Josiah Cotton Esq. (1679 - 1756)

Born 8 Jan 1679 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah (Sturtevant) Cotton — married 8 Jan 1708 in Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 19 Aug 1756 at age 77 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Carey Haskell [send private message]

Biography

The following information, including the portrait and a detailed biography, is well-sourced on Cottondescendants.com:^[1]

"Josiah Cotton, schoolmaster, Indian missionary, and public servant, was born January 8, 1679/80, a son of the Reverend John Cotton (A.B. 1657), and a nephew of Cotton Mather. His mother's maiden name was Jane Rossiter. When Josiah was nine a lady of the congregation found him in one of her trees, yanked him out "with her hand, and then threw him over the fence . . . the child fell flat upon the ground by her pulling him by the leg. . . ."1 In spite of a youth occupied by narrow escapes from drowning in a tub, in a well, and in the ocean, in addition to being run over by a cart and falling out of trees, he found time to learn to read without going to school..."

Birth: 8 Jan 1679 at Plymouth Township, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts

Death: 19 Aug 1756 at Plymouth Township, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts

Burial: Aug 1756 at Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Education: Graduated from Harvard College 16983

Father: Rev. John Cotton Jr. (1639-1699)

Mother: Joanna Rossiter (1642-1702)

Josiah died in 1756 and was buried at Burial Hill, Plymouth. His memorial has links to those of his children.^[2]

Probate

The will of Josiah Cotton was dated 6 January 1749/50 with a codicil dated 14 March 1750/51 and proved on 6 October 1756 in Plymouth. He mentions his wife (but doesn't name her), his children, John, Theophilus, Mary, Lucy, and Margaret, and the children of his deceased daughter Hannah Phillips (William Dyer and Hannah Phillips (the wife of Mr. George)), his son in law, John Cushing Esq. In his codicil, he mentions that his daughter Margaret had left for N. Carolina and revoked her inheritance.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Cotton Descendants - Josiah Cotton : accessed 11 Feb 2018.
2. ↑ Josiah Cotton memorial at Find A Grave.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G97D-XHXK : 20 May 2014), Probate records 1755-1758 and 1859-1862 vol 14-14E > image 115-116 of 498; State Archives, Boston.

Acknowledgements

• Sara V Mosher
• WikiTree profile Cotton-307 created through the import of Lent_Vise_2011-05-11aa.ged on May 26, 2011 by Bryan Sypniewski.
• WikiTree profile Cotton-581 created through the import of carey haskell tree edited for wiki tree.ged on Jan 24, 2012 by Carey Haskell.
• WikiTree profile Cotton-485 created through the import of mike_walton_2011.ged on Aug 20, 2011 by Mike Walton.