The following was submitted by Elizabeth Landenberger (year unknown), as part of the Bryan Family History by William Holms Bryan. The history has been left exactly as it was originally written between 1910 and 1941 . This document will be updated and completed as more research is done. - Karen Wunderlich Stezowski 1996
A Brief history of the Cottom Family, particularly the genealogical connections between the early Bryan family and the Cottom family and the Goodge family. The later being the family of Catherine Goodge, who married a Cottom, and her sister Mary, who married a Bryan.- -William Holms Bryan (1941)
About the year 1800, William Cottom, Sr., and his wife migrated from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and crossed the Allegheny Mountains, taking with them their two young children, William Jr., and Elizabeth. Traveling in a northwestern direction thru Maryland and Pennsylvania, they reached the village of Dunbar, Fayette County, PA, where they located. Dunbar at that time had an old type of blast furnace, new of course to the people then, and was a thriving place. So William Sr., sought and found employment there.
The great-grandmother, Mary McGoogan Cottom, died about the year 1820. After her death he made his home with his son William, who then lived at Dunbar.
Note--Mary McGoogan Cottom was the mother of William, Sr., and "he" mad his home with his son William, as William, Sr., made his home with his son William, Jr..--WHB
When General Marquis de LaFayette visited the United States, in the year 1824?(date difficult to read in original manuscript.-KWS), he shook the hand of John Goodge Cottom, who was less than a year old at that time.
Note-- It is not clear whose son John Goodge Cottom was, whether he was the son of William, Sr., or of William, Jr.. --William, Jr.. is most likely. --WHB
William Cottom, Sr., met with accidental death in about the year 1833 or 1834., leaving at least William, Jr.., and his daughter Elizabeth, to survive him, and also likely his wife.
William Cottom, Jr.., met and married Miss Catherine Goodge, whose parents lived in Dunbar, Pa. Miss Catherine had a brother John, and a sister Mary, who married James Bryan. See the Bryan Family History.
Three years after the death of his father, William, Sr., William, Jr.., and his wife and family moved to a farm at Banning, Fayette County, Pa., where they farmed for four years, and shortly afterwards he bought a farm in Lower Tyrone Township, of the same county, and moved his family there. This farm was later known as the "Cottom Homestead".
To the union of William Cottom, Jr.., and Catherine Goodge there were born eight sons and one daughter, namely:
1. Samuel Cottom, who married Elizabeth Shallenberger, was the father by her of Clarissa, Hiram, John, Alsias, William, and Agnelina.
2. William, the 3rd, who married Pheobe Sembower, was the father by her of Albert, William, and Clark. And after his wife's death, he married Nancy Cochran, who bore him two children, namely, Isaac J. and Joseph R.
3. John Cottom, who married Eliza Sarver, was the father by her of Catherine, Josiah, Mary Jane, Elizabeth, Belle, James, and William.
4. Elizabeth Cottom met and married one Josiah Reed. To this union were born William, Katherine, John, Martha, Sarah, Margaret, Elias, Samuel, Emma, Charles, Phoebe, and Elizabeth.
5. Wesley Cottom (called "West"), who married Sarah Newcomer, was the father by her of Martha, Walter, George, Ella, Susan, Baltert, William, and Charles.
6. Irvin H. Cottom (called "Irv") met and married Anna Walter, and he was the father by her of Alve, Frank, Elizabeth, Lester, Joseph, Harry A., Ethel, and Clyde. After the death of his wife, he married Miss Harriet Hutchinson, who bore him one child, named Glenn H.
7. Henry Cottom never married.
8. Lewis Cottom never married.
9. James Cottom never married.
Henry, Lewis, and James died within a few weeks of each other, while yet in their teens. It is said that death was due to an attack of Typhoid fever, a rare and uncurable disease at that time.
The last member of the third generation of the family of William Cottom, Jr., died in the year 1916.
A large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren survive.
Submitted by Elizabeth Landenberger. Copied and arranged by William H. Bryan, son of James H., Scottdale, Pa. and a grandson of Mary Goodge Bryan sister of the wife of William Cottom, Jr.
WESLEY H. COTTOM (1831-1911) s/o William Cottom & Catherine Goodge mar. SARAH J. NEWCOMER (1832-1905) d/oCottoms buried in the Bryan Cemetary near Dawson
Christian Newcomer, farmer of Tyrone Twp & his second wife, Susannah Snively. both bur. Cochran Cemetery.
Children of Wesley & Sarah (Newcomer) Cottom were:
1 - Martha J. Cottom (1856-1939) mar. James D. Ellenberger
2 - Walter Henry Cottom (1858-1926) mar. Nettie Tremmel
3 - George W. Cottom (1860-1905)
4 - Florence Ellen Cottom (1861-1872)
5 - Robert N. Cottom , b. 1863
6 - Susan Cottom (1865-1948) mar. John Hardy - no issue
7 - William Edgar Cottom (1867-1890) single
8 - Charles Wesley Cottom , b. 1870; mar. Cora Elder
---Submitted by From: Joan Ruse 3/10/98