Roswell Fenner Cottrell (January 17, 1814 – March 22, 1892) was a preacher, counselor, writer, hymnist and poet who came from a family of Seventh Day Baptists. He was the son of John Cottrell (1774–1857) and Mary Polly Stillman (1779–1852)Cottrell Family Heritage: Seventh-Day Adventist Connections After joining the sabbatarian Adventists who eventually organized the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he became one of their leading advocates.
The Cottrells of Rhode Island and their Seventh Day Baptist Heritage
The Cottrell family come from a long line of Seventh Day Baptists. The family traces their sabbatarian roots back to the Seventh Day Baptists of seventeenth century England or even earlier.
1638, Nicholas Cottrell Arrives at Newport, Rhode Island
Nicholas Cottrell arrived from England to locate in Rhode Island. He was one of a company who purchased land in Westerly and vicinity. The records reveal that his descendants settled in Westerly and that this settlement became the principal center of the Seventh Day Baptist Church in New England.The first record of Nicholas Cottrell (spelled Cotterell) in the new world appears among the first list of inhabitants (42 in all) admitted at the Towne of Nieu Port (Newport) since twentieth of third 1638, (Found in the Rhode Island Colonial Records, page 92.) Name appears in "Roule of ye freemen of Nieu Port" taken in 1655, (95 in all.) (R,1, Colonial Records, page 301.) March 22, 1661, he signed articles as a member of a company who purchased a large tract of land at Misquamicutt (Westerly, R.I.) (Westerly Town Records.) In 1678 he bought 700 acres of land in Plymouth County, on Taunton River, now called Assonet, in the Town of Freetown, Mass. He died there in 1680.The writer of this sketch, Roy F. Cottrell, visited Westerly, Rhode Island in the summer of 1932, and from the president of the "C.B. Cottrell and Sons Company," manufacturers of the finest printing presses, received the following genealogical outline of the Cottrell family. It was the president of the "C.B. Cottrell and Sons Company that provided the author of this booklet with much of the genealogy information for the earliest Cottrell's in America
1774-1852, John Cottrell
Rosswell's father, John Cottrell, was born 1774 in Westerly, Rhode Island. He was a Seventh Day Baptist preacher. But he did not agree with the Baptist teaching on the immortality of the soul. He owned and worked a small farm woodware shop. These activities provided a source of income. He was not paid as a preacher. Along the intervening years several prominent members of the Cottrell family have become Seventh Day Baptist preachers.
James White visited John Cottrell in 1853 at Mill Grove, New York. He reported the meeting in the Review and Herald: "Bro. Cottrell is nearly eighty years of age, remembers the dark day of 1780, and has been a Sabbath-keeper more than thirty years. He was formerly united with the Seventh-Day Baptists; but on some points of doctrine has differed from that body. He rejected the doctrine of the trinity, also the doctrine of man's consciousness between death and the resurrection, and the punishment of the wicked in eternal consciousness. He believed that the wicked would be destroyed. Bro. Cottrell buried his wife not long since, who, it is said, was one of the excellent of the earth. Not long since, this aged pilgrim received a letter from friends in Wisconsin, purporting to be from M. Cottrell, his wife, who sleeps in Jesus. But he, believing that the dead know not anything, was prepared to reject at once the heresy that the spirits of the dead, knowing everything, come back and converse with the living. Thus truth is a staff in his old age. He has three sons in Mill Grove, who, with their families are Sabbath-keepers."White, James (1853). Western Tour Review and Herald, June 9, 1853, p. 4</
Calvert B. Cottrell
Calvert B. Cottrell established a printing press manufacturing plant in Westerly. He practiced the Seventh Day Baptist faith and never operated on Saturdays in those early years.Later, those who operated the business observed Sunday rather than the Seventh-day. The branch of the Cottrell family living in Westerly, Rhode Island, have been observers of the Seventh-day Sabbath for more than three centuries.Cottrell, Roy F. A Brief Sketch of Cottrell Family History
Brookfield and Mill Grove, New York
John Cottrell and family moved to New York and lived for many years in Brookfield. In 1833 he moved his family again. This time they settled at the hamlet of Mill Grove, some twenty miles east of Buffalo. Roswell, at 19 years of age, accompanied his parents to Mill Grove. They travelled much of the way on the then newly constructed Erie Canal. Roswell helped drive the team of horses along the towpath. At Mill Grove, Roswell married Catherine Harvey. He taught in the public schools for ten years.
Soon after arriving at Mill Grove, he was one of those who witnessed the notable meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. With his father and other members of the family, Roswell was deeply interested in the message of William Miller, but did not identify himself with it, believing that when God would herald His second coming, the messengers would be observers of the seventh-day Sabbath.
