Descendancy Dig D1: Samuel E. Cochran + Florence B. (Carpenter) Cochran, Non-Trunk Children

Researched 2026-10-25. Free public records only, no fees, no accounts. Scope: the children of Samuel E. Cochran (1859-1933) and Florence B. (Carpenter) Cochran (1864-1912) OUTSIDE Joel's direct trunk (the Benjamin T. Sr. line is already documented in FAMILY-TREE-v1.md). Labels: VERIFIED = a record read in full or a verified index entry. CANDIDATE = fits but not proven. NOT FOUND = searched, nothing surfaced; the settling record is named. Prior files this dig builds on: FAMILY-TREE-v1.md, samuel-children-outcomes.md, sjcpl-cochran-index-full.md, ssdi-exact-dates.md.

1. Samuel S. Cochran + Vallerie Lucille (Niles) Cochran, South Bend

Already on file (VERIFIED, prior waves): Samuel S. stayed in South Bend, lived at 1717 McKinley Ave., died about late November 1960 (South Bend Tribune item 11/30/1960; SJCPL rec/323025, https://www2.sjcpl.org/db/obits/recorddetail/rec/323025). No SSDI/Numident entry exists for him (d. 1960, before SSDI coverage). His wife Vallerie Lucille (Niles) Cochran, b. May 11, 1900, Elkhart, IN, daughter of Claude Niles and Neva Weybright, d. September 16, 1990 (Numident, via SortedByName; SJCPL ties her to Samuel S. at 1717 E. McKinley Ave.). One SSDI mirror gives her birth year as 1899 (conflict flagged, unresolved). Her Numident entry carries the unexplained alias "Vallerie Niles Honer," as printed.

Children: NOT FOUND in this dig. Searches run: Vallerie's name with South Bend and obituary terms (no obituary text surfaced anywhere free); Samuel S. by name and by the McKinley Ave. address (aggregator noise only); the SortedByName Cochran Numident file for a child entry naming Samuel S. and Vallerie Niles as parents (no child entry surfaced through web search); the "Honer" alias (no record tying the alias to a second marriage or to children surfaced). None of this proves the couple was childless. It only proves no free, web-readable record found in this pass names a child.

Settling records, in order: (1) the couple's 1930 and 1940 census households in South Bend (FamilySearch census indexes, free account/sign-in route, the standing open door for the whole build); (2) the 1950 census household at 1717 E. McKinley Ave. (NARA 1950 census, free, name-searchable at 1950census.archives.gov); (3) the text of Samuel S.'s Tribune notice of 11/30/1960 and of Vallerie's September 1990 Tribune obituary (SJCPL microfilm; the index entries are already on file).

2. Walter E. Cochran (d. June 20, 1965, South Bend)

Already on file: Walter E., a lumber buyer in his father's trade in the 1921 Polk directory (1406 Marine St.), died June 20, 1965, at 2645 Tamarac Place, South Bend; notices in the South Bend Tribune 06/22/1965 and the Mishawaka Times 06/22/1965 p. 2 (SJCPL rec/335065, https://www2.sjcpl.org/db/obits/recorddetail/rec/335065). The SSDI sweep found no matching SSDI/Numident entry, so the death date stays single-source (SJCPL index).

Spouse: NOT FOUND. No SJCPL entry names a wife as "spouse of Walter E.," and no other free record read names one. Children: NOT FOUND. Burial: NOT FOUND. Searches run in this dig: Walter by name with South Bend and 1965 (no South Bend hit; the results were other Walter Cochrans in WV, GA, MA); the Tamarac/Tamarack address in both spellings; Find a Grave and PeopleLegacy burial lists for a Walter Cochran d. 1965 in Indiana (none identifiable as him); Interment.net and USGenWeb St. Joseph County cemetery transcriptions (no transcription naming him surfaced).

Settling records: the text of the June 22, 1965 Tribune and Mishawaka Times notices (SJCPL microfilm), and the 1930/1940/1950 census households (he would appear in South Bend directories and censuses across 1930-1960; a wife and children, if any, would be in the household).

3. The Albert Branch (CANDIDATE line, label kept)

The elder Albert G. Cochran's link to Samuel E. stays CANDIDATE: no record read names his parents. The California family itself is VERIFIED real (all Numident, via SortedByName, prior wave): sons Ted Guy Cochran (b. April 14, 1915, South Bend; d. July 1, 2000, Pahrump, NV), Albert G. Cochran Jr. (b. December 17, 1919, South Bend; d. July 8, 1998, Lucerne Valley, CA), and Darrell Dean Cochran (b. December 25, 1929, South Bend; d. August 31, 1997, Reno, NV), all sons of Albert Cochran and Emma Vanlue (spelled "Vaulue" in Albert Jr.'s entry).

