From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 249-252
& 548-549.  Brant & Fuller, 1890.


HON. ROBERT HENRY COCHRAN

Of the many men of distinction whose lives were drawn upon in this 
publication for the purpose of portraying to future generations 
something of the character of those who, in the latter part of the 
nineteenth century, were accorded by general consent the credit of 
standing foremost in devotion to the public weal, there is none more 
deservedly conspicuous than the gentleman whose name forms the 
caption to this brief sketch.  Of a modest and unpretentious 
parentage of the highest respectability, Robert Henry Cochran was 
born in Belmont county, Ohio, near Wheeling, Va., May 25, 1836. His 
primary edcation, acquired at the common schools of his neighborhood, 
was materially augumented by one term at a select school and two 
terms at a small college located at Richmond, Ohio, and by a full 
course at Duff's Commercial college, Pittsburgh, from which latter 
institution he was graduated in 1859.  After leaving college he 
alternated the summer and winter seasons by farming and by teaching 
the district schools, and night classes n book-keeping, and in 1859 
at St. Clairsville, Ohio, began and thence pursued, with his other 
work, the study of law.  In March, 1860, at Columbus, Ohio, he was 
admitted to the bar before the state supreme court, and from that to 
the present time the legal fraternity has claimed him as one of its 
most honorable and worthy members.  He located first in the practice 
of his chosen profession at Martin's Ferry, moving thence to St. 
Clairsville in 1864 to assume the duties of prosecuting attorney, and 
thence in April, 1869, moved to Wheeling, W.Va., and united for three 
years in a law-partnership with the Hon. Daniel Peck. Here he at once 
identified himself with the best interests of his adopted city and 
state. His sound legal ability was speedily recognized and his 
public-spiritedness became a proverb.  In fact it may be truthfully 
said, that although has life in Ohio was by no means inactive or 
unimportant, it is as a citizen of West Virginia that his greatest 
energies have been expended and his greatest successes consummated.  
In 1871 he was appointed general counsel (and soon afterward 
secretary) of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railroad company.  At the 
end of about seven years' service in various official capacities with 
this company, he was, in May, 1880, made its managing director, and a 
year later again became its general counsel.  The former office he 
held until December, 1881, and the latter until February, 1883.  
During this period, and directly under his management and influence, 
the road was completed from Toledo and Huron to Valley Junction 
(about 185 miles) and began to assume for the first time in its 
history, some importance as a medium of transportation.  While yet 
connected with the W.& L.E.Co.,  - and he was, during a portion of 
the period above indicated, its president - he organized the Wheeling 
& Harrisburg railway company, and became its chief executive officer, 
a position he yet holds as president of the same company, now known 
as the Wheeling Bridge & Terminal railroad company.  Judge Cochran, 
in addition to his many other industries, is now vice president of 
the Cleveland & Wheeling railroad company.  He was the chief 
organizer of this company, then the South Pennsylvania & Ohio 
railroad company, and for several years the president.  In connection 
with Judge Cochran's railroad career, it is but justice to him and 
his friends to state that in the organization and promotion of 
substantial railroad projects in the upper Ohio valley, he has been 
more prominent and conspicuous than any other one citizen who ever 
resided in Wheeling.  He has been instrumental in planning and 
advancing more important and beneficial movements in this direction 
than the public is probably aware of, and that, too, at times and 
under adverse circumstances when he seemed to be standing alone and 
unaided. For nearly twenty years Judge Cochran has devoted his best 
energies in effort to promote the railroad interest of Wheeling, and 
to put her on new lines east and west, north and south.  By a special 
act of legislation he was an incorporator, and in 1872, on its 
organization, was made secretary of the Wheeling & Ohio Union 
railroad company, designed to bridge the river at Wheeling, and by 
popular vote of the city of Wheeling and Ohio county, $700,000 were 
authorized to be subscribed to this company and to the Wheeling & 
Lake Erie R.R. Co., but this was nulified by a constitutional 
amendment subsequently adopted and by an injunction.  Later he was an 
active in organizing, and became secretary of the Wheeling & 
Parkersburg R.R. Co., of which ititial efforts finally came the Ohio 
River R.R. Co. He was also active in promoting the building of the 
Valley Railway, now running from Cleveland to Valley Junction, and 
pointing toward Wheeling, and has devoted much effort to secure to 
Wheeling the Cleveland & Canton R.R., now running from Cleveland 
through Canton to Sherrodsville, Ohio, forty-five miles from 
Wheeling.  Though the panic in 1873, and many subsequent reverses 
came, he tenaciously and without any local financial aid adhered to 
his purpose, and when the W.& L.E. R.R. Co. abandoned their line from 
Bowerstown to Wheeling, and their right to bridge the Ohio river at 
Wheeling, he took these lines up independently, organized new 
companies or revived old ones to build them, and to this work he for 
years devoted his entire time, and there is now bright promise that 
in a short time all these lines will come directly into the city of 
Wheeling.  He is by common consent awarded the distinction of having 
done more than any other man to secure railroad facilities to his 
abandoned city, and the people of that city and county, in 1888, at a 
special election, manifested their confidence in him by almost 
unanimously voting to his bridge company a subscription of $300,000.

