GOTIER, JAMES (?–1837). James Gotier (Goacher, Goucher, Gotcher), a native of Alabama, settled on Rabbs Creek in southern Lee County, Texas. In 1831 or 1832, under the authority of the ayuntamiento of San Felipe, he built a trail, later called Gotier's Trace, from Bastrop to San Felipe. In 1835 he moved his family to Bastrop County, where he planted cotton and raised cattle. He is said to have built the first house in the county. The Gotier family was attacked by Indians in 1837. Gotier, his wife, son-in-law, and two sons were killed, but his daughter and her two children were taken captive and later released.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank Brown, Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin (MS, Frank Brown Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin). Kenneth Kesselus, History of Bastrop County, Texas, Before Statehood (Austin: Jenkins, 1986). William Henry Korges, Bastrop County, Texas: Historical and Educational Development (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1933). J. W. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations in Texas (Austin: Hutchings, 1889; rpt., Austin: State House, 1985).