Individual Details
Sylvanus COTTLE Sr
(4 May 1704 - Aft 1790)
by Dr. Charles Banks
Sylvanus was adopted by his Aunt Anne Cottle and Irael/Isaac Robinson. Anne Cottle b:1672/73; d: 1737. Irael Robinson changed his name to Isaav after the death of his brother, Isaac
******
Exodus of Sylvanus Cottle
Because we always want to know possible reasons why people do things, it was great when Kathy Norton of the Chilmark Library introduced Rebecca and me to A New Vineyard. The next set of quotations is in reference to a great exodus from Martha's Vineyard that was contemporary to the time that Sylvanus, Abigail and Warren left the Vineyard [the 1760s]. The Mrs. Poole quoted is Dorothy Cottle Poole of Martha's Vineyard:
The sandy soil was a major factor in the island's economy for, almost without exception, the settlers were English yeomen, farmers. The soil of the Vineyard was best adapted to sheep raising, an industry which required such large acreage that it was long before the need for more farmland was acute, a second powerful factor in family emigrations.
In our perspective it seems remarkable that settlers of the original Vineyard should so soon pack up and move on, by an arduous land journey, to a little known wilderness. Yet the Island had been settled for a hundred years when the first of its restless people began to leave.
In addition to the general question of property, we have the factor that Sylvanus' children with his first wife would have gotten the lion's share of the property in the Vineyard. Sylvanus' and his second wife, Abigail Sherman (a descendant of Gov. Wm. Bradford of Plymouth and the Mayflower) wanted all the Cottle children to be able to prosper, so caused the emigration to Vermont at the same time that other Cottles and Vineyard residents were moving to Maine. [Or, at least, this is one theory.]
The house built in the late 1700s -- after the exodus -- by Capt. Warren Cottle, son of Sylvanus, in S. Woodstock, VT, is still occupied. It is on Cottle Ridge, across the highway from the Kedron Valley Inn.
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy2/ps02/ps02_246.htm
Events
| Birth | 4 May 1704 | Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America |  | ||
| Birth | 9 May 1704 | Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America |  | | |
| Birth | 9 May 1704 | Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America | | ||
| Residence | 1704 - 1760 | Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America | | ||
| Marriage | 9 Dec 1725 | Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America - Martha HATCH | | ||
| Marriage | 9 Dec 1725 | Chilmark, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America - Martha HATCH | | ||
| Marriage | 18 Feb 1745 | New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay, British America - Abigail SHERMAN | | | |
| Marriage Bann | 18 Feb 1745 | Dartmouth (or New Bedford), Bristol, Massachusetts Bay, British America - Abigail SHERMAN | | ||
| Marriage | 18 Feb 1745 | Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay, British America - Abigail SHERMAN | | ||
| Military | Abt 1757 | Military company of Tisbury | | ||
| Religion | Bef 1760 | deacon of church - Tisbury, Dukes, Massachusetts Bay, British America | | ||
| Residence | Aft 1760 | Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, British America | | ||
| Residence | 1790 | (appears in 1790 census along with seven other Cottles) - Woodstock, Windsor, Vermont Republic | | | |
| Death | Aft 1790 | Appears in the 1790 census - South Woodstock, Windsor, Vermont, United States | |||
| Alt name | Silvanus | ||||
| Alt name | Salvanas COTTEL | ||||
| Alt name | Sylvanus COTTLE | ||||
| Occupation | "husbandman" (farmer) | |
Families
| Spouse | Martha HATCH (1708 - 1741) |
| Child | Isaac COTTLE (1726 - 1769) |
| Child | Edward COTTLE (1728 - ) |
| Child | Benjamin COTTLE (1730 - ) |
| Child | Anna COTTLE (1732 - ) |
| Child | Lydia COTTLE (1733 - ) |
| Child | Jane COTTLE (1736 - ) |
| Child | Keziah COTTLE (1737 - ) |
| Child | Mary COTTLE (1741 - ) |
| Spouse | Abigail SHERMAN (1721 - ) |
| Child | Jabez COTTLE (1747 - ) |
| Child | Sylvanus COTTLE Jr (1750 - ) |
| Child | Joseph COTTLE (1753 - 1854) |
| Child | Warren COTTLE (1755 - ) |
| Father | John COTTLE (1675 - 1705) |
| Mother | Jane LOOK (1680 - 1756) |
