Visiting history: Cotten descendent visits homes her ancestors built
(Editor’s note: Greig Chauvin was among the local people who met a descendant of Albert, Hebert and William Cotten, who were businessmen here at the turn of the 20th century, on a visit to their Morgan City homes. Chauvin submitted this account.)
Joy Cotten Roessel and her husband Larry made an overnight stop in Morgan City on their way home to Virginia from a friend’s wedding.
Joy recently learned that her great uncles, Albert, Herbert, and William Cotten, were prominent citizens of our area and wanted to learn more about her ancestors.
These three Cottens brothers moved to Morgan City in the 1890s and operated a cypress lumber yard and sawmill. In 1894, they were shipping products by schooner to New York, Canada, England, Mexico, and Central America. They also owned the Louisiana Syrup and Canning Co.
Joy was unaware of the impact that her family had on Morgan City or of the competition between the brothers to see who could build the most beautiful house in the city.
On Sunday, they made a visit to the 1905 Albert Cotten home on Federal Avenue. The house’s new owner, Mark Robuck, formerly of Pennsylvania, gave them a tour of his historic manor home which is currently under renovation.
Cottentop, built in 1909 by William Cotten, is now owned by Clare Ryan. Clare and daughter Jessica treated current and past owners of the Cotten homes to a delightful lunch. Following lunch and an exchange of photos and information, the guests were treated to a tour of the beautiful home.
The third home was built by Herbert Cotton in 1913 and is located on Greenwood Street. This lovely home now belongs to Charlie and Helen Solar, and the out of town guests thoroughly enjoyed their visit here.
Joy is the great-granddaughter of oldest Cotten brother, Dr. Thomas Cotten, who remained in Carthage, Mississippi. Joy was contacted by Robuck’s mother, Jennifer Corcoran, in an attempt to discover more information of the history of the Cotten family and her son’s historic home.
Present for lunch were Clare Ryan and daughter Jessica, current Cottentop owners; Judge Ed and Bonnie Leonard, former owners of Cottentop; Mark Robuck of Albert Cotten Manor; Helen and Charlie Solar, owners of the Herbert Cotten home; and Greig and Andre Chauvin. Mrs. Chauvin has been researching the Cotten family history for the recently released HIDDEN GEMS OF MORGAN CITY tour and has discovered old photos and information regarding the family from the Morgan City Archives that she shared with the families.