Santa Clara County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
MARTIAL COTTLE
 
            Martial Cottle, of San Jose Township, comes of one of the old Santa 
Clara County families.  He was born in Lincoln County, Missouri, July 24, 1833.  
His father, Edward Cottle, was a native of Vermont, who emigrated to Missouri in 
1811, locating in Lincoln County, among the early settlers.  There he was 
married to Miss Celia Jamison, who was a native of Kentucky.  The family left 
Missouri, April, 1854, and, joining a wagon train, crossed the plains to 
California, driving some 600 head of cattle and a number of horses.  They came 
directly to Santa Clara County, arriving in San Jose on the eleventh of October. 
They located along the banks of the Coyote, and the parents resided in this 
county until their deaths.  The father died in July, 1868, and the mother in the 
fall of 1855.  They are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.  Mr. Cottle was an old-line 
Whig in the days of that party, and afterward a Republican.
            Martial Cottle, the subject of this sketch, remained with his 
parents some time after their arrival.  He commenced farming on a portion of the 
Santa Teresa Ranch, in which his father was the first to purchase an individual 
interest, and subsequently had his share allotted.  His present home farm is a 
portion of this grant, and he has made all the improvements on it, including 
fencing.  His handsome residence was erected in 1883, at a cost of $3,000.  His 
ranch contains 350 acres, and is only about three miles from San Jose.  He 
usually cuts about 150 acres for grain, and the wheat yield averages between 
fifteen and twenty centals per acre.  The remainder of the place is devoted to 
pasture, which yields from one and one-half to two tons per acre.  He was 
formerly interested in dairying, but since 1885 has been almost entirely out of 
this line.  He has 185 acres in another tract, adjoining the Monterey road, 
which is devoted to grain and pasture.  He usually runs about seventy-five head 
of cattle and twenty of horses.
            Mr. Cottle was married, in this county, to Miss Edith Littlefield, a 
native of Santa Clara County, and daughter of John Littlefield, an old settler.  
Both her parents died in this county.  Mr. and Mrs. Cottle have four children, 
viz.:  Leora, Mabel, Martial, and Mortimer.
            In politics Mr. Cottle is a stanch Republican.
 
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, 
Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 
1888.
Pg. 352-353
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler