Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

2916 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSgrant of land deeded to him for his services to the United States Governmentduring its time of trial.His father was Arthur Erwin Cochran, who was born in 1820 and died in1865, and was one of the most brilliant lawyers Georgia possessed in a generation whieh gave the state many brilliant attorneys and statesmen. With excellent natural endowment, including a rare personality, he was equipped witha liberal education, and soon after his removal to Georgia became recognizedas an exceptionally gifted and able lawyer. He rose to the front in a profession in which some of his associates were Governor and Confederate VicePresident Alexander H. Stephens, General Phillips, Judge Cole and manyothers. He became the first judge of the Brunswick Circuit, and organized itat a time when this circuit covered a large amount of territory in SouthernGeorgia. He traveled from court to court over that circuit, and often rode ina two wheeled sulky for hundreds of miles. He was a man of broad views,had a keen insight into the needs of his community, and early became impressed with the requirement for better transportation facilities. After muchstudy he evolved a plan for the Macon & Brunswick Railroad, and in order tocarry out his plans he resigned from the bench and was elected a member ofthe State Senate. While in the Senate he drafted the bill which was passedgranting a charter to the Macon & Brunswick Railroad and secured state aid,a difficulty in those days, and this railroad as built became one of the mostimportant factors in the upbuilding of the territories comprising the originalBrunswick Judicial Circuit. He was a member of the Georgia Secession Convention, and with Alexander H. Stephens was opposed to the secession ofGeorgia from the Union, but loyally supported1 the state. He was elected tothe Legislature in 1856, and was made judge of the Superior Court afterexpiration of his term in the Legislature. He was again elected judge in 1861,at the beginning of the war between the states, and served until April 28,1865, the date of his death. He stood a peer among the legislative leaders ofthe time, and particularly in his work in behalf of the railroad was assistedby Stephens, Phillips, Herschel V. Johnson and others. Many years after hisdeath, the State Legislature, realizing his true greatness, and in order to perpetuate his name, had one of the new county capitals, called county seats,named in his honor, that of Cochran, the capital of Bleckley County namedfor another former judge.Judge Cochran married Rebecca Dixon, a woman of rare refinement andculture,' who was born at Milledgeville, Georgia, and died at Irwinton in 1858,at the age of twenty-five. She took first honors at Wesleyan College, Macon,Georgia, the oldest female college in America. She was the mother of twochildren, her daughter dying in infancy. She was a cousin of the great statesman and secretary of state, Hon. W. H. Crawford.The only son, Arthur Emmett Cochran was born in Irwinton, WilkinsonCounty, Georgia, November 10, 1855. When a boy he entered the schools ofMacon, and subsequently the literary department of the University of Georgia.He is an alumnus of that university, of which his father had been for years atrustee. lie was admitted to the bar at eighteen years of age, and at the ageof twenty-one became a representative of Pierce County in Georgia's Houseof Representatives. In 1882 he went West to California. He continued a resident of that state for about sixteen years, and resided successively in SanFrancisco, San Diego and Healdsburg. He was not only a lawyer who commanded a large and profitable practice, but became a prominent factor inCalifornia politics. He was a frequent speaker in state campaigns, especiallyin behalf of gubernatorial candidates. In 1892, while in practice at SanDiego, he was nominated for mayor, and was defeated by only a small plurality, although San Diego was largely republican and he was nominated by thedemocratic party. Mr. Cochran was very successful while living in California, and used splendid judgment in his investments. He acquired sometracts of ranching land, and has developed some acres to fruit culture.