Cochran-Anspach House

Cochran-Anspach House. Perry County Bicentennial. , The Cochran-Anspach House was built in 1821 by Isaiah Clark for Thomas Cochran, one of the first settlers of Millerstown. Cochran and his three brothers, Protestants, were forced to leave their native Ireland. After disposing of their land holdings in Ireland, they were able to become some of the largest land holders in Pennsylvania. The brothers first arrived in Chester County and laid out Cochranville, then Thomas came to Millerstown in 1798., Cochran constructed his first mountain stone building in 1801, where he kept a store, a post office, and the Cochran Hotel. In 1806, the Millerstown Presbyterian Church started in the barroom of his hotel. A stone church was built in 1831 and 1832 on land donated by Thomas and his wife Sophia Cochran., The Cochran-Anspach House was the third stone house built in Millerstown. At his death in 1846, at age 70, the house along with many other holdings, was bequeathed his son Thomas Preston Cochran upon Sophia's death., Thomas, born in 1813, became a successful merchant. Later in life, he disposed of the store and bought a farm in Greenwood Township where he engaged in mining and agricultural pursuits, acquiring seven farms., Thomas was married several times, first in 1835 to Jane Patterson of Juniata County. She died in 1836, leaving one son. In 1839, Thomas married Rebecca Black of Tuscarora Township, who died in 1884, leaving five children. In 1886, Mr. Cochran married Hannah Maria Kauffman, a widow from Juniata County. After Thomas's death, the Millerstown house was deeded to Hannah., In 1916, the lot and stone house were sold to Hannah's son, Charles A. Kauffman. Eventually they became the property of his daughter Anna Kauffman Anspach, who had married Irvin Anspach, a druggist from York Haven. They had one son, Irvin Kauffman Anspach, born in 1909. Anna and her husband were divorced in 1922, and Kauffman and his mother lived in Harrisburg, returning to Millerstown in the 1950s., At the death of his mother, the property reverted to Kauffman Anspach. He worked in Harrisburg for many years but lived in the stone house until his death in 1981, when the dwelling was bequeathed to and restored by the Historical Society of Perry County.