NEW, VERIFIED: Emma (VanLue) Cochran's own family

• Emma Cochran of Los Angeles was a daughter of Francis A. VanLue (b. December 2, 1863; d. May 26, 1938) of Niles, Michigan. VERIFIED by Francis A. VanLue's obituary, Niles Daily Star, Friday, May 27, 1938, p. 2, transcribed in full at Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery: https://friendsofsilverbrook.org/site5/obituaries/5472-vanlue-francis-a
• The same obituary names Francis's wife as Elizabeth Pettit, married at Rochester, Indiana, December 16, 1882 (she died about 1930). So Emma's parents are VERIFIED: Francis A. VanLue and Elizabeth (Pettit) VanLue.
• The obituary lists Emma among the five surviving daughters as "Mrs. Emma Cochran, Los Angeles, Calif." VERIFIED: Emma was alive and living in Los Angeles in May 1938. That fits the family's documented path (sons born in South Bend 1915-1929, candidate daughter born in Los Angeles 1932).
• Francis A. VanLue was born in Fulton County, Indiana, and the family sat in the same Fulton County / South Bend / Niles orbit as Samuel E.'s family: a brother Hollis VanLue of Rochester, IN; a daughter Mrs. Odie Keesey of Akron, IN (Akron is where Samuel E. and Florence are buried); sons at Roseland, IN and Granger, IN. This geography is consistent with the elder Albert marrying a Fulton County woman. It does NOT prove the elder Albert was Samuel's son; the link stays CANDIDATE.
• Emma's eight siblings are named in the obituary (names and 1938 residences, published record): sons Emorick (Barron Lake), John (Roseland, IN), William (Niles), Harry (Granger, IN); daughters Mrs. W. E. Quick (South Bend), Mrs. Odie Keesey (Akron, IN), Mrs. O. W. Smith (Roseland), Mrs. Verlin Williams (Niles).
• Spelling note: the obituary and the Silverbrook records use "VanLue." The Numident entries use "Vanlue" and "Vaulue." Same family; the variants are kept as printed in each source.
• Emma's own birth and death dates: NOT FOUND in this dig. One candidate SSDI entry (an Emma Cochran b. February 6, 1902, d. March 1983, seen in AncientFaces SSDI lists) was tested and REJECTED: a woman born in 1902 would have been 13 when Ted Guy was born in 1915.

The four children of Albert G. + Emma: spouses and children

• Ted Guy Cochran (1915-2000), Pahrump, NV: spouse and children NOT FOUND. Searches: Pahrump obituary routes including the Nevada Obituary Archive pages at genlookups.com (no Ted Cochran in the pages returned), Pahrump cemetery and veterans-burial listings (no match). His SSDI facts are re-confirmed by AncientFaces' SSDI mirror lists.
• Albert G. Cochran Jr. (1919-1998), Lucerne Valley, CA: spouse and children NOT FOUND. Searches: Lucerne Valley / San Bernardino obituary terms (no obituary text surfaced), Legacy.com (no matching obituary). SSDI facts re-confirmed.
• Darrell Dean Cochran (1929-1997), Reno, NV: spouse and children NOT FOUND. His AncientFaces SSDI page confirms only the SSDI data (b. December 25, 1929; d. August 31, 1997; last residence Reno, Washoe County, NV 89502): https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/darrell-d-cochran-birth-1929-death-1997/89423832
• Joan Lea Cochran (CANDIDATE daughter): the only source remains Ancestry family-tree data surfaced in search snippets (b. November 17, 1932, Los Angeles; d. November 14, 2008, Tarrant, Texas; father Albert Guy Cochran; mother Emma Jane Vanlue): https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/results?firstName=joan&lastName=cochran . Tree data is not a record; she stays CANDIDATE.
  • NEW CANDIDATE married name: ROBINSON. The SSDI-derived AncientFaces index contains a Joan Robinson with exactly Joan Lea's dates, b. November 17, 1932, d. November 14, 2008 (listed among the Joan Robinson biographies on, for example, https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/joan-c-robinson-birth-1936-death-2002/43090669 and https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/joan-i-robinson-birth-1922-death-2009/23521904 ). An exact match on both dates is a real signal, but her last residence was not read and no record ties this Joan Robinson to Albert and Emma, so the identification stays CANDIDATE. Settling records: the Texas Death Index entry for a Joan dying November 14, 2008 in Tarrant County, or a Fort Worth Star-Telegram obituary from November 2008 naming her family.

