James Laurence Cotter

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Vicar of Buttevant

Notes:

James Cotter matriculated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford, on 22 June 1802. He received his B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1809. He received his LL.D. and LL.B. One of James Cotter's marriages occurred 1 Sep 1807.

James married Matilda Sampayo in 1807 in Diocese of Cloyne, Cork, Ireland. Matilda (daughter of Antonio Sampayo and unknown) was born in cir 1785 in Dublin, Ireland; died before 1827. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

James married Harriet Louisa Carleton in 1827. Harriet (daughter of Edward Carleton and unknown) was born in cir 1780; died in Aug 1845. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

George Cotter was a Colonel in the Royal Madras Artillery and served in the Indian campaign. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Some details of his career:

Lieutenant - 1832
Captain - 1842
Major - 1842
Lt. Colonel - 1858
Colonel - 1861
Retired full pension

He served in the Indian Mutiny Campaign in Bengal from June 1857 to September 1858. He was ordered to Allahabad but was detained in Benares in consequence of the mutiny at that station from July to September. He was employed in a command in the Palamov district in November and December. He joined the Jounpore Field Force and was present of the taking of Nusrutpore and Chanda, actions of Umeepore and Sultanpore, also the attack on the fort of Dowrara. He commanded the Madras Artillery at the siege of Lucknow. Afterwards, he was present at the relief of Azimghur, the taking of Jugdespore and several minor actions in command of the Artillery.

He was thanked by the Governor General of India. He was five times mentioned in dispatches and received the C.B. Medal with clasp. He, probably, received the C.B. (The Companion of the Order of the Bath) in about 1861. It is not mentioned in the Army list for 1861 but is in the edition for 1862. His Uncle Colonel George Sackville (1783-1869), probably his namesake, of the 69th Regiment fought in the Peninsular War and in the Battle of Waterloo.

George Sackville Cotter’s Obituary in the London Illustrated News of August 3, 1878, read:
Colonel George Sackville, C.B., Royal (late Madras) Artillery, on June 25, in his
seventieth year. He was the son of the Reverend James Laurence Cotter, LL.D.,
T.C.D., Vicar of Buttevant, County Cork, and he was descended from Sir James
Lombard Cotter, First Baronet of Rockforest in the County of Cork, Ireland. He
received his decoration for services in India in 1857.

George married Margaret Victoria Butler on 24 Mar 1831 in Madras, Madras, India. Margaret (daughter of William Butler and Sophia Cotter) was born in cir 1814; died in 1831 in Jaulnah, India. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

George married Agnes Kilgour in 1836. Agnes (daughter of Martin Kilgour and unknown) was born in cir 1810. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

George married Katharine Mann in 1850. Katharine died in cir 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Midshipman, Royal Navy

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: clerk in Commerce Bank, Kingston, Ontario

Notes:

From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online:

COTTER, JAMES LAURENCE, HBC fur-trader and photographer; b. 24 Dec. 1839 at Jaulna (Jalna), India, son of Colonel George Sackville Cotter and Agnes Kilgour; m. 13 Sept. 1868 at Sault Ste Marie, Ont., Frances Symington Ironside, daughter of George Ironside*, and they had 11 children; d. 6 Aug. 1889 at Sault Ste Marie.

James Laurence Cotter, a descendant of an Irish baronet, was brought up by his grandmother near Edinburgh, where he attended Loretto School. He arrrived in Canada in 1857 and joined the Hudson’s Bay Company that fall as an apprentice clerkeorge Simpson* described him as “a young gentleman of good education” and sent him to Fort La Cloche (Ont.) on Lake Huron, where he was to be kept “actively engaged” and pick up the “French & Indian” languages. Cotter served two seasons at Bersimis (Betsiamites, Que.) and another at Fort Chicoutimi (Que.) as a clerk and was then transferred to Moose Factory (Ont.), the administrative headquarters of the HBC’s Southern Department. At Moose Factory, where he arrived in October 1867, Cotter was initiated into the complexities of a large fur-trading centre. In 1872 he was assigned to the Eastmain District and made junior chief trader the following year. He recommended to George Simpson McTavish, officer-in-charge at Moose Factory, that the district headquarters be moved from Little Whale River (Petite rivière de la Baleine, Que.) to Fort George (Que.). McTavish agreed, and the move was made in the summer of 1874. Cotter was promoted to chief trader in 1875, and remained at Fort George for another year, until he was sent to Rupert’s House (Fort-Rupert, Que.) to take charge of Rupert’s River District.

