| John Cotton migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 1, p. 484) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Rev. John Cotton (1584-1652) was the son of Roland Cotton, a lawyer, and Mary Hurlbert. He matriculated Trinity College, Cambridge in 1597, going BA in 1603 and MA 1606, and in 1606 he became a fellow at Emmanuel College. He remained at Cambridge until 1612, where he became a Puritan. He was ordained in 1610 and in 1613 he was granted B.D.[citation needed]
He was vicar of St. Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he served from 1612 until shortly before his departure for New England in 1633. During his Lincolnshire ministry, Cotton ran an informal seminary for recent Cambridge graduates.[citation needed] He was a non-conformist, and as the established Church viewed the people of Boston, Lincolnshire as "inclined with the Puritan spirit", the Bishop of Lincoln did not approve his appointment at first. He won his appeal against the decision not to appoint and remained as vicar of Boston for twenty years, being highly regarded by his parishioners. Cotton was an influential figure and won much support for his non-conformist views, producing ".. a great reformation...the Mayor and most of the magistrates were now called Puritans".[citation needed]
In 1613 Cotton married Elizabeth Horrocks, sister of a Lancashire minister, with whom he was married for eight years but had no children. She may have been the daughter of "my mother Havered" as mentioned by Cotton in a letter to his second wife. Elizabeth was alive on October 2, 1630, but died in April 1631.[1] Cotton left Boston, Lincolnshire in February 1631 suffering from ague and in April, his wife Elizabeth died.[citation needed]
Shortly before October 3, 1632 Cotton married Sarah (Hawkredd) Story, widow of William Story. They had six children. One daughter, Maria, married Increase Mather and became the mother of Cotton Mather. During the voyage to Massachusetts, Sarah delivered their first child, aptly named Seaborn Cotton.[1]
By 1632 the pressure to conform led him to go into hiding. On 7 May 1633, he resigned his Vicarage, and along with Puritan ministers Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone and their families, Cotton sailed for New England on the "Griffin" on 13 July 1633.[2] They arrived in New England on Sept. 4, 1633.[3] Shortly after his arrival he was ordained as Vicar of Boston, Massachusetts on the 15th October 1633.[citation needed]
In New England he was granted land "at Muddy River a sufficient allotment for a farm" on November 15, 1636, totaling two hundred and fifty acres. He sold some land to Thomas Whitamore on July 21, 1645.[1]
By most accounts he was the preeminent minister and theologian of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While early in his Boston tenure Cotton became only peripherally involved in the banishment of Roger Williams, Williams blamed much of his troubles on Cotton. Soon thereafter Cotton became embroiled in the colony's Antinomian Controversy, when several adherents of his "free grace" theology, most notably Anne Hutchinson, began criticizing other ministers in the colony[4]
In December 1652 a comet was seen by the people of Boston. It was interpreted as a portent when, on 23 December, before its disappearance, Cotton died; he was buried in the Boston town burying-ground. He had been taken seriously ill early in the month after catching cold while crossing on the ferry to Cambridge to preach for a few days, and was reported to have great swelling of his legs and body. He was survived by his wife, Sarah, who on 26 August 1656 married Richard Mather (1596–1669); she died on 27 May 1676.
John Cotton's will, dated November 30, 1652 and proved January 27, 1652/3. His son Seaborn was given the south part of the house. His books were to be divided equally between his sons Seaborne and John; is daughters Elizabeth and Mary were to be given L100 apiece at the time of their marriage or at age twenty-one. His wife was given first all rents of her house and garden in the marketplace of Boston in Lincolnshire; money left in "my brother Coneye's hands; dwelling house where they lived; and the farm at Muddy River.[1]
His widow, Sarah (Hawkredd) (Story) Cotton, married Richard Mather and gave control of Cotton's estate to "Elder William Colbron and Elder James Penn during the nonage of her children John and Maria."[1] Note that in his sketch of John Cotton, Anderson refers to this second wife as Sarah (_____) Story. However the sketch on Richard Mather lists her maiden name Hawkredd, daughter of Anthony.[citation needed]
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Categories: Kings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts | Boston, Lincolnshire | English Immigrants to America | Puritan Ministers | Massachusetts Bay Colonists | Antinomian Controversy | Portsmouth, Rhode Island | Griffin, sailed 1633 | Derbyshire, Notables | Puritan Great Migration | Notables
Notes from p 87 "Hot Protestants, A History of Puritanism in England and America" Michael P Winship. 2018 Yale Univ Press. Call 289.9 WIN
...a Massachusetts Town Record indicates 8 Sep 1633 https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/8986113?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a22766d6e444846452b734c3148643030703271356a70336631343269513854762f6d67764932336131306d773d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d
4. John Cotton Jr., he was married to Joanna Rossiter, 5. Maria Cotton, she was the second wife of Increase Mather, son of Richard Mather, 6. Rowland Cotton, he was only five years old when he died nine days after his sister, Sarah, both died from smallpox. [The Rev. John Cotton and his wife, Sarah Hawkredd never had a child named Dorothy Cotton, nor a child named William Cotton.]
edited by L Parker
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Horatio_Gates_Somerby_Fraud