Anyone up for DNA testing on this Cattrell family?
Most of us have a "brick wall" or "holes" when it comes to our particular Cottrell ancestry.I have always thought that it would be nice if we could at least distinguish whether or not various Cottrell lines in the USA or elsewhere were related.
For instance, personally I am 99% certain that I am a descendant of James Cotteral who came to Pike and Ross County, Ohio around or before 1819.However, this connection has been made through secondary information such as census records and marriage records.A fire, like the 1890 census destroyed the 1810 census, or most of it.The majority of the 1810 census records that exist today are nothing more than a reconstruction based upon tax records or poll taxes for voting, etc.As a result, I can not find this James Cotteral on a census record for 1810.This makes it a little difficult to trace him backward from Ohio, which did not become a state until 1803.
I have deduced his father, again based upon circumstances from a Revolutionary War pension application filed from Pike County, Ohio in 1841, as being James Cottrell of Amherst County, Bedford County and Franklin County, VA who also appears to have been in Wilkes County, NC as well.These are what I call "holes" in a genealogy where your 90% certain about the connection but you have nothing more than a deduction based upon the preponderance of evidence gathered before you.As near as I can tell, neither man left a will that names their children and there are no deeds in the area involving them either.
What is easier to prove is the line back from the Amherst County James as he is listed on deed records with his brothers, Thomas and Gilbert Cottrell, and their dealings with the land left to them by their father, Thomas Cottrell, who passed away in 1762 and left a will that named 3 of his 5 sons.This Thomas Cottrell can be traced back to a Richard Cotterell of New Kent County, VA.This Richard was born in 1662 and this is where the "brick wall" comes in because all of the colonial records of that county were burned in a fire in 1784.
I meant to keep this brief so I'll cut to the chase.There is an ancestral DNA test available at familytreeDNA that allows an individual to set up a family DNA project.I am willing to be the administrator/project manager of this family project but I need some help from fellow direct-line descendants of a Cottrell family.Yes, you have to be a living adult male who still has a variant of the Cottrell surname.If you are a lady you can still participate if you have a brother or father who is a direct descendant of a Cottrell.
We need at least 6 people of whom I will be one so we need only 5 others that are willing to do this.The cost is minimal, under $100 per person if I can get 5 more volunteers and it matters not to me of which family line you are descended.In other words, you could be from the New Kent County, Va. Family or from the Northumberland County, Va. Family.You can be from a Cottrell family located anywhere, as far as I am concerned in the USA, England, France and Australia, etc.The more the variety we have the easier it will be to distinguish who is related by a common Cottrell ancestor and who is not.
For questions about me or comments of interest to take part in this project, you may post here or send an e-mail to [email protected] questions about FmilytreeDNA and the Y-chromosome test refer to http://www.familytreedna.com/http://www.familytreedna.com/ and if you have additional questions, you can send an e-mail directly to them or to me and I'll try to get them answered as quickly as possible.
Thank you
Darel J. Coterel