Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Project©
Oral History Interview
Freddie D. Cochran Sr.
Son of Original Dawes Enrollees
Interviewed by Suzy Cochran Moore
September 2006
In September 2006 Susy Moore, a member of the Choctaw-Chickasaw Freedmen Project© team, began a series of interviews with elders in the Ada, and Stonewall communities. This is the first interview to be published from her interviews. The subject of this interview is Freddie D. Cochran, who was the son of Frank Cochran a Choctaw Freedman, and Susanna Patrick a Creek Freedwoman. Mr. Cochran grew up in the Leader Creek community near Stonewall, Oklahoma. In this interview a glimpse into Freedmen life after statehood for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Freedmen, especially after statehood had imposed separation of the races in 1907.
In this interview he speaks about how people acquired land, built their homes upon the land allotments, and how houses were raised. Freddie Cochran was a grandson of the Cochran progenitor Nathan
Cochran, who historically was a leader in the Choctaw-Chickasaw community. The reader will get a small glimpse into mid I9 century
llfe when slavery was rampant on Oklahoma’s soil. A family member was almost auctioned away from the family, but was saved when word arrived that the war had ended, and that all Negroes were to be set free. Special thanks to Ms. Suzy Moore and to Mr. Cochran for this conversation, and glimpse into the past...
Q. Please state your full name.
A. Freddie D. Cochran
Q. Do you know the names of your parents?
A. Frank Cochran and Susanna Patrick.
Q. Can you name your grandparents and gr. grandparents?
A.. Nathan Cochran, Mary Cochran, King Blue, Mary Blue, Betsy Grayson, Susan Blue,
Daniel Grayson, Frank Patrick.
Q. Can you name your Aunts and Uncles?
A. Uncle Lincoln Patrick, Uncle Constant Olverson, Uncle Richard Cochran, Aunt Rhoda
Patrick, Aunt Eliza Jane Olverson, Aunt Sina Brown, Aunt Ella Frazier, Aunt Lula
Dunford.
Q. Who is the oldest family member that you can remember? A. Uncle Richard Cochran.
To read the entire article; order the Winter 2007 edition of Voices of Indian Territory©