Cochren Surname HistoryIn ancient Scotland, the first people to use Cochren as a surname were the Strathclyde-Britons. It was a name someone who lived in Renfrewshire, where they took on the name of the lands of Cochrane in the parish of Paisley, near Glasgow. This place name is of uncertain derivation, perhaps stemming from the Welsh word "coch," meaning "red." Early Origins of the Cochren familyThe surname Cochren was first found in Renfrewshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù), a historic county of Scotland, today encompassing the Council Areas of Renfrew, East Renfrewshire, and Iverclyde, in the Strathclyde region of southwestern Scotland, where the first record of the name was Waldeve de Coueran, who was witness to a charter issued by Dugal, son of Syfyn, to Walter Stewart, fifth Earl of Menteith, regarding several lands in Kintyre. William de Coughran of Lanark swore an oath of allegiance to King Edward I of England during his short conquest of Scotland in 1296. Walter Cochrane was the first record of the more popular spelling used today in 1262. His son William Cochrane, the second chief of the Clan, also rendered homage to King Edward I in 1296. Early History of the Cochren familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cochren research. Another 116 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1482, 1600, 1605, 1659, 1669, 1683, 1685, 1690, 1691, 1707, 1708, 1713, 1717 and 1778 are included under the topic Early Cochren History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Cochren Spelling VariationsBefore the printing press standardized spelling in the last few hundred years, no general rules existed in the English language. Spelling variations in Scottish names from the Middle Ages are common even within a single document. Cochren has been spelled Cochrane, Cochran, Cocrane, Cocran, Cochren, Cockram, Cockran, Cockren and many more. Early Notables of the Cochren familyNotable amongst the family at this time was William Cochrane (1605-1685), 1st Earl of Dundonald. Of his children was Sir John Cochrane (d. 1707), who was a Member of Parliament for Ayrshire in 1669; he was suspected of complicity in the Rye House Plot, and fled to Holland in 1683, returned to Scotland... Migration of the Cochren family to IrelandSome of the Cochren family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
For Scottish immigrants, the great expense of travel to North America did not seem such a problem in those unstable times. Acres of land awaited them and many got the chance to fight for their freedom in the American War of Independence. These Scots and their ancestors went on to play important roles in the forging of the great nations of the United States and Canada. Among them: Cochren Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
|