Clues, though sketchy, may help find this Cochran family

I had no idea I would receive so many responses from members of the Cochran family, but this week I got a letter from another Cochran descendant.

MaLinda Weller of Union City tells us about her Cochran connection:

"I read the info you had in the South Fulton Citizen about the Cochrans, [but] I don't have much info about my mother's family.

"My name is Frances MaLinda Jackson Weller. I was born Aug. 19, 1929, in Atco, Ga. My mother passed away when I was seven weeks and five days old. Her name was Agnes Asazlee Cochran Jackson. My father was Asmon Aaron Jackson. My father's parents raised me. I was named after my mother's next to the youngest brother, Francis Cochran, and my father's next to the youngest sister, Martha MaLinda Jackson.

"My mother's parents were Alfred Cochran and Elizabeth Cochran, who passed away when I was 5 years old. My mother had a sister, name unknown, passed away as a child. She had brothers [named] Albert Cochran, William Cochran, Clyde Cochran, Francis Cochran, Chester Cochran. [I'm] not sure if there were more brothers.

"I had a great-uncle Francis Cochran, a great-uncle Leni Cochran, and a great-uncle William Cochran. Not sure about any more. My grandparents lived in Trion, Ga., at their death.

"There were four of us children: Carl Buford Jackson, the oldest, [then] Grace Evelyn Jackson, Jamie Williard Jackson, and myself. Wish I had more info.

"My grandparents lived in Thompson, Ga., when my mother and dad married. Wish I could give you more information ... Please let me hear from you.

"Sincerely, F. MaLinda Weller, 7340 Lester Road, Apt. 227, Union City, GA 30291."

I really appreciate MaLinda's letter and I hope if there are people out there with connections to this family, they will contact her.

Now, I'd like to show you how you can use clues within sketchy information such as this, put them together with estimated birth and/or marriage dates, and come up with something in "genealogy style" you can work with (this is the fun part).

I can't stress enough the importance of dates, or at least estimated dates, in genealogy work. This will tell you where and when to look for people. If you don't have dates, then at least estimate them and put "abt" and the estimated year (using the general rules I will mention below). You will be floundering around for months if you don't do this.

The biggest clues MaLinda gave us are her birth date, her birthplace, and the fact that she was the youngest. If you work in genealogy for any length of time, you learn general "rules," if you will, and they will at least give you a ball park starting place.

One general rule is that children in the 1800s and early 1900s were usually born one to two years apart. The first child is usually born one to two years after the marriage. Marriages usually occurred when a couple was about 18-20 years old. The Cochran great-aunts and uncles are going to be brothers and sisters of her mother's father. Most of us who today are in our 60s and 70s had grandparents who were born in the 1880s, or thereabouts, and great-grandparents who were born in the 1860s or late 1850s.

If you're being nosy, yes, I am included in that group. My grandparents were born 1885-1888, and my great-grandparents were born 1852-1860. So, with that information, let's apply it to MaLinda's family.

I could not find an Atco, Ga., on the map, so it could be one of those little towns or communities which has disappeared into obscurity, as so many have. There is an Alto, Ga., which appears to be in Banks County in North Georgia, north of Gainesville. Thompson, Ga., is in McDuffie County near Augusta, Trion is in Chattooga County, south of LaFayette and north of Rome. Since we're bouncing all over the state, we'd do better to leave locations alone for now.

I did a "rough" descendant tree of MaLinda's Cochran family, using the information she gave and the general rules I mentioned, and came up with this:

Unknown Cochran was born about 1860 in unknown. He married Unknown about 1880 and had the following children: William Cochran, Leni Cochran, Francis Cochran, and Alfred Cochran, all born prob. aft. 1880. (These are all the great-uncles MaLinda mentioned.)

Alfred Cochran, b. aft 1880, d. 1934, son of Unknown Cochran and Unknown, married Elizabeth Unknown abt 1900 and had the following children: Albert Cochran, William Cochran, Clyde Cochran, Francis Cochran, Chester Cochran, Unknown female Cochran (died as a child), and Agnes Asazlee Cochran, b. abt 1902. (These are MaLinda's mother's siblings.)

Agnes Asazlee Cochran (MaLinda's mother), b. abt 1902, d. 1929, daughter of Alfred Cochran and Elizabeth Unknown, married Asmon Aaron Jackson (possibly in McDuffie County, Ga.) abt. 1920. They had the following children: Carl Buford Jackson, b. abt 1923; Grace Evelyn Jackson, b. abt. 1925; James Williard Jackson, b. abt. 1927; and Francis MaLinda Jackson, b. 19 Aug. 1929.

If you put this into your genealogy program and print it out, it will give you a pretty good idea of where to start finding this family's roots. But, remember, these are only estimates and some dates could be off quite a bit.

Since I received MaLinda's letter just last Monday, I really haven't had a chance to search for her family. I will let you know if I find anything significant. In the meantime, please contact MaLinda or me if you have any information on her early Cochran roots.

If you're looking for your Georgia ancestors, have a genealogy tip, or have a local family history to share, write to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. I'll be happy to share it with others and maybe help you "find your folks."

Until next week, happy hunting!

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