Andrew William Cochran was born in 1793 in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and died in 1849 in Sillery, Lower Canada. He was the son of Anglican Minister William Cochran and Rebecca Cuppaidge. After completing Classical Studies at King’s College in Windsor, Cochran moved to Quebec in 1812, where he obtained a post of assistant in the office of the civil secretary, before being promoted assistant a few months later. In 1818, Cochran married Houstoun Thomson, daughter of William Thomson, a deputy commissioner-general who died in 1837. They had seven children. In 1843, Cochran married Magdalen Kerr, daughter of James Kerr, judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench. Cochran joined the militia staff as a deputy judge advocate in 1813. A year later, he became acting deputy judge advocate and clerk of the Court of Prerogatives. From 1816 to 1818, Cochran was the civil secretary to the governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. Cochran opened a law firm in 1818 after being admitted to the practice of law. From 1818 to 1821, he became acting general counsel, an auditor of land grant titles, legal clerk of the Legislative Council, and secretary of the Clergy Reserves Corporation. Cochran was appointed to the committee of the Quebec Emigrants’ Society in 1819, was president of the Emigrant Aid Society in 1820, and was the director of the Quebec Fire Office (a private fire insurance company) in 1823. He was also vice-president and president of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, where he presented many papers. In 1822, he resumed his post of civil secretary under the government of George Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie. When Dalhousie was recalled in 1828, Cochran abandoned his post. Since 1823, Cochran had been on the board of directors of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Science and became the chair from 1834 to 1837. He also acted as president of the school commissioners of Quebec and trustee of Bishop’s College in Lennoxville. From 1830 to 1835, Cochran obtained thousands of acres in the townships of Leeds, Inverness, and Ireland. Cochrane became the appointed assistant judge in the Court of King’s Bench Quebec in 1839.

General George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie was born on October 23, 1770, in Dalhousie Castle, Midlothian, Scotland.

He was a Scottish soldier and colonial administrator. He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and the University of Edinburgh. Following his father’s death in 1787, he decided to pursue a military career and in 1788, he purchased a cornetcy in the 3rd Dragoons. He was promoted to captain, later major of the 2nd Foot and lieutenant-colonel. He led its 2nd battalion in the West Indies in 1795 and was wounded during an unsuccessful attack against a French party on Martinique. He was stationed in Ireland during the rebellion of 1798 and he commanded assaults on the forts at Abukir and Rosetta (Rashīd), Egypt, in 1801. Promoted to major-general in 1808, he participated in expeditions to Netherlands, Spain, and France. He received several honours for his services, a Knight Companion (KB) in 1813, and a Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in 1815 when he was also created Baron Dalhousie in the peerage of the UK. In 1830, he was promoted to general. After the war, he embarked on a career as a colonial administrator. From 1816 to 1820 he was Governor of Nova Scotia, where he created Dalhousie College, Nova Scotia's first college, which grew into Dalhousie University. He was also Governor-General of British North America from 1820 to 1828 and later Commander-in-Chief in India.

In 1805, he married Christian Broun. He died on March 21, 1838, in Dalhousie Castle, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, Scotland.