in 1884. Seven children, sturdy Scots every one, were born to John Cochran and Jane Gould. The family is pure Scotch, back to the earliest genealogical record, the first known ancestors being John and James Cochran. Our subject was born May 20, 1834, at Glasgow, Scotland. He left his native heath October 1, 1853, with his parents, bound for the new world. He has a perfect recollection of some of his boyhood experiences, one of the most vivid of which was a trip with his father and a man named .John Robinson into western Ireland in 1845. That was the year of the great famine, and John Cochran and John Robinson were commissioners from Scotland to distribute rations among the starving people. The twelve-year-old lad witnessed scenes which he can never forget. The potato crop that year and for ten years thereafter in Ireland was a failure, and that being the chief article of food of the poor masses, great distress was inevitable. Thousands died of absolute starvation, and still
other thousands of combined disease and destitution. (Jenerous America shipped loads of provisions, principally oat flour and corn meal. Mr. Cochran recalls a one-story house, 100 feet long, in the famine district, where mush was made and distributed in rations to the people. They carried it away in noggons, and many of them were later found dead in their tracks, having gorged themselves with the mush. Some were found dying in the mountains. Mr. Cochran also recalls that the herring catch, a staple article of diet, was a failure these years, and to make matters worse poor laws were established and the constabulary confiscated everything they came in con-
tact with. The unfortunate Irish were driven from their homes and compelled to seek refuge in other countries. In County Galway the people planted their potatoes in the bogs and raised good crops, which in a measure relieved the situation there; but altogether the conditions were most deplorable.

On October 1, 1853, as heretofore stated, Mr. Cochran, in the company of his parents, left Scotland for America. The company took a sailing vessel, the Glennmana, by way of Galway for Dublin ; thence via the West Indies, the Caribbean sea and the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. The voyage occupied nine weeks, and was tempestuous and fraught with thrilling experiences. The yellow fever broke out on board and sixty-nine died therefrom, among the number being a refugee Swedish nobleman and his wife. A daughter survived. John Cochran  was named by the captain as one of the appraisers of the nobleman 's estate. The vessel at this time in the neighborhood
of San Domingo, where it had been driven by the fierce winds of the southern route. Crippled by its combat with the elements, the ship began to drift, and John Cochran, being a skilled mechanic, was called by the skipper to fix the compass. The tempest-tossed and afflicted company at last reached New Orleans on January 1, 1854, after weathering a fierce gale four days out from port. From the Crescent City passage was taken on the Great Republic to St. Louis. January 4, 1854, was spent on a sandbar in the Mississippi river, the steamer being entangled for two days. At Natchez the first ice was seen floating down the Mississippi. Arriving at Cairo, our subject
was sent on shore to procure some swine meat. The carcasses of two bears were hanging up at the dealer's, and young Cochran on returning to his father declared he had ' ' seen two Newfoundland dogs hanging up. ' ' This, of course, put the laugh on him, much to his chagrin. At Cairo the captain refused to risk his vessel any further in the ice, and said he would charge pro rata for the passage to that point. This being agreed to, the family continued their voyage to St. Louis on another boat, which they reached in due season. The trip Avas continued to Muscatine, which was then a port of entry, where they arrived June 10, 1854. Luckily, on arrival, they found a man who was just returning to Iowa City by wagon, and he was induced to take the Cochrans, eight in all, to their destination, seven miles
beyond the then Capital City, to the home of Uncle Matthew Cochran and Margaret (Russell) Cochran, in Graham township, then living on the present Chas. Dingleberry farm, in their log house (see sketch of Adaline Cochran).

After a few months John Cochran and his son, James, secured employment in Iowa City, the former at his trade of tinning and the latter running a sawmill. Said mill was a primitive affair, consisting of a saw and sawbuck, with himself as the motive power. With this plant he sawed, split, and piled up cordwood at $1.00 per cord. The elder Cochran was employed by Hart & Love, and our subject was soon made an apprentice with the same firm. Hart & Love soon afterwards sold out to J. S. Stafford, and our apprentice received $6.00 per
week for one year, during which time he acquired a good insight into the trade. The business then passed into the hands of Mr. Choate, and our subject's wages were raised to $10.00 per week. In 1860, having saved up $400.00 in cash, with this amount and notes running for 1, 2, and 3 years at 10 per cent, he bought out Mr. Choate. After three years he had everything paid up.

The natural Scotch thrift of young Cochran began to be manifest, and he commenced buying dry hides at 5 cents a pound and storing them in a warehouse 25x100 feet which he had erected on the present site of Byron Stillwell's paint shop, on Washington street. In 1862 he had a capital of $2,000.00 invested in hides at 5 cents per pound. Mr. Blackburn offered him 20 cents per pound, and he finally accepted 30 cents per pound. That year he bought the Cochran property on South Clinton street, where his son, Frederick J. Cochran, now has his office, paying therefor the sum of $3,000.00. The building has been entirely remodeled and the property is worth today
at least $20,000.00.

James Cochran was in active business in Iowa City thirty- seven years. He has invariably been a money-maker. At times he has cleaned up an average of $50.00 per day in his chosen business. At one time it is said of him that he bought dressed hogs for $2.00 and $2.05 and sold them at a large profit. During his long business career in Iowa City, Mr. Cochran has been associated with some of the leading enterprises of the city. He was vice president of the Johnson County Savings bank between thirty and forty years; was a director and the treasurer of the Iowa City Publishing company, and a director in the Iowa Packing and Provision company.

In 1862 he was married to Maria E. Doty of Penn township, daughter of Theodore and Susan (Bowen) Doty, pioneers of Iowa. Seven children were born of this union, of whom only two survive, namely : Mrs. Charles H. Dayton, residing at 415 South Summit street, Iowa City, and Frederick J., married to Gail Huntsman and residing in Iowa City (see his personal sketch). One child, Nellie, died in her twentieth year. She was well educated, an active member of the church and beautiful in both appearance and character. Her last words were, ' ' Take my life and let it be, conse . ' ' She died before the sentence was finished.

Mr. and Mrs. Cochran's first experience at household work was in rented housekeeping rooms on Clinton street, east of the University campus, where they resided eleven months. Their next home was north of the postoffice, for which Mr. Cochran paid $1,125 and later sold for $3,500 in government bonds. There Mrs. Dayton was born. Selling the property near the postoffice, the family removed to another home across College Hill, for which he paid the sum of $1,600. This he sold for $3,000 cash and two lots, on one of Avhich he realized $1,000 and on the other $1,500. Thereafter (in March, 1869), he began the construction of his present brick residence, 314 South Clinton street, into which the family moved in 1870. The interior finish of this house, including doors and casings, is black
walnut. Therein all the children were born except Mrs. Dayton. There our subject and his estimable wife live in the consciousness of well-spent lives, he having reached the advanced age of seventy-seven years. Though of limited education and brought up in the school of experience, he became a man of affairs and of influence and wealth. Both he and his wife are lifelong members of the Methodist Episcopal church, he being a member of the official board, First Church, Iowa City. He is a member of Eureka lodge, No. 44, I. O. O. F. of Iowa City.