Cottman Stones — Displaced Memorial

Cokesbury / Costen Station area · Dublin District No. 4 · Somerset County, Maryland

Record No. 911-T-45-Southeast

This record concerns a displaced family memorial, not a cemetery confirmed in its original location. In the 1995 field account, Bill Cottman reported that his father had received the stone many years earlier from a place identified as the Old Cowger Place, near the late James Cottman farm in the Cokesbury/Costen Station area.

The broken marker was reported stored in a pump house on the Cottman farm. Its inscription commemorates a father and son, but the missing top prevents a secure reading of both names. Joseph S. Cottman is the memorial’s dedicator, not a documented burial here.

Status: Original gravesite unverified; stone reported relocated before the 1995 survey.

Transcription note: The grave transcriptions below are drawn from the original contributor record. Uncertain original readings are preserved; observations made independently from survey photographs are explicitly labeled. Original sources remain in the donor archive.

Graves Recorded

William [surname lost on broken memorial]

Transcription

WILLIAM [stone broken]
Born 25th December [year lost]
Died 17th October 1806

FATHER & SON

JOSEPH S. COTTMAN
Son & Brother
has placed
this monument
to their memory.

Photo reading: The photograph shows “FATHER & SON” and identifies Joseph S. Cottman as the person who placed this monument. He is not identified here as one of its burials. The contributor described a two-person memorial, but the missing upper part prevents the second person from being named from this surviving stone.

Site Documentation

Contributor area map mentioning the Cottman Stones and Costen Cemetery — Contextual map of the area where the memorial was documented; not proof of the original grave location. Click photograph to enlarge.

Cemetery and Research Notes

The field record uses site code 911-T-45-Southeast and notes that the stone had been removed from its original setting. The location shown in the accompanying local-area image is contextual; it should not be represented as an exact burial position.

The donor’s typed reading marks much of the birth information as lost. Independently, the photograph supports the phrase “FATHER & SON” and the final wording identifying Joseph S. Cottman as “Son & Brother” who placed the monument. Neither the surviving image nor the field record supplies a verified name for the second deceased individual.

Documentation History

February 26, 1995: Memorial reported by Bill Cottman to Philip L. Goldsborough, Rebecca F. Miller, and Clinton Long; original source recorded both the broken stone and the account of its earlier relocation.
April 2008: Original notes retyped by Philip L. Goldsborough.
October 2026: Photograph reexamined for a transcription-based presentation. No additional identity assigned without evidence.

Source: “Cottman Stones” field transcription and original photograph in the Cokesbury collection. Interpretive caution: The visible monument mentions two burials, but the surviving text does not identify Joseph S. Cottman as one of them.