Sarah B. Cochran

Sarah Boyd Moore was born on April 22, 1857, in Lower Tyrone Township, Fayette County, PennsylvaniaPhilip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran to James F. Moore and Sarah B. Herbert Moore, farmers.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} Sarah grew up in a log house in Fayette County, Pennsylvania{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} and became a housekeeper in the home of James Cochran,{{Cite web|url=http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_288197.html|title = Welcome}} who was credited as the first to sell Connellsville coke commercially.Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA), 14 October 1977, page 26, col 1, “Linden Hall Tours Still On” He had recently created his own fortune in coal and coke production and was the owner of the largest number of coke ovens in America.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} On September 25, 1879, Sarah married James' oldest son, Philip Galley Cochran, who was being groomed to lead the family business. On September 21, 1880, Sarah gave birth to their only child, James Philip Cochran.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }}

Sarah's father-in-law, James Cochran, died in 1894,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6 July 1980, F1, “Steelworkers' Mansion Quite a Site” by Sylvia Sachs and Sarah's husband died in 1899.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} Her son, James Philip Cochran, was the expected representative of the family's estate but died on March 5, 1901{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} while preparing for his business career as a student at the University of Pennsylvania.{{Cite web|url=http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_288197.html|title = Welcome}}{{Cite book |last=Jordan |first=John Woolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yM0wAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA736 |title=Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania |date=1912 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |language=en}}

As a widow, Sarah spent time traveling abroad.{{Cite web|url=http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_288197.html|title = Welcome}} The length of her travels is unclear, but by 1905 she was back in the U.S. at least part of the time, as newspapers record her chaperoning or hosting parties.{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1905-04-29/ed-1/seq-10/|title=The Phi Psi Dance|date=April 29, 1905|work=The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.)|access-date=April 23, 2020}}{{Cite news|last=Humanities|first=National Endowment for the|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1906-02-15/ed-1/seq-5/|title=The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, February 15, 1906, Image 5|newspaper=The Fairmont West Virginian|date=1906-02-15|access-date=2020-04-24|pages=5|issn=2471-2183}}{{Cite news|last=Humanities|first=National Endowment for the|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1908-02-03/ed-1/seq-5/|title=The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, February 03, 1908, Image 5|newspaper=The Fairmont West Virginian|date=1908-02-03|access-date=2020-04-24|pages=PAGE FIVE|issn=2471-2183}} She was inspired to build her new home, Linden Hall at Saint James Park, by buildings she saw while in St. James's Park in London. The mansion was built between 1911 and 1913, and included three signed Tiffany windows.{{Cite web |last=Babbs |first=Verity |date=2023-12-12 |title=See the Monumental Tiffany Stained-Glass Window the Met Just Acquired |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-met-museum-acquires-tiffany-stained-glass-window-2407462 |access-date=2024-01-30 |website=Artnet News}} When the sixty Italian stonecutters who executed the mansion's stonework wanted to stay in the U.S., Sarah sponsored them for American citizenship.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6 July 1980, F1, “Steelworkers' Mansion Quite a Site” by Sylvia Sachs

Sarah was a semi-invalid for the last fifteen years of her life, after fracturing her hip and arm in an accident at Linden Hall.Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), 28 October 1936, front page, “Mrs. Sarah B. Cochran's Death Closes Long Life Devoted to Human Needs” When Sarah died in 1936, a memorial service themed “The Ministry of Woman” was held at the Philip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church. The service featured ministers speaking about female Biblical figures and about Sarah's life.The Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), 6 November 1936, page 6, col 3, “Memorial Service at Dawson Church for Mrs. Cochran”

