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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]
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]
This week's connection theme is Monsters! Josiah is 14 degrees from Lon Chaney, 20 degrees from James Aurness, 13 degrees from Ricou Browning, 22 degrees from Warwick Davis, 22 degrees from Michael J. Fox, 20 degrees from Kevin Hall, 19 degrees from William Pratt, 18 degrees from Elsa Lanchester, 12 degrees from Bela Lugosi, 18 degrees from Maila Nurmi, 13 degrees from Vincent Price and 20 degrees from Claude Rains on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
C > Cotton > Josiah Cotton Esq.
Categories: Plymouth, Massachusetts | Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts | Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Slave Owners | USBH Heritage Exchange