John Elias Kocher and Laura M. Sloan

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Husband John Elias Kocher ^{1 2}

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            AKA: Jacob E. Kocher 3
           Born: 22 Jul 1870 - Jackson Twp, Butler Co, PA 1 2
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         Father: John Henry Kocher (cal 1836-1908) 1 2 4 5
         Mother: Elizabeth Shanor (      -1872) 1 4

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       Marriage: 17 Aug 1899 2 3

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Wife Laura M. Sloan ^{2 3}

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         Father: Henry Sloan (      -      ) 3
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 F Jean Sloan Kocher ²

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           Born: 
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2 M Ralph Sloan Kocher ³

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           Born: 14 Sep 1904 3
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General Notes: Husband - John Elias Kocher

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He spent the first twenty-one years of his life on the Kocher homestead in Jackson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, participating in the usual pleasures and occupations of country life. He began his education at the Old Furnace School in Beaver County. After mastering the somewhat limited curriculum which obtained in this primary institution of learning, he became a pupil, in 1892, in the Slippery Rock Normal School, from which he was graduated in 1895, having in the meanwhile taught a term of school at Middle Lancaster, Butler County. After his graduation he turned his whole attention to educational pursuits, being elected principal of the Zelienople public schools, the duties of which office he assumed in September, 1895. In this occupation he continued for seven consecutive years, during which time he had the pleasure of seeing his sphere of labor increase from a four-room to a six-room school, and add an advanced course of high school work, in which he graduated four classes. During these years also he spent three summers at Grove City College and one summer at Sarversville, teaching the first term and organizing what became "Cabot Institute," located at Carbon Black. In January, 1901, he was commissioned by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction as a member of the Committee on Permanent Certificates in Butler County.
On December 28, 1901, Mr. Kocher deserted the ranks of pedagogy for those of journalism, becoming the proprietor of the Connoquenessing Valley News.
He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, in which he was elected to the eldership. Politically he was a Democrat. He served his home town as auditor and as borough treasurer, and held a notary public commission beginning in April, 1892.

He received his education in the public schools, at Slippery Rock Normal School, and in several terms of summer work at Grove City College. For seven years he was principal of the Zelienople public schools. During the period he organized and put into operation the Zelienople High School. All his energies were bent toward modernizing and improving the course of study and the physical equipment of the schools. In 1901, he bought the "Connoquenessing Valley News," which had been established in 1878 as a weekly newspaper and commercial printing establishment. It was from Ira L. Zeigler that Mr. Kocher purchased the paper. The circulation was about one thousand two hundred and fifty, and the day of issue was Thursday. This was one of the few remaining newspapers of the county and did much of the commercial printing for the lower part of the county. Beginning in 1901 Mr. Kocher became a notary public, and from 1920 was secretary of the School Board. He was also a director of the First National Bank. He was a Democrat, a member of the Zelienople Rotary Club and of the State and National Editorial associations. He was also a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church, and superintendent of the Sunday school. [PAH, 48]

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General Notes: Wife - Laura M. Sloan

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from New Brighton, Pulaski Twp, Beaver Co, PA

Previous to her marriage she was a teacher.

1 James A. McKee, 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1909), Pg 727.

2 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 48.

3 James A. McKee, 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1909), Pg 728.

4 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (R. C. Brown & Co. Publishers, 1895), Pg 1257.

5 Gertrude Mohlin Ziegler, The Ziegler Family and Related Families in Pennsylvania (Zelienople, PA: Charles Campbell Printing Co., 1970), Pg 164.