The inventive wife of a Scotch-Irish businessman

William Apperson Cochran (1831-1883) was a Scotch-Irish businessman, politician and public official, with family roots in county Antrim.

He was a son of James Cochran (1813-1895) and his wife Nancy Caroline Templeton (1808-1895), both of whom were Scotch-Irish.  

His paternal grandparents were John Cochran (1760-1853) and his wife Martha McCaslin (1772-1845) and Martha was also Scotch-Irish.  His grandfather was a veteran of the American Revolution and he fought at King's Mountain.

However it is his wife who is better remembered and she has left us a lasting legacy, which most of us appreciate.  She was born Josephine M Garis (1841-1913) and they lived in Shelbyville, Shelby County, Illinois.

Josephine Cochran was inducted into the US National Hall of Inventors in 2006 and her invention was the first practical mechanical dishwasher, which she demonstrated in 1886.

She was a rich woman who held many dinner parties and while she had servants to wash the dishes she wanted a machine that could do the job faster without chipping any dishes.  No one had invented a practical dishwashed and so she built one herself.

She patented the design, went into production and showed her invention at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  There she won the highest prize for the 'best mechanical construction, durability and adaption to its line of work'.  She started the Garis-Cochran Manufacturing Company which eventually became part of the Whirlpool Corporation.