141 



It would be very satisfactoiy, if the uiiccrtriinty hang- 

 ing about the name of this ishmcl, in common Avith others 

 near it, could be removed. When it was first called Cat 

 Island none of the authorities tell us ; but they assume 

 to tell us why it was called Cat Island. The accepted 

 explanation seems to be that '' Cat " is a corruption or 

 contraction, and that the island was in some way con- 

 nected with Robert Cotta, from whom it derived its sin- 

 gular appellation. There is no evidence that Cotta ever 

 owned or occupied the island, nor does he seem to have 

 been a person of special repute or standing, such as to 

 make it probable that the island would have belonged to 

 him or been named for him. He was made a "freeman" 

 May 6, 1635, and the Colonial Kecords spell his name 

 "Cotty." This is the first we know of him. Ralph Fogg's 

 Waste Book of the Quarter Courts, 1636-7, spells his n:imc 

 "Cotta." The terminal "a" in those days was doul)tles3 

 sounded like the "a" in "fate." In John Ilolgrave's 

 record of a Town Meeting, 14th, 6th mo., 1637, his 

 name is spelled "Cottie." In Roger Conant's list of 

 apportionments of marsh and meadow lands, made at a 

 general Town Meeting in 1640, his name a[)pears as 

 "Cotty." And so Gov. Endicott spells it, 11th, 8th mo., 

 1640, but in his record of a meeting of the "seven men," 

 12th mo., 1644, Gov. Endicott calls him "Cotta." In 

 1645, Robert "Cotta" gets £5 allowed him for a cow 

 out of funds provided by Mr. Andrews of London for 

 that purpose. And the records from 1647 to 1651 show 

 his name, in several instances, spelled "Cotta." 



The first mention of the island, so far as we know, 

 occurs in the Massachusetts Colonial Records for 1655. 

 It was then grunted to Gov. Endicott, and had never 

 been previously granted to any other person. Gov. 

 Endicott died in 1665, leaving it by will, after the 



