Lucy had lived a long and interesting life in Belfast, Maine. She has just celebrated the beginning of her eighty-second year. Some of her friends has visited to congratulate her on her birthday. She reminisced over her long lifetime. At times it had been lonesome. Lucy was the eldest daughter of John and Eunice (Morse) Cochran. Her sister, Mary A., was a year and a half younger than she. Mary had died in 1878, at age thirty-four years and a half of the dreaded disease of consumption. Just a little over two years later, her beloved mother, Eunice, passed away in 1880, aged only seventy-six years. Lucy and her father lived on in the home on Cochran Hill in Belfast, until, he too, passed away in 1885, aged eighty-four, leaving Lucy as the last remaining member of the Cochran family.

Lucy spent her early years in the house on Cochran Hill, on what became known as Poor‘s Mill Road, enjoying her youth with her parents and sister, Mary. After the death of her family members, Lucy purchased the Arthur Hamilton house on Cedar street in Belfast, where she lived for many years. She then moved in with her very close and good friend, Mrs. Calvin A. Hubbard at 4 Park Street.

Lucy was rarely idle. She had been a schoolteacher for most of her adult years, a position that she was very dedicated to, teaching in Belfast, and also in neighboring towns. She recalled staying with her uncle Moses Morse in Belmont when she taught at the at the schoolhouse nearby his home. Uncle Moses had five children, Fred, Frank, Etta, John and Ada, attending school while she taught there. They were her cousins, but much younger than she. Frank was an especially trying student. His punishment at school would be to stand in the corner as a ‘dunce’. She would frequently lose her patience with him. He was as unruly toward her at home at Uncle Moses and Aunt Susan’s, as he was at school. Lucy had never married, and Frank delighted in teasing her, calling her as an “old-maid”.

Lucy also visited her cousins, children of her Aunt Patience Davis in Montville, and the Rowell cousins in Thorndike.

Lucy’s life was spent in studying and ever learning. She graduated from the Chatuaqua Seaside Circle of Belfast, going to Chatuaqua, New York for the graduation. She was an expert seamstress, and was a member of the ‘Going Dressmaking Parlors’. She was a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, commonly known as the Grange, being a member of the County, State and National Grange. She served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Seaside Grange of Belfast. Lucy was the first female Master of the Belfast Grange, serving two terms.  She wrote the local Grange news for the Republican Journal.

Lucy was very proud of her paternal heritage, as her grandfather, John Cochran, had been born at Noddles’ Island in Boston Harbor in 1749. He had been a participant, and one of the leaders, of the famed Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773, in which he assisted in destroying a shipload of tea, throwing it into Boston Harbor in the early days of the Revolutionary War. Grandfather Cochran was one of the early settlers of Belfast, Me., coming from New Hampshire. He lived to be the last survivor of the thirty-two proprietors and early settlers.

Lucy had once invited a reporter from The Republican Journal to her home to show some of the artifacts belonging to her grandfather, one of which was a book printed in 1653, brought from Scotland by her grandfather’s ancestor. They had later moved to Ireland, coming to Boston in America in 1718, and to Belfast about 1770. The book was titled “An Exposition With Practical Observations Continued upon the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-One Chapters of the Book of Job”. Lucy had two books written with a quill pen by her great-grandfather, Samuel Cochran, and another book by her Grandfather John Cochran in 1760.

Lucy had a Sampler, made about 1775 by the mother of a late ex-Governor’s wife, one of Lucy’s paternal cousins, who made it when she was a schoolgirl, and given to Lucy‘s grandfather. Lucy had her grandfather’s watch, a large tablespoon made by Paul Revere when he was about fifteen years old, with his initials, P. R. on them, for her grandfather when he was an infant, also with J. C. engraved on it. The spoon was used daily for well over a hundred years. There were also two tiny silver teaspoons by Revere. Lucy was the keeper of the family photos and Family Bible.

The local Daughters of the Revolution Society was named after Lucy’s grandfather, called the ‘John Cochran Chapter D.A.R.’ Lucy was an active member of the Society, keeping attendance throughout her life.

She was a regular church attendant and Sunday School teacher, at the Methodist Church, later at the North Congregational church in town, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and family. He had owned six of the thirty-one pews of the West Side meeting house on High Street. Lucy proudly owned the pew deeds.

Lucy, a well-known and respected member of society in Belfast, Maine,  had most recently been teaching pupils who needed extra help in their studies.

For most of her life, Lucy had lived alone, and she died alone at Mrs. Hubbard’s home at 4 Park Street in Belfast, Maine, of a shock, two days after her eighty-second birthday.

In the spacious Grove Cemetery on Belmont Avenue in Belfast, Maine is a row of white gravestones. The largest is a beautiful old stone depicting Lucy’s grandfather’s life, stating that he was a member of the memorable Boston Tea Party. First in line is a gravestone for sister Mary, next Mother, Eunice, and third, Father, John Cochran. But, having outlived her family, no one has erected a gravestone in the family lot for Lucy, the last of the Cochran family.

Lucy’s relatives have long wondered what happened to the artifacts that she was so proud of, and what happened to the Family Bible and the family photos of her parents, Mary, and both the paternal and maternal grandparents. A visit to the Waldo County Probate Office left more questions than answers. Lucy did not leave a will. Her cousin, Etta (Morse) Batchelder of Searsmont petitioned the Court in February of 1924 that Samuel Adams of Belfast be appointed administrator of Lucy’s Estate. Her heirs were listed as Frank A. Morse, cousin of Boston, Mass.; Etta M. Batchelder, cousin of Searsmont; John Morse, cousin of Knox, Me.; Ada L. Howard, cousin of Belmont, Me.; and Winfield S. Davis, cousin of Montville, Maine.

Inquiries at the Belfast Museum and the Belfast Free Library resulted in negative results, with the reply that they have been asked these questions in the past. What genealogical and historical elation if the photos could be located and scanned for posterity.