• His grandfather, a survivor of the Mohawk valley massacre who was held in captivity by the Indians for some time, was the first settler of St. Clair county and gives his name to the township of Cottrellville.3973

• George Cottrell was one of the earliest settlers of St. Clair County. He is a proven Sesquicentennial Michigan Pioneer.
His childhood and parentage remain a mystery. Many different and conflicting versions of the family massacre story exist. This is the most prevailing composite version:
George (or Henry) was the son of a German or Pennsylvania Dutch family named Hoefer, Holfer or Hoover. The family came to the USA and settled in the Mohawk Valley, possibly near Schenectady. During the French and Indian Wars (1754-1760), when George was 5-7 years old, the family was massacred by Indians. George was taken captive to Canada where he was either ransomed or rescued by a Capt. Cottrell of the English Army or a Frenchman named Cotterell. Adopted by this man, George took the family name.
Just prior to the American Revolution (between 1770 & 1779), George came to Detroit, where he married Cecilia Crequi, in 1781. He is not shown as the head of a family in the 1779 Detroit Census, but was recorded in the 1782 Census with a wife and one child residing in Detroit. On 1 May 1782, he purchased land within the fort of Detroit fronting St. Louis Street, near St. Peter Street, residing within two blocks of his father-in-law Jean Baptiste Aide dit Crequi. On 10 August he sold this land and purchased another lot fronting St. Anne, between St. Anne and St. James St. They moved to the Cottrellville/Marine City area sometime between 1784 and 1790.4108