Rev. William Cotton

Erica Howton C

3/10/2022 at 3:56 PM

Can anyone discuss the evidence supporting Jeffray Cotton & his wife Joane as parents of Rev. William Cotton

This is what I understand - that it’s uncertain who his parents were - and perhaps we should disconnect?

http://earliestessettlers.blogspot.com/2011/11/rev-william-cotton.html

http://govthomasdale.blogspot.com/view/flipcard
From the Nabb Research Center:

http://nabbhistory.salisbury.edu/settlers/profiles/cotton.html

William Cotton's early life and the exact circumstances of his appearance in the New World are somewhat of a mystery. Various researchers have placed his birthdate from 1599 to 1610. Many list his father as Andrew Cotton, although there is little substantiation behind this name.[1] William Cotton's will named Joane Cotton as his mother, and his former home as Bunbury, Cheshire, England.[2] The Bunbury parish register lists a William Cotton as being baptized 18 March 1609/10, son of Jeffry (or Jeffray) Cotton. Other children of Jeffry and Joane were Peter (b. 1607), John (b. 1613), Elizabeth (b. 1615, died in infancy), Elizabeth (b. 1616/17), and Richard (b. 1622). Jeffry Cotton was recorded as "a poor man of the parish" at his burial on 28 December 1622 in Bunbury, and Joane a "poor woman of the parish" at her burial in Bunbury on 23 March 1642/43.[3]

Erica Howton C

3/10/2022 at 3:58 PM

Private User Has presented:

Jeffray Cotton is not Rev. William John Cotton's father. His father is
Andrew Cotton (Henry)
1564–1640
BIRTH 1564 • Bunbury, Cheshire, England

DEATH 6 SEPTEMBER 1640 • Wrenbury, Cheshire, England

DNA Match to me

Erica Howton C

3/12/2022 at 5:43 PM

Notes on Graves and Cotton families from IMPRINTS 1608-1980 Hamilton, Allied Families by Sister Mary Louise Donnelly

In a Chapter entitled "American Ancestors of Thomas Hamilton (1), the following points are made: ….

Wm. Cotton claimed and received transportation rights in 1637 for transporting wife Ann and himself and 5 others. The land was on "the old man's neck" on Hungar's Creek near the land of Wm. Stone, eastern shore of VA. Sister Donnelly gives source as Nugent's Cavaliers and Pioneers 1:59. I did not copy the details of this source from the bibliography.

Wm. Cotton was born in Bunbury, Cheshire, England, son of Andrew and Joane Cotton. he became minister of Hungar's Parish (so I guess that means he was a Church of England minister). Donnelly quotes from his will indicating he only had an unborn son or daughter at the will's writing in 1640, to whom he bequeaths his Plantation of Bunbury. He refers to Capt. Wm. Stone as his brother-in-law. Names his mother Joane Cotton. Verlinda was b. later in 1640, named after her aunt Verlinda Graves Stone. Verlinda Cotton m/1 Thomas Burdett 9/1/1658, son of Wm. Burdett and his first wife (name not given here). It is unclear if the wife named in will of Wm. Burdett, which names Thomas as his only son, was the Alice Traveller, widow, who was then married to Wm. Burdett. Thomas was a minor at his father's death, and John Rozier, minister, Capt. Wm Stone and Thomas Johnson were charged in the will with arranging Thomas's education.

This book was read at the Frederick Public Library (called Barr Library, I believe) in Frederick, Maryland. The greatest concentration is on the Hamilton Family branch which emigrated to Kentucky

Erica Howton C

3/12/2022 at 5:56 PM

https://sallysfamilyplace.com/john-cotton/

From Sally’s Place:

William Cotton [ca 1600 – ca 1646] was minister of Hungar Parish in Accomac County, VA [ca 1632-1646]. His mother Joane Cotton was from Cheshire, England. [His father was Andrew Cotton, Gent. of Bunbury in Cheshire and his grandfather was Richard Cotton, Esquire of “Combermere” Cheshire and his grandmother Mary Mainwaring the daughter of Sir Arthur Mainwaring, Knight of Ightfield, High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1563.]

Erica Howton C

3/12/2022 at 5:59 PM

Private User - Eastern Shore. Any ideas?

Private User

3/12/2022 at 7:41 PM

Miles Files has him here: https://espl-genealogy.org/MilesFiles/site/p838.htm#i83701

No citations as to father, but he mentioned his mother in his will (Joane Cotton in Bunbury in Cheshire).

Erica Howton C

3/12/2022 at 10:07 PM

So we have a certain mother & origin. It’s the father in dispute. One ancestry seems too grand, the other seems too poor. How high & mighty was the social status of this guy? The theory is he was a sizar (scholarship student), which sounds more appropriate for a rural parish in America?

Private User

3/13/2022 at 9:03 AM

And at that point the Colonies were still a howling wilderness, not at all attractive to people who had any better prospects at home. This is especially true of the Eastern Shore, which was only just getting settled from the mainland. So it's unlikely that Rev. William Cotton was anybody, or the son of anybody, significant back in England.

"Cotton", incidentally, is a fairly common name, and is probably locational in origin, referring to any number of places called "Coton", "Cotton", "Cotham", etc. https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Cotton

Erica Howton C

3/14/2022 at 1:33 AM

Donnelly, Mary Louise. 1980. Imprints, 1608-1980: Hamilton, allied families. Burke, Va. (P.O. Box 306, Burke, VA 22015): M.L. Donnelly. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7739834

It’s still in copyright so cannot be viewed online.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7739834

Rev. William Cotton - Origins?

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