Frank Delbert Cochran born 6/20/1893 at Hill City, Graham County, Kansas to parents
Jacob Benjamin Cochran and Clora Jane Miller, who had married in Iowa.
Jacob had served in the Civil War. Clora smoked a clay pipe and read the
ashes according to her grandchildren.
Married Luella Coonfield in 1914, Mason Valley, Benton
County, Arkansas
He was a lead miner and farmer. He worked hard to take
care of his family, never went to church and drank quite a bit. He
traveled to find work in various states.
His wife raised the children to go to church and know their
Bible. With no electricity during this time period, she read to them by
the oil lamp. Their son Frankie born 1927 was baptised in a
creek. It was usually a long walk to the church, but they went
often.
They chopped wood for the fire and used the wood to cook
by. They had raised many rabbits and hunted deer for
food.
Frank's mother in law even cooked skunk - referred to as the
best meat ever tasted.
They gardened and lived off the land, picking whatever wild greens
were etible and fruits and vegetables.
Deloris writes: it was watermelon preserves Mother used to
make,very good.Used to make it myself when kids were home.
Yes she picked all kinds of wild greens polk was just one was all
leafy green we got didn/t have lettuce etc then.We also had a dirt
floor,had to sprinkle it to sweep.I remember one time I was on a bench
leaning over the wash tub scrubbing clothes on the scrub board,when some
yelled the preacher is here,that ment everyone got tidy quick.Well being
about 3/4Is not very cordinated I leaned to far and tub clothes benches
and me were in a pool of mud on the floor.Mary Lou was chewing on me and
trying to clean up b/4 preacher got to door.Mother said I was only trying
to help,not to worry about it.You might say the floor was sprinkled that
time.I also picked wild greens. Used to take to Irma and Vida.You
would be surprised what you can get by on.I picked elderberries and wild
cherries to make jelland syrup wild plum also
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They moved around several times,Bartlett or Chetopa or
Parsons Kansas, then renting a house in Missouri once, so that Frank
could work in the mine at Prosperity. In 1945 they loaded up the
pickup truck and spent a year in Colorado with his sister Cora, before
moving back to Chetopa Kansas.
Frank somehow figured he could get away with not paying taxes
on a farm he was buying and lost everything, so he moved to Arkansas to
help his inlaws haul produce. They had a small store, several acres
of land, and a huge apple orchard, so Frank found plenty of
work.
His brothers Ky Cochran and Harrison Cochran moved the
family to Mesa Arizona and later many of Frank's children settled
there. Harrison had the dairy where young Frankie worked and many of
them picked cotton. Cleo and Myrtle Cochran ran a
Laundry.
Stanley remembered the guys driving tractors around pulling a
large round disc to clear the land. Kathy remembered the cows being
milked but she was only age four at the time, and was often told that Pop
would put his coffee with milk and sugar into her baby bottle when she
visited.
Before Frank Delbert married he told his children about
riding his horse to the dances and drinking too much, but his horse always
knew the way home when it was time to leave.
Bernice and Eunice was over at Ky and Sofie's place one time. Mother was pulling Aunt Eunice in a wagon. Eunice had gotten out, and went around back where the dog was. She running, so the dog attacked her. Everyone tried to get them to get rid of the dog. But they said no. They even tried to tell them that with their daughter coming in all hours of the night, that he might turn on her one of these times. Well! that's what happened. He almost killed her. And so they finally got rid of the dog. =========================
When they lived in Western Kansas. Frank was working in the
field. He looked
up and seen a tornado over the horizon. He went up to the house and told Luella to take the children and get under the kitchen table. This is when the twins where very young. After he looked and seen they where under the table he turned to make sure the door was shut tight. As he turned to secure the door, he could see that the house was gone, all that was left was the table Luella and the children where under, and the door he was holding onto. Darrel said Pop would sit and talk to him about this when he was young ===================
Bonnie said that she can remember when Frank worked for
the government,
working on the roads. She said it was for the (GPA). One of the men hit Frank over the head with the pick he was working with. They had to call the Doctor to sew up Frank's head. This is when his brother Ky came down to visit with Frank and help out. He told Frank that he thinks the guy did it on purpose. So Frank quit that job and bought a truck and started hauling produce for different people. Then Bernice's husband got him a job with him hauling hay. ====================== They had a young horse and J.B. hooked up a sleigh on the
back of the horse.
And the horse ran away with him. He told Darrel that was one of the worst rides he had ever had. Most of the children didn't like to ride that horse. So we are thinking that's why he decided to sell the horse. Once these horse traders passing by wanted to trade horses with Frank. He was quite drunk at the time. Luella tried to get him to not trade the horse but he did any way. The horse that Frank had was young. But the horse the other men had was old and fixing to die. Mom said that she heard they had given the horse soda water to make him look good so Frank would buy him. The horse got sick soon after that and died. ==============
Frank and Luella had several children, including two sets of
twins, but only one set survived. There are many twins in Luella's
family tree. In fact while their son Cleo was off to war,
his wife Lucretia fell in love or lust with Pop, and they fooled around a
bit, with her having a set of twins who died soon after birth. Some say
that Cleo divorced her and Pop married her after losing Luella so Lucretia
would have inherited all of the family papers and photos, that would now
be in her son Stanley's possession.As Luella got older and her health declined, and her doctor
did a procedure, perhaps a hysterectomy, while he was intoxicated, Luella
had to be transferred to another hospital where she stayed for 80 days
according to her death certificate. There were many other existing
problems, and knowing that she would never wake up again, Frank had to
make the decision to let her go in 1949. The family thinks he
grieved and drank himself to death after his loss. My phone interview with Aunt Bernice was quite emotional as she went back in time telling me stories, some funny and some very sad. Apparently she was the only person Pop ever confided in about Luella's death and we were almost crying discussing it. Sometimes we just have to let go and that is what Pop had to do. |
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