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History By Michael S. Riggs
Asa Selson Alvah Cochran
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Almira's first husband, George Cannon Cochran, died in 1863, leaving her with three children. They had been living in Ohio, but soon after his death, Almira moved with her children to Hopkins, Michigan.
(Justus' sister Salley Ellenor Bissell Church's) "..daughter, Mabel (Church), was married to Asa Cochran. The two of them came into the movement in 1867 at the same time as her parents. Asa went on to become one of the founders of Lamoni, Iowa, and a close associate of Joseph III. Asa and Mabel's daughter, Clara, was married to Elbert A. Smith, who was the son of David Hyrum Smith and grandson of Joseph Smith Jr. Elbert served in the RLDS First Presidency under both Joseph Smith III and Frederick M. Smith, and in 1938 became Church Patriarch."
Later Asa became a stepson of Justus Morse. Asa and Mabel Cochran's daughter Clara married Elbert A. Smith and became a bridge to her LDS Morse family members while living in San Bernardino, California.
Asa Cochran, made a trip back to Mantua as late as 1891, and while there, met with cousins and visited graves.
There is a photo on the Farwest.com site: of Asa and Mabel Cochran, Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Courtesy of Community of Christ Library-Archives
Gathering in 1916 for Asa Cochran and Mabel (Church) Cochran-daughter of Horace and Sally (Bissell) Church-in Lamoni, Iowa. Of the "over sixty relatives" in attendance that day, all could point to "Uncle" Justus Morse as the common denominator in coming to their RLDS faith. Seated in the wicker chair on left is Almira (Barnes, Cochran) Morse, aged 95, the last of Justus' nine probable wives. Asa and Mabel Cochran are seated next to each other on the right side.
Born in Massachusetts, raised in Ohio, and having lived in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, Utah, California, Michigan, and finally settled in Iowa, Justus Morse literally went across the United States and half way back again during his lifetime—a feat of which not many nineteenth-century Americans could boast. With his much-traveled body slowing down, however, Almira would be the best of all his wives to see him through to the end. As opposed to the others, she was unspoiled by plural marriage, and yet was a staunch believer in the Restoration Gospel. She was already a close friend to most of Morse's siblings, even becoming an in-law when her son, Asa Cochran, even married Salley (Bissell) Church's daughter, Mabel (Church) Cochran.[61] Almira brought a respectability to Morse in his new surroundings of which neither Nancy Pratt nor Eleanor Earl were capable.
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