| Sibling | Lydia COTTLE (1702 - 1768) |
| Sibling | John COTTLE (1706 - 1804) |
Notes
Birth
"Massachusetts Births" does not name the child and gives mother's name as Joan. Another record in index gives child's name as Salvanas Cottel, father's name as John Cottel, and mothers's name as Joan. Another gives: Salvanas Cottel, John Cottel, and Jane.Marriage
another record in "Massachusetts Marriages" gives the location as Darmouth, Bristol, MassachusettsResidence
The other Cottles are:Jabez
John
Joseph
Nathan
Warren
Daniel
Timothy
- - - -
Exodus of Sylvanus Cottle
Because we always want to know possible reasons why people do things, it was great when Kathy Norton of the Chilmark Library introduced Rebecca and me to A New Vineyard. The next set of quotations is in reference to a great exodus from Martha's Vineyard that was contemporary to the time that Sylvanus, Abigail and Warren left the Vineyard [the 1760s]. The Mrs. Poole quoted is Dorothy Cottle Poole of Martha's Vineyard:
The sandy soil was a major factor in the island's economy for, almost without exception, the settlers were English yeomen, farmers. The soil of the Vineyard was best adapted to sheep raising, an industry which required such large acreage that it was long before the need for more farmland was acute, a second powerful factor in family emigrations.
In our perspective it seems remarkable that settlers of the original Vineyard should so soon pack up and move on, by an arduous land journey, to a little known wilderness. Yet the Island had been settled for a hundred years when the first of its restless people began to leave.
In addition to the general question of property, we have the factor that Sylvanus' children with his first wife would have gotten the lion's share of the property in the Vineyard. Sylvanus' and his second wife, Abigail Sherman (a descendant of Gov. Wm. Bradford of Plymouth and the Mayflower) wanted all the Cottle children to be able to prosper, so caused the emigration to Vermont at the same time that other Cottles and Vineyard residents were moving to Maine. [Or, at least, this is one theory.]
The house built in the late 1700s -- after the exodus -- by Capt. Warren Cottle, son of Sylvanus, in S. Woodstock, VT, is still occupied. It is on Cottle Ridge, across the highway from the Kedron Valley Inn.
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy2/ps02/ps02_246.htm
Endnotes
1. Edmund West, comp., Family Data Collection - Births (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001).
2. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm, #14, John Cottle family.
3. "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database index, FamilySearch.org (: accessed 17 October 2014), John Cottle in entry for Cottle, 09 May 1704; citing TISBURY,DUKES,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm 0911739, 0911741.
4. "Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850: Tisbury V1," database with images of transcription, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (AmericanAncestors.org: viewed 1 January 2015), vol 1, p 29, "COTTEL...Salvanas, s. John and Jane, May 9, 1704"; citing "Vital Records of Tisbury Massachusetts, to the Year 1850," NEHGS, Boston, 1910.
5. Dorothy Cottle Poole, A New Vineyard (Edgartown, MA: Dukes County Historical Society, 1976), p. 182.
6. Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), Source number: 187.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: GUI.
7. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Massachusetts, Town Birth Records, 1620-1850 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999).
8. Edmund West, comp., Family Data Collection - Individual Records (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000), Birth year: 1704; Birth city: Tisbury; Birth state: MA.
9. Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), Source number: 6113.023; Source type: Family group sheet, FGSE, listed as parents; Number of Pages: 1.
10. Godfrey Memorial Library, comp., American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 1999).
11. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm.
12. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : accessed 3 February 2016), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm, person 41, "Sylvanus Cottle ... m. (1) Martha Hatch (49) 9 Dec. 1725.".