In 1879 Cotter returned to Moose Factory to take charge of the Southern Department, which comprised the districts of Albany, Rupert’s River, Eastmain, Moose Factory, New Post (on the Abitibi River), and Kenogamissi (on the Moose River). Te a period of important changes in the development of northern Ontario: the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the opening up of the northwest to settlement were, in Cotter’s words, “beginning to have their effect in unsettling the minds of the people.” This general instability was reflected in the difficulty Cotter experienced in retaining qualified staff, especially skilled mechanics and boat builders. He was, however, successful in obtaining higher wages and better pensions for the men. He also succeeded, despite the restrictions on space in company ships, in having the wives and families of his staff brought out and housing provided for them. As settlement advanced to the north and west, the Indians too were affected. They were exposed to epidemics of whooping cough and influenza, which invariably meant death and sorrow, a decrease in fur returns, and an increase in their debts. To protect the Indians, Cotter prevailed upon them not to travel in areas afflicted by contagious diseases. During this unsettling period, Cotter, who attained the rank of chief factor in 1883, kept the fur returns for the Southern Department reasonably stable. His interests went beyond the fur trade. He established a sawmill for the HBC at Moose Factory, brought in livestock to improve the company’s herd, and planted several productive vegetable gardens.

It is perhaps as a photographer, however, and not as a company officer that Cotter is best remembered. He made his own camera, and took some of the first photographs of the area around Hudson Bay. Nine drawings in Harper’s Weekly (New Yfe 1879, for instance, were based on Cotter’s photographs. Historians and anthropologists are particularly interested in the artistically composed, sharp, clear photographs of people, buildings, and transportation. One of his photographs, taken at Moose Factory in 1871, shows a flat-roofed building which probably dates from 1762. Others show the Moose Factory bell tower, double-masted coastal vessels, the fort cannon pointing out to James Bay, and Indians and canoes. His pictures capture scenes reminiscent of a life which had changed little since the establishment of the fort in 1673. Cotter’s photographs of the Inuit of the Eastmain District at Little Whale River, with their skin tents and kayaks, are probably the first photographs from that area.

During the winter of 1888/89 Cotter was too ill to work. He and his family left Moose Factory for Sault Ste Marie, where he died on 6 August.

James married Frances Symington Ironside on 13 Sep 1868 in Sault Ste. Marie, Algoma County, Ontario, Canada. Frances (daughter of George Ironside and unknown) was born in 1842 in Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada; died on 20 Jul 1912 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

George Cotter was living in Regina, Saskatchewan, at the time of his marriage.

George married Madelon Edna Craig on 18 Dec 1912 in St. John the Evangelist, London, Middlesex County, Ontario. Madelon (daughter of William Craig and Harriet M. Greig) was born in cir 1882 in Clinton, Central Huron, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Wemyss married Charlotte Mason on 27 Apr 1909 in York, York County, Ontario, Canada. Charlotte was born in cir 1871. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henry Martin Stuart Cotter had four children.

Family/Spouse: Beatrice Wilson. Beatrice was born in cir 1874. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ada Margaret Cotter was a twin, but her twin did not survive.

Family/Spouse: W. Tulloch Daniel. W. was born in cir 1875. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: banker

Notes:

Arthur Douglas Cotter had three children.

Arthur married Marian Church Solmes on 2 Dec 1904 in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. Marian (daughter of Reuben Solmes and Florence Church) was born in cir 1883 in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: F. C. Austin. F. was born in cir 1880; died on 29 Jan 1935. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

James Laurence Cotter was a twin, but his twin did not survive. He had two children.

James married Mildred Amelia Purdy on 21 Sep 1905 in Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada. Mildred (daughter of John Purdy and Annie Smith) was born in cir 1882 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Alfred Keith MacDougall. Alfred (son of Alfred Lamb MacDougall and Jessie Elizabeth Cunningham) was born on 5 Nov 1911 in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand; died on 13 Jun 1943; was buried in Runnymede Memorial Cemetery, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Miriam married William Henry Purdy on 7 Nov 1927 in Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada. William (son of Thomas Herbert Purdy and Annie Spooner) was born in cir 1906 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]