Having glanced hastily at what may be termed the railroad career of 
our subject, we turn to other, and may be, more important phases of 
his busy and useful life, to-wit, his military, political and social 
career.  From a pamphlet entitled "Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
of the United States," the writer learns that R. H. Cochran enlisted 
as a private soldier, August 13, 1861, in the Fifteenth Ohio 
volunteer infantry; that he was commissioned first lieutenant of his 
company, September 23, 1861; that he served for a time in the army of 
the Ohio, and later with the army of the Cumberland; and that on 
account of ill health he resigned his commission while at 
Murfreesboro, Tenn., June 1, 1863.  The record of his service under 
official detail is summarized as follows:  "April 6, 1862- S.O. No. 
10 to convalescence barracks; April 10, 1862, to command of 
battalion; August 10-62, adjutant, Camp barracks, Nashville; 
September 12-16, adjutant convalescent regiment during siege of 
Nashville; October 7, '62, aide-de-camp to Gen. John M. Palmer, 
battle of Lavergne, Tenn.; October 10-27, '62, judge advocate, 
garrison court-marshal, Nashville, to preview proceedings of a 
general court-marshal; November 20, '62, board of survey, Nashville; 
November 23, board of investigation; November 24, to military 
commission to try a spy; December 2, permanently to staff of the 
Eighth division (afterward Second division) Forteenth army corps, 
department of the Cumberland, and remained provost marshal until 
resignation; December 26-30, advance on Murfreesboro; December 31, 
January 3, '63, in battle of Stone River, as provost marshal and 
aide-de-camp; December 31, '62, Lieut. Cochran's horse was killed 
under him, and for gallentry in battle he was about this time 
recommended for promotion.  February 3, 1863, he was detailed as 
judge advocate of general court-marshal, as he was again February 22, 
following, and on April 17th.  He was about that time particularly 
distinguished by Governors Dennison and Todd, and Gen. George H. 
Thomas, and many other distinguished officers, who recommended him to 
President Lincoln, for appointment in the regular army as a staff 
officer, but ill health and the sudden death of his father, Robert 
Cochran, cut short his military career.

Returning from the army, Judge Cochran resumed the practice of law, 
and in 1863, was elected, and in 1865, re-elected to the office of 
prosecuting attorney of his native county.  He was also, while yet a 
citizen of Ohio, chosen county school examiner of Belmont county, and 
filled other offices of public trust, in all of which it is written 
of him that he acquitted himself with the highest degree of credit.  
Removing, as has been seen, to Wheeling in 1869, his reputation as a 
public spirited, trustworthy citizen had preceded him, and he was not 
long allowed freedom from public service.  He was directly elected to 
the school board; appointed a school examiner, made chairman of the 
committee on Rules and Regulations, and appointed to other committees 
governing the city schools, and was chiefly instrumental in adopting 
a system of graduation and awarding diplomas. In 1872, he was chosen 
a member of the republican state executive committee, and unanimously 
elected captain of the Wheeling blues, afterward known as the Goff 
guards.  April, 1873, he, with the Hon. W. P. Hubbard, formed the law 
firm of Cochran & Hubbard, which continued until he was elected judge 
of the Ohio county court for a term of four years. (This court was 
created specially by the legislature for this county, and had law, 
chancery and criminal jurisdiction.)  From the bench the judge 
returned to the practice of law and to the manifold responsibilities 
of a citizen from whom much is expected, and whose highest ambition 
is to "act well his part."  As to the social qualities of Judge 
Cochran, those who have met or been entertained by him will attest 
that they are of the finest, and partake largely, of the old time 
hospitality now almost obsolete and lost sight of the desire of men 
to acquire wealth.  By nature, warm hearted and generous almost to a 
fault, genial and urbane, gifted with fine sociability and tact, he 
is always courteous and pleasing alike to friends and strangers, and 
stands ever ready to extend that gentlemanly and courteous treatment 
both in a social and business way that is due from one gentleman to 
another.  In response to business interests, and the railroad 
interests, of Wheeling, Judge Cochran in 1882, moved to Toledo, and 
there made a life member of the Toledo Soldiers' Memorial 
association, a director in the Lincoln Club and member of the 
Citizen's board of trade of that city.  He became a member of the 
G.A.R. at the inception of that order many years ago, and within the 
order, has held many honorable positions, such as member of the 
council of administration, department of Ohio; senior aide-de-camp to 
the commander in chief, etc.; has delivered probably twenty-five 
memorial day addresses in different parts of the country, and 
addresses on various topics in probably twenty states of the Union.  
Since 1873, he has been a member, and a part of the time, vice 
president of the society of the army of the Cumberland, and in 1881 
delivered the annual oration before that organization at Chattanooga, 
an address which was warmly commended by the press, and printed in 
the society's annual volume.  He is now (1890) chairman of the 
Executive committee of the society.  At the death of Gen. Grant he 
was appointed by Gen. Sheridan then president of the society, 
chairman of the committee on the "Grant memoir,"  and he also 
prepared the eulogy of the great soldier and statesman that was 
adopted by the G.A.R. department of Ohio.  This eulogy was copied by 
the northern press, generally, and received much favorable criticism.  
Thw TOLEDO JOURNAL, in speaking of it, said: "Of all the eulogies 
that have been written in commemoration of the life, service and 
character of Gen. Grant, none will compare in beauty and grandeur 
with that from the pen of our own distinguished citizen, Judge 
Cochran."  And Gen. Horace Porter, of New York, among other things 
said:  "I, with many others, thank Judge Cochran for for his eulogy 
upon Gen. Grant. I have not seen his whole character put in more 
compact space, or described in a more beautiful phrase."

