History Another Side Of Cochran Family History

My daughter recently researched my Grandmother's family, the Taylors. No one had bothered to research them. I know all about the Browns. Most are buried in a cemetery (Minter's Chapel) on the grounds of DFW Airport. The came to Texas from Tennessee in the early 1900s.
My grandmother was a Taylor and I only knew she was a part Cherokee. What my daughter found out was that her Great Grandfather (Grandfather?) was Moses Taylor. Who was he? Oh, he founded National City Bank of New York which became Citibank. He also founded the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. So my Great-Great (Great?) Grandfather was "one of the wealthiest men in the U.S. in the 1800s."
How did I get screwed out of the money? Well, someone had kids with a Cherokee woman. That "someone" was my Great Grandfather. That didn't sit well with the family and they were never recognized as heirs. The Cherokee folks aren't mentioned in any "formal" accounts of the family, but my daughter did the research in her spare time at The University of Texas Austin where she goes to school. They are well documented.
If you do a genealogy search of birth records and census bureau type stuff it is all documented, but if you read about the Taylors there is no mention of the Cherokee family members. Of course, there is no account of how he met my Great Grandmother, so the Cherokee family branch of the tree is largely a footnote.

I also got screwed on my mom's side of the family as well. My Great Grandfather, Peter Shields, was one of the wealthiest men in San Antonio, Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He built most of the buildings at Fort Sam Houston (some are still there!) He built the City Hall and other government buildings along with a few Carnegie Library buildings around Texas. After he died the family accountant absconded with most of the family fortune. So it goes...

 

Found one of those speednut spanners all rusted up. Did not have the heart to throw it away. Kept thinking it might have a lifetime guarantee.
Prowling around on google a while back I came across the "Arps Snowbird" sort of a cross between an early Ford and a snowmobile. With a name like Arps it has to be related somewhere, probably a dozen times removed.
Have a look at; http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/arpssupersnowbird.htm
Garpo

 

Any relation to Eddie of "Summertime Blues" fame?

 

Man, I think I have one of those speed wrenches

 

My family does not have any outlaws or patents in it's past, nothing jumps out of that nature. Family history like ALL history is unique and important, helps us understand some things. My Sister took the time and much effort to trace our family history back several generation's and one thing that stood out to me was, our last name transilates to "wheelmaker" my Father, a life long Carnut, myself from as far back as I can remember, Carnut, Uncle's, Cousin's, majority same deal. On my Mother's side, several generation's of coal miners, from my Mom's stories a hard life, she always joked about being a Kentucky Hill's Ridge Runner. I have wondered about Genetics if that in fact does effects likes, traits, personality, etc. There's The expression "The Apple Does Not Fall Far From The Tree" So True with my children with the exception of "Carnut" affliction and all the grandchildren do not seem to be car people either, So...... Like many things, change happens.

 

I had an uncle that invented the screwdriver! The drink not the tool.
I now need to go in the garage and check out all my fathers old pipe wrenches.

 

The family backgrounds we have all over this country is what makes us great and what we are. I learned on my father side we were here in the 1650's from Ireland. One of my ansesters was a deserter in the Revolutionary War but came back to fight. Didn't help me get into SAR but it's still facts.

My father holds a patent for a "Ride off Stands" for Harley Davidson's. I still have it. Never mounted to much but I'm sure some motor officers would have liked them in the 50's.

 

As the story goes , both sets of my grandparents came from Europe around 1905, Italy and Russia. The Italian was a book keeper for the NJ mob....The Russian was a scrap dealer in Springfield Ohio. When WW2 came he sold all the scrap for a nice profit, bought the last new Packard in the area , took off and never returned..

 

I have a relative on death row in NC. They made a movie about her.

 

My grandfather called a pipe wrench a "Stilson", "Stiltson", something like that. Could never really understand what he called it with the cigar hanging out of his mouth. But he was still my hero.

 

My dad's father died in 1934...so not much on that side....although a retired family friend is doing his damnest...he dug up most we know of my mom's side....except the curse my uncle's would say from time to time....my grandpa did skate thru Ellis Island with a some medical issues he brought off the boat in 1909 along with my great grandpa and the others from Italy.....

