John Cochran

(1749 – November 30, 1839) 

Born on Noddle’s Island in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1749, John Cochran was a yeoman who joined in the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. Later in life, he was one of the original settlers of what is now Belfast, Maine, arriving in May 1770. 

At his death, he was the last surviving member of the original thirty-two proprietors of Belfast. He held lot no. 42. It is believed that Cochran and other settlers refused to take the oath of allegiance to England, referring to the Oath of Residents that was voted into Massachusetts law in 1634. Cochran and others abandoned their homes to return to Massachusetts and New Hampshire until the war’s end. 

Cochran served as a Belfast Town Selectman several times between 1785 and 1802. He also served as Town Treasurer in 1799 and again in 1814-15.  

John Cochran died in Belfast, Maine, on November 30, 1839. He is buried in Grove Cemetery in Belfast.