Judge Cochran was an active organizer and is now a member of the 
society of the army of West Virginia, a Knight Templar Mason, member 
of the Union league, and of the military order of the Loyal Legion of 
the United States; a senator in the fraternity of the National Union, 
and is past supreme dictator of the Knights of Honor. The membership 
of the last named organization embraces many of the leading and 
prominent public men of the different states of the union, including 
members of congress, governors, supeme court judges and distinguished 
professional and business men generally, which fact enhances the 
respect and honor paid Judge Cochran in placing him in the highest 
official position of their highest body.  Respecting this order we 
learn from an official organ that Judge Cochran was a charter member 
and the first dictator of the first lodge organized in West Virginia; 
that he represented the state in the supreme lodge at Nashville in 
1877; that in 1873 he was chosen supreme assistant dictator at 
Boston; that in 1880 he was elected vice supreme dictator at 
Charleston, s.C.; that he was re-elected thereto in Minneapolis in 
1881; that in 1882 at Baltimore he was elected supreme dictator, and 
at Galveston in 1883 he was unanimously re-elected to that exalted 
position.  During this term he was tendered a reception by the 
fraternities at the Academy of Music in New York city, and on that 
occasion delivered a memorable address on fraternal insurance.  In 
these two years of his administration, more than $6,000,000 dollars 
were paid to widows and orphans over his check, and he surrendered 
his office at the zenith of the order with 130,000 members.  In 1877 
at two hundred and forty-ninth anniversary of the "Ancient and 
Honorable Artillery company," at Faneuil hall, Boston, he was special 
guest and spoke to the sentiment, "The Volunteer Soldiers," of which 
response the late veteran soldier and editor of Ohio, General James 
Comly, said: "We consider it one of the very best after-dinner 
speeches ever made by a soldier."  A sort of unauthorized ethics 
forbids the biographer of living men, the use of any conclusions.  
Therefore the writer is limited to almost a bare recital of the more 
salient facts obtainable with reference to this subject.  The 
foregoing sketch, however, needs no elaboration.  The facts set forth 
must lead every intelligent reader to the one conclusion.  Judge 
Cochran, November, 1860, married Mattie M. Dakin, of Princeton, Ill., 
and they have eight living children, one of whom is managing editor 
and another is city editor of the TOLEDO DAILY COMMERCIAL.  His great 
grandfather, William Cochran, a patriot soldier of the Revolution, 
was killed by Indians about 1780, near Wheeling, Va. (now West 
Virginia), and his grandfather, Ellis Davis, was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. Judge Cochran is the eldest of a family of thirteen 
children, six of whom were soldiers for the Union in the war of '61-
'65, the mother of whom, Susannah, is still living.  He is a hard 
worker, a practical scholar, an eloquent and inspiring orator; a 
republican in politics and a citizen of whom West Virginia is proud.

 *

Hon. Robert H. Cochran was admitted to the bar before the supreme 
court of Ohio in 1860.  He first located in the practice of his 
profession at Martin's Ferry, Ohio. After serving his native county 
of Belmont as prosecuting attorney, he removed to Wheeling in 1869 
and associated himself with Hon. Daniel Peck in the practice.  His 
knowledge of railroad law soon made for him a reputation which 
secured his appointment as general council of the Wheeling & Lake 
Erie Railroad company.  In 1873 he associated himself with Hon. W. P. 
Hubbard in the practice of law, which partnership was terminated by 
his elevation to the bench of the county court.  He served four 
years, having refused re-election.  Upon his retirement from the 
bench the bar of Wheeling adopted the following flattering 
testimonial which speaks in unmistakable terms of his character and 
efficiency as a judge and the estimation in which he is held as a 
citizen:

"Whereas, It is desirous on the part of the members of the courts to 
indicate to the Hon. R. H. Cochran, on his retiring from the bench, 
the esteem and respect in which he is held by us. 

"Resolved, By the members of this bar of this county, that the many 
virtues which adorn the character of the Hon. R. H. Cochran, and 
which have shown conspicuously in his character as judge of the 
county court during the four years last past, have established for 
him the character of an able and upright judge, a courteous and 
accomplished gentleman and a sincere friend.

"Resolved, That on his retirement the bench loses one of its 
brightest anf most honored exmples of impartiality, firmness and all 
that goes to make up the perfect character of a just judge." 
        

(Linda Fluharty)