John Cottrell spent the remainder of his life at Mill Grove. In 1851, one year before his death, he became a Seventh-day Adventist.http://mytreewebsite.com/cccottrell/cottrellbooklet-13.html A Brief Sketch of Cottrell Family History, p. 13 At the time of this document, the author Roy F. Cottrell had in his possession the personal account book of John Cottrell, giving the record of his dealings from 1809 to 1831. Among hundreds of other items John Cottrell wrote how he made chairs for fifty cents, and "one little coffin is listed at seventy-five cents. He evidently possessed a keen sense of humor, for under the date of March 15, 1837, is the entry; "Mrs. Poley Cotterell baked one Indian shortcake and did not burn it."
Joins with Sabbatarian Adventists
In 1851, the Roswell Cottrell family became Seventh-Day Adventists.Cottrell describes those early days in a letter sent to the Review. It was published November 25, 1851 at page 6:
DEAR Bro. WHITE : There is a little company in this place who are trying to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Our hearts were refreshed and encouraged by Bro. Rhodes, who called on us, and held a meeting a week ago. I thank God for the consolation and encouragement I have received from this interview, and hope we may be favored with another visit from him, or some other of the traveling brethren.
My early education was such, that I have believed in the personal appearing of Christ, according to the Scriptures, from my youth. In 1843 and 1844, I heard the solemn cry, "The hour of his judgment is come," and though I felt no disposition to oppose it, and thought I loved his righteous appearing, yet I was not disappointed when the time passed by.
I saw the proclaimers of the Advent in darkness in regard to the commandments of God, and bowing to an institution of Papacy; and perhaps this was the reason I did not believe. But since, I have heard the message of the third angel, which was since the commencement of the Review and Herald, I have reviewed carefully the whole movement, and the solemn inquiry in my mind has been. Was it from Heaven or of men? After some nine months careful and cautious examination. I have just arrived at the decision.
I believe with all my heart, it was from Heaven. I cannot believe that God would suffer Satan to get up so exact a fulfillment of the prophecies to deceive the lovers of Jesus Christ—those who wait, and look for his appearing. If any one inquire how I can believe all this, since Christ did not appear according to the expectation of his children, I answer:
We are instructed [Rev. xiv,] that an angel should fly through the midst of heaven, saying, "Fear God, for the hour of his judgment is come," and yet there is time for two other messages to follow in succession, before the Son of man is seen on the white cloud.
I greatly rejoice that when the temple of God was opened in heaven, his children on earth saw, by faith, the ark of his testament.
Yours in the blessed hope,
ROSWELL F. COTTRELL.
Mill Grove, N.Y., Oct. 19, 1851 Soon after accepting the message of Christ's imminent return, he entered the gospel ministry, devoting his full-time to preaching and writing, and for a time serving as president of the New York Conference. For 41 years up to the time of his death in 1892, R. F. Cottrell supported the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.
Earliest Known Published Sermon by a Sabbatarian Adventist
The May 14, 1857, issue of the Review and Herald contains the earliest extant record of a sabbatarian Adventist sermon. Roswell F. Cottrell preached it to the Seneca Indians. This is also the earliest record of a Sabbath-keeping Adventists sharing his faith with members of an American Indian tribe.
On February 2, 1857, R. F. Cottrell reported to the Review and Herald that he and William Ingraham had visited the Seneca Indian Reservation on Tonawanda Creek, located about 10 miles from Cottrell's home. Both Cottrell and Ingraham preached, through an interpreter, at the reservation's small Baptist church of fifty members. In the June 10, 1858 Review and Herald, a second sermon by Cottrell entitled "A Discourse Written for the Seneca Indians, to be delivered through an Interpreter, No. 2" was published.
In reporting on the meetings, Elder Cottrell wrote: "We gave two lectures through an interpreter in their chapel. They manifested much interest. Their elder and deacon, and those among them who can read English seemed anxious to read, and we distributed some of our tracts among them gratuitously. Some said they believed from the signs that the coming of the Lord was near." [Review and Herald, February 12, 1857, p. 117]
The Review and Herald and Other Church Journals
After the office of the Review and Herald was moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1855, he served for a time as a member of the paper's editorial committee along with J. N. Andrews and Uriah Smith.Loughborough (1892), p. 196 From that year onward, Cottrell was a regular contributor to the Review.Loughborough, J. N. (1909) The Great Second Advent Movement He wrote close to 1700 articles for church papers over a period of 40 years.
The Review and Herald grew considerably over its first two decades of operation. In the Review of Nov. 25, 1873, it was reported that the net earnings of the office for several months had been about $1000 per month. This made it possible to purchase another press, a Cottrell The Cottrell Printer manufacturing plant was located in Westerly, R.I. In the early days of the business C. B. Cottrell, a Seventh Day Baptist, would close his business every Sabbath and Babcock cylinder — weighing 14,675 lbs., at a cost of $3400.Loughborough (1892), p. 295
The Youth Instructor
James White asked Cottrell to develop and present a series of youth Sabbath School lessons. These were published in the Youth's Instructor in 1854 and 1855.
As an Evangelist