Mrs. Eunice Permelia (Babcock) Cottrell was the daughter of Luke and Betsey Main Babcock. This branch of the Babcock family was descended from Samuel and Tacy Hubbard who were the first converts to the Sabbath in this country, so far as known; and were constituent members of the Newport Seventh-day Baptist church organized in 1671. Mrs. Cottrell was born in Leyden, Mass., March 22, 1808, and died Dec. 18, 1899. She was one of a family of eleven children, and survived only by her youngest sister, Mrs. Elvira Sibley Crane, of Franklin, Penn.
Mrs. Cottrell, when a young woman, came to Scott, where she was married to John Boardman Cottrell Dec. 31, 1827. Here for some years her husband was engaged in teaching, in mercantile business, and in milling. In the spring of 1842, with a family of six girls, they moved into the town of Wirt, Allegany Co., N. Y., near Richburg, on the farm which has been in the family ever since, and the home where ten children, seven girls and three boys, were reared to maturity and sent forth to be useful and honored members of society and of the Church of Christ - two of the sons being able ministers of the gospel of the Son of God.
Four of the children have passed on before the mother; the survivors are: Mrs. Emma Main of Madison, Wis., Mrs. Augusta Carter and Hon. A. B. Cottrell of Alfred, N. Y., Rev. Ira Lee Cottrell of Hornellsville, N. Y., Rev. G. M. Cottrell of Hammond, La., and Mrs. Flora C. Mosher of Plainfield, N. J.
Sister Cottrell, when nine years old, was baptized and joined the church. She became a member of the Seventh-day Baptist church at Scott, while living there, and afterwards removed her membership to Richburg, where she remained a highly esteemed member to the end of her long life. She was a woman of marked intelligence, refined manners and queenly spirit. During her active life she was devoted to her family, to the church, and to the interests of the community in which she lived. The friendless and homeless found in her a friend and sympathizer; and in her zeal to help others she forgot herself.
She was gentle, forbearing and yielding to others, and yet staunch in adherence to principle and scrupulously conscientious in all things. She was bitterly opposed to intemperance, and was unfavorable to the use of alcohol even as a medicine. She was ambitious for the education of her family, and always a loyal supporter of Alfred University and higher education - most, if not all, of her children having been students in this institution of higher learning. Her zeal for true education was surpassed only by her abiding interest in religious and spiritual things.
In 1873 her husband died in the 71st year of his age, since which time she has lived with her children. For the past few years she has gradually failed, fading away like the beautiful autumn leaves, coming down to the end like a sheaf of corn that is fully ripe and ready for the harvest; without disease or suffering, cheerfully and uncomplainingly, she approached the end of life, until the evening of the 18th inst., when, being gently raised from her pillow by her eldest son, for the purpose of giving her nourishment, the light of life faded, and like one "who wraps the drapery of the couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams," she peacefully fell asleep in the arms of Jesus. Her record is written in the last chapter of the Book of Proverbs.
Funeral services were held Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2 p.m., at the home of her son, Hon. A. B. Cottrell, conducted by Pastor Gamble and Pres. Davis. Interment in Alfred Rural Cemetery.
