Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 661
ADDISON COCHRAN

Colonel COCHRAN, as he was universally styled throughout this section, was a prominent man on the Little Sioux, who came to Iowa in 1849 on an exploring expedition and became a permanent settler in 1854. He attended the land sale at Council Bluffs that year and secured large tracts in his own name and then sold off to less fortunate land-seekers, charging them, however, forty per cent interest, giving them a bond for a deed. Even at that a quarter section cost the purchaser only two hundred and eighty dollars. He also claimed a half section where now stands the stock yards at Sioux City. All told, up to 1887, this land, taxes and all, had cost him eight thousand dollars, but he sold it for a clean one hundred thousand dollars. Colonel COCHRAN always maintained a home at Council Bluffs, but much of his time was spent on his Little Sioux homestead. He was mayor of Council Bluffs several years. In 1892 he owned seven thousand acres of land in Iowa, six hundred acres of which was in a high state of cultivation. His land was all enclosed with fences, the aggregate length of the same being forty miles, besides the many sub-division fences. His home farm alone contained five thousand acres. In 1883 Colonel COCHRAN built an iron bridge over the Little Sioux which stream runs through the tract of land he owned, the cost of this private bridge being more than six thousand dollars. Colonel COCHRAN was a bachelor and lived well. He had many friends and plenty of servants at his command. He was of the old-school type of country gentleman. Politically, he was an avowed Democrat without alloy. He died several years since, highly respected by all who knew of his charming manners and genial hospitality.

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