The son of Dr. Richard Ellis & Eliza Frances (Evans) Cochran, he married Anna Maria Barnitz April 24, 1853, and fathered Eliza E. (b. @1855), Richard E. (b. @1857), and Emma B. (b. 1859). In 1860, he was a lawyer living in York Borough, York County, Pennsylvania, and the year before had won election for the office of state auditor. He also, in company with his brother John Jefferson Cochran, was the editor of the weekly newspaper, the York Republican.

In September 1862, with Robert E. Lee's army having crossed the Potomac River, Pennsylvania rallied troops in case Lee moved farther north. On September 12, a Thomas Cochran enlisted as sergeant with the Hay Independent Company and discharged with his company twelve days later after Lee had re-crossed the Potomac into Virginia subsequent to the battle of Antietam. Whether this sergeant was the same Thomas Cochran is not 100% certain, but he appears to have been the only man by that name in York at the time.

The son of Dr. Richard Ellis & Eliza Frances (Evans) Cochran, he married Anna Maria Barnitz April 24, 1853, and fathered Eliza E. (b. @1855), Richard E. (b. @1857), and Emma B. (b. 1859). In 1860, he was a lawyer living in York Borough, York County, Pennsylvania, and the year before had won election for the office of state auditor. He also, in company with his brother John Jefferson Cochran, was the editor of the weekly newspaper, the York Republican.

In September 1862, with Robert E. Lee's army having crossed the Potomac River, Pennsylvania rallied troops in case Lee moved farther north. On September 12, a Thomas Cochran enlisted as sergeant with the Hay Independent Company and discharged with his company twelve days later after Lee had re-crossed the Potomac into Virginia subsequent to the battle of Antietam. Whether this sergeant was the same Thomas Cochran is not 100% certain, but he appears to have been the only man by that name in York at the time.