#51 William Cochrane and Andrew George Cobett Cochrane—That Wall is beginning to crumble

I never cease to be amazed that a brick or two, or maybe even three, may fall off that brick wall when you least expect it.  When I was in Washington, D. C. last month, I looked at a number of sources trying to figure out when William Cochrane and Andrew George Cobbett Cochrane with their families arrived in the United States from England.  All I knew was that in 1835 they both filed Alien Registrations in Erie County New York, indicating that they intended to become American Citizens. I

also had found a passenger list which indicated that an Andrew Cochrane arrived in Philadelphia in 1833-34.  That Andrew Cochrane was born in the correct year, but was it the right Andrew Cochrane.? Try as I might, I could find nothing for William Cochrane in terms of passenger arrivals.  That wall was still up.

The other day I was again looking at the information I had on Andrew George Cobbett Cochrane and decided to take another look at his application for a passport.  It had a lot of information on it, including that he had been naturalized.  I was hoping that the naturalization papers might be attached so I looked at the next page.  No luck.  However, I am persistent and decided to look at the pages before his application.  There I found a passport application from May of 1872 for his daughter, Emma Cochrane Kingman.  In her application she states that she was born in England on September 39, 1830 and came to the United States at two years of age.  Depending on when Andrew and his family arrived, she could have arrived in 1833.  Further, the parish record of St George’s Bloomsbury indicates that her brother Andrew Charles was born on February 8, 1832 and was baptized on February 29 of that year.

Taken together, these facts point to the conclusion that the Andrew Cochrane who arrived in Philadelphia may indeed be the Andrew George Cobbett Cochrane, brother to my great-grandfather.  Now I need to see if his naturalization records contain the date of his arrival.

If I could talk to Andrew, I certain would ask when he came to the United States and where he and his family landed.  I also would ask whether or not his brother, William, came at the same time.