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Our recent history started in Hays, Montana. I will tell the stories of my great grand parents as the stories were told
to me:
Great grandpa Billy Cochran from Atlanta, Georgia (1844 - 1925) was a wagon train guide in the Montana area
when a Lakota (Sioux) party attacked his group and he was left for dead. The White Clay People (Gros Ventre) found him and
took care of him. He stayed with the White Clay tribe for the rest of his life. He married a White Clay lady, great grandma
Piegan-Woman (Grandpa Bill called her Peggy). They had 13 children, one of the 11 boys was my grandfather William Jennings
"Bryan" Cochran (7/21/1900 - 5/23/1968). (Note: Billy Cochran married Bessie after the death of "Peggy" and had three
more children).
Great grandpa Benjamin Horseman of the White Clay People (6/21/1879 - 1/1968) was born to Black-Wolf
and his wife Eva (Ann-aye) Long-Hair on the Ft Belknap reservation. As a young man he met a trapper who was impressed with
grandpa Ben and gave him his name, Horseman. The trapper said he wanted his name to live on with a great man. Ben Black Wolf
- Horseman married great grandma Mamie Withrow (12/28/1884 - 1970), a Lakota lady from Wolf Point, Montana. They had six children
and one adopted boy. The oldest of the girls was my grandma Mabel Horseman (4/3/1903 - 2/20/1987).
Grandma Mabel and
Grandpa Bryan were married and had two children, Bryan Jr. and Betty Lou (my mother).
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Note: The French trappers referred to the White Clay People as Gros Ventre (big stomach). This was in reference
to a sweeping hand gesture in front of the body that the White Clay used to identify them selves during Native American sign
language communications. We called our selves "White Clay People" because the "Creator" formed us from clay to keep "Him"
company. (Ref. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, by Carl Waldman)
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