The Cottier family, probably from Lezayre, accompanied William and Jonathan Christian to Virginia in 1655. Two Cottier daughters married the two Christian brothers. The families left together during the upheaval of the Commonwealth period, when Deemster Ewan Christian had just died after fifty-one years on the bench and the island's traditional governance was under threat. The Cottiers and Christians would establish themselves in New Kent County, Virginia, where their descendants would serve in public office for centuries.