Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 357
ADDISON COCHRAN

Addison COCHRAN (Portrait), or Colonel COCHRAN, as he is familiarly called, is a highly respected citizen of Little Sioux township, and is the largest land-owner in Harrison County. Came to Iowa in 1849 on an exploring expedition, and became a permanent settler in 1854, when the land came into market, and in September of that year Mr. COCHRAN attended the land sale at Council Bluffs and assisted the settlers in securing land in this section. He entered it in his own name, and gave the settlers one year's time, they paying him forty per cent. interest (which was common at that date), and he giving them a bond for a deed. A quarter section of land at Government price, at the end of the year, with even this high rate of interest added, only cost $280.

At this same sale Col. COCHRAN purchased a claim and located three hundred and seventeen acres at Sioux City, the same now being owned by the stock yards company. The original cost of this land was $396.25, which, together with compound interest and taxes, amounted in 1887 to $8,000. He sold the tract for the handsome sum of $100,000.

Our subject has made his home here since 1883, but has always had a home at Council Bluffs, and still holds the same. Beyond question, no one man owns the amount of land in this county that Col. COCHRAN possesses. He has seven thousand acres. Five hundred acres of this land are under a high state of cultivation. His whole landed estate is surrounded with a fence, the total length of which (simply to enclose) is forty miles, saying nothing of the many miles of subdividing fences running hither and yon over this land.

His home farm contains five thousand acres, all in grass. The Colonel's time and special attention is turned in the direction of raising, grazing and breeding stock. He has one hundred head of horses, mares and colts, and about six hundred head of cattle, together with three hundred head of Poland-China hogs.

In 1883 our subject built a bridge over the Little Sioux River, which meanders through his farm. This bridge was built for him and for his special private use. It was constructed by the Council Bluffs Bridge Company, the material being wrought iron. It is two hundred and sixty feet long by eighteen feet wide, and rests on boiler iron piers three and one-half feet in diameter, filled with cement. These go down to the hardpan. The cost of this bridge was $6,000, which is the most expensive outlay of any private bridge in the West. This bridge connects his lands on either side of the Little Sioux River.

Of Mr. COCHRAN's ancestors, it may be said they were from Scotland, and emigrated to Lancaster County, Pa., settling at Cochransville, one hundred and fifty years ago. His grandfather emigrated to Virginia and settled in Loudon County, where our subject was born August 18, 1817, forty miles west from the city of Washington. Our subject is the second of a family of eleven children, two of whom are living.

Politically, Col. COCHRAN is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party. The only office he has ever allowed his name to be used for, in the West, was the office of Mayor of Council Bluffs, and during his administration and under his supervision the street grade was established. He was also instrumental in having the water works put in. Warrants at that time were only worth firty cents on a dollar, but at the end of his administration they were held at par.

He of whom this notice is written forms an important character in the history of Harrison County, where he is well and favorably known in almost every one of the twenty townships comprising the county.

He is an enthusiastic worker in his political party, ever being ready to adopt any honroable means for the purpose of electing the one who, in his judgment, is the proper candidate. As an example of his loyal party zeal, it may be said that when Gov. BOIES was campaigning the State prior to his election, in the autumn of 1891, he was billed for Onawa, and the Colonel, at his own expense, chartered a car from River Sioux to Onawa, swinging the doors wide open, free to all to go and hear the Governor speak, which secured him some more votes at least.

This is but one of many similar cases wherein the true, broad-minded, liberal and enterprising spirit of Col. COCHRAN has been manifest, the same being an index to the secret of his success, both financially and socially.

Return to 1891 Biographical C Surnames Index

Back to 1891 Biographies Index