13. "Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850: Chilmark," database of images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (AmericanAncestors.org: viewed 1 January 2015), vol 1, p 48, "COTTLE...Selvanus and Martha Hach, Dec. 9, 1725 [intention not recorded]"; citing "Vital Records of Chilmark, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850," NEHGS, Boston, 1904.
14. "Genealogical," Notices, Boston (Massachusetts) Evening Transcript, 15 April 1931, "Martha Hatch born 1708 at Falmouth [MA] married Dec. 9, 1725...Sylvanus Cottle"; online images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/databases/boston-evening-transcript-genealogy-columns-1911-1941/image/?rId=0 : downloaded image 28 November 2016), Boston Evening Transcript Genealogy Columns, 1911-1941; citing Hatch Genealogy, Chilmark Marriages, Barnstable Families by Otis, NEHGR.
15. Charles Lathrop Pack, Thomas Hatch of Barnstable & Some of His Descendants: The Descent of Alice Gertrude Hatch and Her Husband, Charles Lathrop Pack, from Thomas Hatch and Allied Families (Newark, NJ: The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey, 1930), p 180; online digital page images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=18671 : accessed 11 March 2017.
16. Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011).
17. Ancestry.com, Massachusetts, Compiled Marriages, 1633-1850 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005).
18. Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004), Source number: 187.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: GUI.
19. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm.
20. "Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850: Dartmouth (3 vols)," database of images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (AmericanAncestors.org: viewed 1 January 2015), vol 2, p 134, entry for [Cottle] Sylvanus (Cottel); and vol 2, p 421, entry for [Shearman] Abigail (Sherman); citing "Vital Records of Dartmouth Massachusetts to the Year 1850," New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1930.
21. "Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850: Chilmark," database of images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (AmericanAncestors.org: viewed 1 January 2015), vol 1, p 48, entry for [Cottle] Silvanus (C[o]ttle); and vol 1, p 71, entry for SHERMAN, Abigail; citing "Vital Records of Chilmark, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850," NEHGS, Boston, 1904.
22. "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1695-1910," database, Family Search (https://familysearch.org: accessed 17 October 2014), Silvanus Cottel and Abigail Sherman, Shearman, 18 Feb 1745; citing FHL microfilm 775496.
23. "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database index with images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHCG-W9X: downloaded 1 October 2016), image 71 of 231, for "Records of Dartmouth, New Bedford, marriages, deaths, town meetings, births, and intentions of marriages, 1667-1847," p 60, Silvanus Cottel and Abigail Sherman.
24. "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database index with images, FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9979-CW2T: downloaded 17 September 2018), Bristol > Dartmouth > Births, marriages, deaths 1667-1844 > image 239 of 408, "Sherman [or] Shearman... Abigail of Dartmouth and Sylvanus Cottel of Chilmark, Feb 18 1745"; citing FHL film 775496, imaging a book titled, "Darthmouth [sic] Records, 1667-1844: Births, Intentions of Marriage, Forbidden Bans [sic], Marriages, Deaths." The book appears to be a handwritten transcription of older records.
25. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm.
26. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm.
27. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm.
28. "United States 1790 census," database index only, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (AmericanAncestors.org: accessed 4 April 2016), Series M637, Origin 12, Archive Roll # 568152, Line # 14700, Woodstock, Sylvanus Cottle; citing original index: Unites States Census, 1790, Family Search, 2014.
29. 1790 U. S. census, Windsor, Vermont||Windsor, VT, heads of families, Woodstock, p 65 (handwritten), line 9, Sylvanus Cottle (5 males under 16, 1 male over 16, 4 females); database index with digital images, Ancestry.com (NARA Series: M637; Roll: 12; Page: 64; Image: 80; Family History Library Film: 0568152 : accessed 4 April 2016); citing First Census of the United States, 1790 (NARA microfilm publication M637, 12 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C..
30. Dr. Charles Banks, Martha's Vineyard Museum, Sketches of the Early Settlers of West Tisbury, from The History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II, Annals of West Tisbury, pp 25-65 (http://history.vineyard.net/b2wtres.htm : viewed 14 October 2014 viewed), history.vineyard.net/cottle.htm.