The Cottier Surname (Cross Side)

This is my second post on the origin of Manx surnames within our family. Today I'll be looking at the Cottier name (the maiden name of Alice Noble's grandmother).

The Cottier name (Americanized to Cotcher) is of Old Norse descent (proof that there is Viking blood within me!). In A. W. Moore's The Surnames and Place Names of the Isle of Man, he states that "Cottier" is to be pronounced "Cotchier", making the spelling change in the US less surprising. It is said to be a contraction of "MacOttarr"- Ottarr's son. Ottar is old Norse for "Twilight Sword", according to Moore.  

There is documentation of that name, or the Anglo-Saxon "Ohthere" as far back as the 11th century. In the 1098 Chronicon Manniae, it is said that a battle between two groups of Manxmen left the Earl Other, leader of the Northern Manxmen, slain. 

Even names of Old Norse origin were given the prefix "Mac", and this was the case with the variant forms MacOttir, MacOttar, MacOttarr, and later MacCottier. The form "Cotter" was most common through the 17th century, when "Cottier" overtook it. According to Manx legend, two French Huguenot families by the name of Cottier settled on the Isle of Man in the late 16th century in Lezayre. In this case, "Cottier" would have most likely been an Anglicized form of the French surname, "Gauthier".

If this story is true, this may have influenced the "Cotter" name's evolution on the Isle, however it is worth noting that "MacCottier" was recorded before then. 

Our Cottier family was from Marown Parish. I searched the Manorial Roll from 1511 and found record of John McOtter and his son William. They were living in "Trolby"- literally "Farm of Trolls". It comes from the Scandanavian "Trolla-byr". According to the Manx notebook: There is a little stream here running down through the glen which one might well imagine as being the supposed abode of 'trolls,' or goblins.

This may or may not be a family connection, but it is still cool to see that there is a long history of Cottiers in Marown Parish. The location described above is located in what is now Crosby. See below for a link to Google Maps.  

Cottiers were coming to the US in the first part of the 19th century, settling almost exclusively in New York and Ohio. By the 1920s Cottier families could be found in over 30 states, though Ohio retained the largest single population. Obviously, some made it to the superior state to the North, and from that our family line can be traced! 

WHERE TO GO: Marown Parish, Isle of Man and Trollaby Lane. Click here for a Google Map.

Click here for Trollaby Farm. 

Family Line @ A Glance: Cross-->Cotcher-->Cottier 

The Gerow/Giraud Line (Cross Side)

(Thanks to cousin Kris for sharing this family tree information!).

Doesn’t everyone long to be a little French, after all? If you’ve ever caught yourself scarfing down baguettes or admiring your own chicness (as my French host mother often would), it may not be your fault. It could be your genes.

As a former French teacher, this bit of family history particularly excites me. I knew I had some ties to France on both sides of my family, but with all immediate family surnames pointing so squarely at the UK, I never had much inspiration to dig deeper. However, since beginning my family history research over a year ago, I’ve found we are all a little more French than I’d thought!

Alice Cross Noble’s maternal grandmother was Minnie Gerow. Her surname, like many, became distanced from its original form in the United States (immigration has a way of doing that, it seems). The French surname Giraud (“au” makes an “o” sound in French and the final consonant is typically silent, hence Gerow) was associated with great political and economic influence in medieval France, with the family seat located in Languedoc.  

Our Gerow ancestors have been in North America since the 1600s, settling first in New York and later in Eastern Canada (New Brunswick and Prince Edward Co.- not to be confused with the island). Our immigrant ancestor was Daniel Giraud, born 1664 in Poitiers, France. Poitiers is known for two famous battles: one leaving Charles Martel victorious in 732, and another a key victory for the English during the Hundred Years’ War. During the 17th century, many left Poitiers for the French settlements in the New World. As a result many Acadians and Cajuns (I could go on about this- it was one of my final paper topics in grad school!) trace their ancestry back to Poitiers or other areas in Northwestern France.

It is worth noting that the Gerow family were Huguenots- French Protestants. This explains why our group went first to New York, as there was a large Huguenot population living there at the time. Apparently our Huguenot ancestors traveled with friends, and Daniel was one of the first settlers of New Platz, NY. You can find records of our Gerow ancestors at the Huguenot Historical Society, located (conveniently on Historic Huguenot Street) in New Paltz, approximately an hour and a half north of the city.

Still, the line does jump to Canada before finally descending into Michigan!  Our first Michigan settler, Freeman, was born in Prince Edward County (what was then Sophiasburg Township) and settled in Linden Township, MI. Interestingly, Freeman’s father died when he was very young, and he was raised by his mother and her family, the Christy family, who were Quakers!

WHERE TO GO:

Historic Huguenot Street in New Platz, NY. Click here for a link to their website and a blurb about the Gerow family.

Historic Sophiasburg Township in Prince Edward County, Ontario. Click here for the Prince Edward County Historical Society blog.

FAMILY LINE @ A GLANCE: Cross-->Warden-->Gerow