Settling records for the whole branch, in order: the elder Albert's California Death Index entry or death certificate (mother's maiden name field would settle his link to Samuel E. at once); the 1930 census (South Bend or California) and 1940 census (Los Angeles) households of Albert and Emma, which would enumerate the children at home; obituaries for Ted (Pahrump Valley Times, July 2000), Albert Jr. (Victorville Daily Press or San Bernardino Sun, July 1998), and Darrell (Reno Gazette-Journal, August/September 1997), none of which are free on the open web for those years.

4. Martha V. Cochran and the Martha L. (Cochran) Mull Candidate

Candidate on file (CANDIDATE, not merged): Martha L. (Cochran) Mull, wife of Clifford L. Mull, d. July 26, 1946; notices in the North Liberty News 08/01/1946 p. 3, the Walkerton Independent 08/01/1946 p. 3, and the Mishawaka Enterprise 07/31/1946 pp. 3 and 5 (SJCPL rec/556819, https://www2.sjcpl.org/db/obits/recorddetail/rec/556819).

This dig could NOT enumerate the Mull household from any free web source: searches for Clifford Mull and Martha Mull with Walkerton, North Liberty, census, and Find a Grave terms returned no household, no memorial, and no obituary text (the Martha Mull records that surfaced belong to other women, including Martha Marie (Freeman) Mull, 1897-1972, wife of Harry Mull, and a 2024 North Carolina Martha Mull; neither is the candidate).

Verdict: the candidate is WEAKENED but not killed. Reasons:

• Against the match: (1) the middle initial conflicts, L in every Mull record vs. V for Samuel's daughter in the 1910 census list; (2) the Mull notices ran in Walkerton-area papers, and the SJCPL index shows a separate, established Walkerton / Liberty Township Cochran cluster (Curby J., Woodrow W., Harry O., and J. L. Cochran households of Walkerton), a local Cochran family this Martha could belong to instead; (3) Samuel's Martha was last verified in South Bend in 1921 (machine operator, living at 1406 Marine St.), and nothing read ties her to Walkerton or to any marriage; she did not marry in Fulton County (verified negative, Tombaugh index read in full).
• For the match: nothing new. No fact found in this dig supports it beyond the name and the county.
• Nothing found kills it outright either: no record read gives the Mull Martha's age, birthplace, or parents, any one of which could exclude her.

Settling records: her 1946 Indiana death certificate (names parents and birthplace; the single decisive record), the text of the July 31, 1946 Mishawaka Enterprise notice (Hoosier State Chronicles carries Walkerton-area papers; the 1946 Enterprise text was not reachable through free web search in this pass), and the 1930/1940 census household of Clifford L. Mull in Liberty Township (her age and birthplace there would test the fit).

5. Marie L. Cochran

One more hunt, as assigned: NOT FOUND again. Marie L. appears only in the 1910 census child list. She is not in the 1921 South Bend household (Samuel S., Walter E., and Martha were; Marie was not). No Fulton County marriage (verified negative). No SSDI/Numident hit under Cochran. No standalone SJCPL obituary record (the only Marie hit in the full 91-record pull is a different woman). This dig's added searches (Marie Cochran with South Bend and 1920 census terms; Find a Grave and PeopleLegacy burial lists) surfaced no identifiable record of her.

What remains possible: she married outside Fulton County between about 1910 and 1921 and died under a married name no index has tied back to Cochran, or she died young between censuses. Settling records: the 1920 census (Marie Cochran, South Bend, in her father's household or her own), St. Joseph County marriage records for a Marie Cochran bride, and South Bend News-Times marriage and death notices 1913-1922 (Hoosier State Chronicles).

D1 Bottom Line

• One solid new verification: Emma (VanLue) Cochran's parentage (Francis A. VanLue + Elizabeth Pettit, m. 1882, Rochester, IN) and her residence in Los Angeles in May 1938, from her father's published 1938 obituary. Folded into FAMILY-TREE-v1.md.
• One new candidate: Joan Lea Cochran's married name may be Robinson (exact date match in the SSDI index), unverified.
• The Martha Mull candidate is weakened with written reasons; it is not merged and not killed.
• Children of Samuel S. + Vallerie, Walter E.'s family, the western sons' spouses and children, and Marie L.'s outcome all remain open. In every case the gap is the same: the records that would answer (1930-1950 census households, newspaper obituary texts, the California Death Index) sit behind a free-account sign-in or in microfilm, not on the open web. The single highest-value next step for D1 is the standing one for the whole build: a free FamilySearch account, which opens the census households for Samuel S., Walter, Albert, and Clifford Mull in one pass.