From Proud Heritage, Vol 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
William Porter (Bill) Cochran, third child of William M. and Nancy Jane Hughes Cochran, was born 24 January 1841 in Polk (Greene) County, Missouri. He was barely two years old when the Cochran family arrived at Peters Colony, Texas, 1 March 1843 when Texas was still a Republic. The Cochrans built the third cabin in the colony. In 1851 the Cochran family left their headright in Farmers Branch to move five miles north of Dallas purchasing 640 acres, part of the Wilson-Baker headright, from Perry Dakan for $710. On 24 April 1853 William M. Cochran died of typhoid fever, leaving his wife Nancy Jane to rear their six children: John Hughes, Archelaus M., William Porter, James Monroe, Martha Alice and George Washington. Three daughters had died, two as infants and one as a small child.
William Porter was twelve years old at the time of his father’s death. He and his brothers continued to help their widowed mother on the farm. Nancy Jane sent her sons to McKenzie College, Clarksville, Texas, which had been established by Dr. J. W. P. McKenzie in 1848.
In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, John had already graduated, and Archelaus was attending medical school in Louisiana. William left college and signed up 10 September 1861 in the Confederate Army, Company C, 6th Texas Cavalry; J.L. Smith, Capt.; B. Warren Stone, Col. The Company reorganized in 1862 with George Brown, Capt.; Pete Ross, Col.; Sul Ross, General. William Cochran fought in the battles of Pea Ridge, Corinth, Iuka, Holly Springs, and the 46 day fight before Atlanta. May 1863 he wrote a letter to his sister Martha Alice from Spring Hill, Tennessee, near Columbia, where his mother and father had been married in 1837 and where there were many relatives – Hughes and Cochran. At the close of the Civil War Bill came home “safe, sound, and untouched by the enemy.”
On 30 January 1867 William Porter Cochran married Amanda Mariah Lawrence in Covington, Hill County, Texas. The couple had mutual relatives, John B. and Margaret M. Bachman, who had settled in Dallas County in the 1850’s. Amanda’s mother and John B. Bachman were brother and sister; William’s mother and Margaret M. Hughes Bachman were sisters.
Amanda Mariah Lawrence was born 16 March 1846 near Murphreesboro, Tennessee, fifth child of David T. (born ca. 1812, Smith County, Tennessee) and Ann Bachman Lawrence (born 1815, Lincoln Co., Tennes see). Amanda’s maternal grandparents were Daniel and Dorcas Bachman of Delina, Marshall County, Tennessee; her paternal grandparents were Jesse and Ann Lawrence of Marshall County, Tennessee. David Lawrence brought his family to Dallas County in the late 1850’s, stayed awhile in the Cedar Springs area, then decided to move south to Hill County near Covington. David was a gunsmith and during the Civil War made guns and knives for the men in his area, including his son Alanthus who joined the Confederate Army. Amanda and some of her brothers and sisters attended Covington College, where some of her Bachman cousins from Dallas were students. Amanda’s father died in February 1867; seven years later in 1874 her mother died; both are buried in Hill County. David and Ann Lawrence’s children were: Oscar Jerome, Alanthus M., Mary Victoria (m. Joseph C. Terrell), Margaret (married Robert Neely), Amanda (married· W.P. Cochran), William (Billy), and Annette (married John Van Eaton).
After their marriage William and Amanda lived with his mother Nancy Jane Cochran. Sometime between 1867 and 1870 William’s brothers and sister traded among themselves the land left by their father as their inheritance. William’s part included the north side of Browning Branch. After Nancy Jane’s death, 15 October 1877, the homeplace belonged to William P. and Amanda. It was there that their children were born: 1) Nancy A. Cochran born 14 November 1861, died 1 February 1933, married Ernest Brown 18 April 1894; children: Wm. Asbury, Mary Katherine, Ernestine, Anna Amanda, Ellis Moss, and James Lawrence. 2) John Davie Cochran born 8 November 1870, died 27 April 1915, Dallas County; Superintendent of Schools eight years and Principal of David Crockett School at the time of his death. 3) Archelaus Cochran born 4 October 1872, died 23 February 1923; married (1) Sallie Dixon born 25 December 1898, married (2) ?; married (3) Mabel Hill; one adopted son, Raymond. 4) Mary Alice Cochran born 11 November 1874, died 7 October 1948, school teacher with Dallas Independent School District. 5) James Porter Cochran born 27 February 1877, died 17 September 1939; married Annie Bachman, 30 August 1904; child, Anne Adelia. 6) Maggie Zuleika Cochran born 30 June 1879, died 10 July 7) Willie Lawrence Cochran born 9 September 1881, died 4 November 1963; married George McCain Figh, 18 December 1907; child, Mary Lawrence. 8) Martha Adelia Cochran born 27 July 1884, died 7 August 1973; married John Leslie Harrison, 4 December 1913; children: Lawrence Carter, John Leslie, Jr., and Mary Jeannette. 9) Hattie Amanda Laura Cochran born 1 June 1887, died 29 April 1888.
William Porter Cochran died 5 January 1906. He had been a member of Cochran Chapel Methodist Church for over forty years.
Belonging to the Jas. A. Smith Lodge #395, holding office of District Deputy Grand Master, he was buried in Cochran Cemetery with Masonic honors. William was a farmer by trade, loved to hunt and fish, was active in politics as a Democrat.
After her husband’s death, Amanda remained on the farm for eight years; then she, her daughter Mary, and a granddaughter moved to Oak Lawn where she lived until her death 19 November 1930. Amanda was a longtime member of Cochran Chapel Methodist Church, taught Sunday School, was a member of the Missionary Society, a wonderful mother and grandmother. She too is buried in Cochran Cemetery, as are her children, their spouses, and some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
By B. Porter Cochran, Dallas.