 

Another great read.

The great thing about having ancestors who made and patented tools, is that you can collect their relics now and display, even use them with pride -- and its probably affordable.

I can score my great uncle Gilchrist's ice cream scoops easily on ebay. But ten years ago a box of my great grand dad's historical Edison light bulbs surfaced, and I had to read about them auctioning off outside the family for a huge sum nobody in our family could afford.

 

John Stoner?

 

My great uncle Jim invented the pre-hung door. He sold the patent early on for what he thought at the time to be a lot of money. If he had held on to it, he would have been a multi millionaire. Uncle Jim was a bit of an odd ball, when we went to visit him in southern California around 1972, he and Aunt Margie had matching gold '67 Oldsmobile Tornados in the driveway, and at least one television in every room in the house (including bathrooms).

 

Special Forces and SEALS had Stoners in Nam they did not jam like the early M-16.
We're not talking about dope smokers either, the Stoner is a light Machine Gun that was very effective.

 

Eugene Stoner

 

Now your thinking correctly

 

Ahh. It's been over 20 years since I read all about Stoner and the arms that he designed.

 

Very cool stuff!!! Keep it up. We love history. I wish I had one of those Speednut wrenches in my collection.

 

I wish I had one of those Stoner in my collection

 

It'd be real interesting to find out just what the past/current relation(s) of HAMB-ers invented.
I'll have to add a bit later.
This type of history is actually rather interesting. & usually related somehow. & I don't see it as bragging - just historical fact. Even if some parts are acknowledged as only legend... .
Marcus...

 

Heck....I like reading this kind of stuff Ryan...

My only family ties to patents and such are of something not HAMB related, unless it was towed behind something worthy of being on these pages...supposedly the first sit-down-and-ride-motorcycle-style jet-ski is still floating around Wichita, KS...my uncle should have passed away in a bed of $$$ but nah.

Then, there's the whole Belle Starr thing, my great, great grandfather Silas Shirley's first cousin, and the resulting interaction between himself and a certain outlaw that supposedly got shot in his own home in Mo.

 

My Dad was born and raised in Austin and I am still pissed at him for moving to San Antonio 8 years before I was hatched. He worked as a carpenter's helper on the Capitol and watched his prised '30 Willys roadster burn to the ground from a cig butt someone flipped into it. He was several floors up when it happened. But, his claim to fame came when he speed-shifted his '34 Ford 5-W near Bluebonnet Lane and S. Lamar and split the trans case because of a broken tooth that was trapped between the cluster and another gear. It broke the case, split the bellhousing part of the case, and tore the u-joint out of the torque tube. He was just a few blocks from the future location of the Broken Spoke and a few blocks south of Jesse James' future speed shop.

 

Your Dad's first cousin is your second cousin, at least in the South ! c/s

 

Eugene Stoner.

 

Wonder if your family is connected to the Cochran jump boot, the black combat boot with the super shiny toe ? On another subject, I really enjoyed the film done about Junior Johnson and the run running he and his Father did in hotrod '40 Fords.

 

I like it all,the storys are fun to read. "No one toots your own horn as good as you,often one other then you will". There is an old saying something like that!
Many of you may of had a BARLOW jacknife,but I got nothing ever come my way from that stuff,other then a hard time from a dum as a rock DI in the Army,who found one on a trail we were matching down,an thought it was mine! 50 push ups later for me,some one told him it was a brand name. There is another story about Grandmom's side,"Moyer"but I'll save that one for next time,its more auto!

 

In 1873, German immigrants Adolph Coors from Prussia emigrated to the United States and established a brewery in Golden, Colorado, after buying a recipe for a Pilsner-style beer from a Czech immigrant William Silhan. That guy from Czechoslovakia is my great, great grandpa. That's must be why I like a beer when working on the old hot rods.

 

Picked up my Cochran Speednut Wrench @ Sunflower Model A Swapmeet a couple years back. I liked it's design & ingenuity. Thought I throw it in car trunk for a "do-anything tool next to the monkey-pliers & vice-grips. Now I know it's got good traditional HAMB bloodlines,I like it even more!

 

Only Cochran I remember was Eddie.. I liked listening to him in the 50's...