I am seeking any clue to the parents of Henry S. Cota, b. 03 Feb. 1837 at Malvern, Carroll, OH (as per Civil War pension documents) or b. 09 Feb. 1837 at Ohio (as per his death certificate).

According to his biographical sketch in the Mecosta County [Michigan] Portrait & Biographical Album, published 1883, Henry S. Cota "farmer on section 16, Aetna Tp., was born in Carroll Co., Ohio, in 1837. His parents were born in France, emigrated to the United States and settled in the Buckeye State, where his father was drowned while laboring in the river service. Mr. Cota was in his infancy and his mother bound him to a man named Adam Hardesty. He was so very young he lost all trace of her and does not know that he has a relative by blood on the earth. He remained with Mr. Hardesty until he was 18 years of age, when he was released from his bonds and found employment in Paulding Co., Ohio, and was there occupied for five years."

A decade of research has failed to turn up any indication of Henry's parents, and it doubtful that even Henry knew their names. According to family tradition, Henry S. Cota's full name was Henry Sherman Cota, but the middle name seems unlikely to have been given at birth by French parents, and I suspect he adopted it later in life, perhaps in honor of General William Tecumseh Sherman, under whom Henry S. Cota served during the March to the Sea.

The French spelling of Henry's surname is not recorded. It is given as Coty in the 1850 census, Cota in 1860, Cody in 1870, and Cota for every census thereafter. Cote seems to be the most probable original spelling, based on these (presumably phonetic) renderings.

Since all efforts to find Henry's parents by working backwards have failed, I am hoping there is someone out there who can offer a candidate by working forwards -- perhaps a Cote family that was known to have gone to Ohio in the 1830s and was not heard of again; a Cote family with a child Henri, b. ca. 1837, also not heard of again; etc. Any lead, however slim, would be far more than I have at present.

It is clear Henry S. Cota knew little himself about his ancestry, and although he insisted in every document where the question arose that his parents were French, it is not impossible that they were in fact French-Canadian.

In 1867 Henry S. Cota married Isabel Shock, the daughter of William P. Shock and Elizabeth Woodcock. The line is well-documented from that time forward.