Santa
Clara County
Biographies
MARTIAL COTTLE
MARTIAL COTTLE. It has been the privilege of Mr. Cottle to witness the growth of Santa Clara county from a very early period of its American settlement,
and no one feels a deeper interest than he in its progress and welfare. The property which he owns and which has been
his home since 1864 comprises three hundred and sixty acres, largely under
cultivation to wheat and barley, although a portion is utilized for pasturage
for his milch cows.
Under his personal supervision all of the fences have been built,
suitable structures have been put up for the storage of grain and shelter of
stock, and in 1883, a commodious residence was erected at a cost of three
thousand dollars, while other improvements made from time to time have added to
the value of the estate.
In Lincoln county,
Mo., Mr. Cottle was born July 24, 1833, being a son
of Edward and Celia (Jamieson) Cottle, natives
respectively of Vermont and Kentucky. As
early as 1811 his father became a pioneer of the then frontier region of
Missouri, where he took up raw land in Lincoln county,
built a cabin and established his home.
For a long period he remained in the same locality, but reports from
California after the discovery of gold brought the west to the attention of people
east of the Rockies and led him to dispose of his interests in Missouri and
seek a new home across the desert and the mountains. During April, 1854, accompanied by his
family, he joined a wagon train and crossed the plains, driving a number of
horses and six hundred head of cattle.
October 11, 1854, they landed in San Jose, then a small Spanish
settlement, whose riches of resources Americans had been slow to discover. Immediately after his
arrival he began to improve a tract of raw land on the banks of the
Coyote. In the fall of 1855 his wife
died, and thirteen years later his death occurred. Though wealth never came to
him, yet he laid the foundation of a substantial success and proved himself a
resourceful and energetic pioneer. He
was the first to buy an individual interest in the Santa Teresa ranch, and
subsequently the land was divided up among his sons.
In a family comprising seven sons
and four daughters Martial Cottle was third from the
youngest, and was twenty-one years of age when he accompanied his parents to
California. On starting out for himself
in Santa Clara county he farmed a portion of the Santa
Teresa ranch, in which he later received his share. While cultivating that property he made his
home at Hayward’s Run stock ranch. In 1864
he moved to the place where he still resides and here he has since engaged in
general agricultural pursuits. His
pleasant country house is presided over by Mrs. Cottle,
formerly Edith Littlefield, a native of California, and the daughter of John
Monroe and Ellen E. (Locker) Littlefield.
The latter came to California from New York state
in 1853, settling in San Jose, where Mr. Littlefield was in business for many
years. Besides serving as county clerk
for two terms he also served as recorder and assessor and as superintendent of
schools in San Jose. Politically he was
a stanch Democrat. All of the seven
children, six daughters and one son, born to Mr. and Mrs. Littlefield grew to
years of maturity, and with the exception of the youngest child, who died at
the age of twenty-six years, all are still living. Their names are, Catharine L., Josephine T.,
Walter T., Ellen E., Wilhelmina M., Edith R., and Emily D. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Cottle
is brightened by the presence of five children, namely: Leora
E., Mabel Mildred, Martial Jr., Montimer, and Ethel
E., who are bright and promising young people, with a host of friends in their
circle of society. Though not a
partisan, Mr. Cottle has always been a stanch
Republican, and loses no opportunity to give his influence toward the success
of his party. However his tastes are
domestic and he takes little part in public affairs, preferring to devote
himself to the improvement of his attractive homestead near Edenvale
and to such work as falls to the lot of a busy agriculturist.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source: History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 1017-1018. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Doralisa Palomares.