Philip G. Cochran was recognized as being one of the most extensive coal and coke operators in Pennsylvania, with large interests in Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia.“The Lady Bountiful of Beechwood Boulevard,” The Pittsburgh Press, 2 August 1908, pg. 43. His death left Sarah to assume many of the business responsibilities and board service roles he had undertaken since his father's death in 1894.{{Cite book |last=Jordan |first=John Woolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yM0wAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA736 |title=Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania |date=1912 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |language=en}} Among these were president of the Brown & Cochran Coke Company, Washington Coal & Coke Company, Juniata Coke Company, Dawson Bridge Company, and First National Bank of Dawson.John Woolf Jordan, James Hadden A Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette and Greene Counties, Vol 3., pg. 736 https://books.google.com/books?id=yM0wAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA736

Under Sarah's leadership, the business grew threefold.{{Cite web|url=http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_288197.html|title = Welcome}} At the time of her death on October 27, 1936,{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} Sarah's obituary suggested that she was a founder and stockholder of Cochran Coal & Coke Company of Morgantown, West Virginia; and the First National Bank of Perryopolis.Sarah B. Cochran obituary https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=822177797842095&id=156864401040108&substory_index=0 In 1977, the Evening Standard in Uniontown stated that she was “at one time the nation's only coal queen.”Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA), 14 October 1977, page 26, col 1, “Linden Hall Tours Still On”

Sarah actively supported education and religious institutions. In 1905 she donated $50,000 to Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania for the construction of a men's dormitory named Cochran Hall,{{Cite web|url=http://sites.allegheny.edu/alumni/tippie-alumni-center/history-cochran-hall/|title = History – Cochran Hall | Alumni | Allegheny College}} which was dedicated in 1908. Known as the “Lady-Elect of Allegheny,” she became the College's first female trustee,{{Cite web|url=http://hcap.artstor.org/cgi-bin/library?a=d&d=p87|title = Artstor}} serving from 1908 until her death in 1936.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }} She was a member of the board of directors of American University at Washington, D.C.The Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), 21 August 1975, page 28 col 1, “Out of the Past.” and donated to Otterbein College, Washington & Jefferson College, and West Virginia University.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }}The American Educational Review, Vol. 31, pg. 359 https://books.google.com/books?id=UAA5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA359 In 1921, the Bethany College Bulletin recorded her contribution for the Sarah B. Cochran Chair of Philosophy at that college.Bethany College Bulletin, Vol. XIV, May 1921, No. 2, pg. 14 https://archive.org/stream/cataloguewithc2122beth/cataloguewithc2122beth_djvu.txt

In 1900 Sarah dedicated a Methodist church in Dawson to the memory of her late husband. This church was later razed when she presented its congregation with plans for a new, Gothic-style stone church. Named the Philip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church, it was officially dedicated on November 20, 1927.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |title=Phillip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church |access-date=2017-02-22 |archive-date=2017-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222111104/http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/susan-b-cochran |url-status=dead }}

In addition to supporting education and religious institutions, Sarah supported women's suffrage by hosting a suffrage tea featuring Anna Howard Shaw at Linden Hall in 1915."Open Fayette County Campaign," The Pittsburgh Post, 30 July 1915, page 9, col. 3 The tea drew 600 male and female guests with proceeds supporting the Fayette County Woman Suffrage Party.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AIRRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GWgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1234%2C3500353 "Stirring Rally for Suffrage in Fayette,"] The Gazette Times (Pittsburgh), 30 July 1915, pg. 7

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.lindenhallpa.com/about/history Linden Hall]
• [http://www.cochranmemorialumc.org/our-church/church-history Philip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church]
• [http://sites.allegheny.edu/alumni/tippie-alumni-center/history-cochran-hall/ Cochran Hall at Allegheny College]
• Hess, Kimberly. A Lesser Mortal: The Unexpected Life of Sarah B. Cochran. New Orleans: Books Fluent, 2021.
• Hess, Kimberly. [https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sarah-cochran "Sarah Cochran"]. National Women's History Museum. 2017.

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Category:American philanthropists

Category:1857 births

Category:1936 deaths

Category:People from Fayette County, Pennsylvania