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.

A Presbyterian moderator's insight

Rev Dr John Henry Orr was the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in 1887 and in that role he gave an address at an event in Londonderry on 23 August 1887 to honour the laying of the foundation stone of the new Town Hall.  

The function had been organised by The Honourable the Irish Society, which had a central role in the settlement of Londonderry in the 17th century.  In the course of his remarks Dr Orr said that the members of the Presbyterian Church had a peculiar aptitude for civic administration, arising, he believed, out of their Church system of self-government.

The system of presbyteries, kirk sessions and church committees involved members of the congregation in the governance of their churches and thereby members gained experience that stood them in good stead in civic society.

Dr John Henry Orr was minister of the High Street Presbyterian congregation in Antrim and for many years he was clerk of the General Assembly.

A similar observation has been made about the way in which Methodism in England provided a number of the early leaders of the trade union movement, who had gained experience as lay preachers in their local churches.  

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford - British Covenanter

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) was born into a Protestant and Unionist family in Dublin but moved to England, where he played an important role in the renaissance of British classical music.

He lived through the three Home Rule crises and was a firm supporter of Ulster unionists in their opposition to Home Rule for Ireland.  

In 1913 he welcomed the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force by Carson, Craig and the Ulster Unionist Council and in 1914 he signed the British Covenant, which was launched by the League of British Covenanters, who were British supporters of Ulster

Stanford's interest in Ulster was also reflected in his music, including his song settings of the Ulster-Scots poet John Stevenson's Pat McCarty: His Rhymes (1910), his Irish Rhapsody No 4 (1913), also known as The Fisherman of Lough Neagh and What He Saw and the Ulster March (1913).

The Unionist cause had the support of the overwhelming majority of Ulster Protestants but it also enjoyed substantial support in Great Britain, including that of prominent cultural figures such as Sir Charles Stanford, the poet Rudyard Kipling and Sir Edward Elgar, another important musician, who was a Roman Catholic.  

Advocating for the Union and cultivating support for the Union are vital for the preservation of the Union.