NICHOLAS COTTRELL BIRTH TOWN
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Nicholas Cottrell has been shown as having been born in both Newport, RI and in Halesowen, Worcester, England. His father, John Cottrell, has been shown as having been born in England and having died on 6 Nov 1683 in Freetown, MA. I know of no actual record of Nicholas being born in New Port, RI. That was probably an assumption based on the first record of him being in America is his name being included in the list of inhabitants of Newport, Rhode Island in 1638. It seems more likely that Nicholas was born in England and came to American with his father sometime between his birth in 1622 and his mention of being in RI in 1638.
There has also been mention of Nicholas having come to America from Scotland but no evidence of that has been found.
The birth place of "Halesowen, Worcester, England" is not a correct place identification. There is a town of Halesowen just SW of Birmingham, England and there is a town of Worcester farther south of Birmingham but there is no county named Worcester. There is a county named Worcestershire that includes Halesowen and Worcester. The birth place probably should have been "Halesowen, Worcestershire, England".
In the 11th century Halesowen was larger than Birmingham but it is now just a suburb of Birmingham (about 60,000 people). The manor and town was known as Hala (from the Anglo-Saxon word "halh", meaning nook or remote valley), until it was gifted by King Henry II to Welsh Prince David Owen and became known as Halas Owen.
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