Samuel Cotton

As printed in 1894

AMUEL E. COTTON, one of the honored pioneer settlers of Winona County, now living on a farm on section 11, Rolling Stone Township, dates his residence here from 1852. The county was then only a frontier settlement, in which the work of progress and civilization was hardly begun, and in its development and advancement he has ever borne his part. He therefore well deserves mention among its founders, and this volume would he incomplete without his sketch.

Mr. Cotton was born in Ellsworth, N. H., September 19, 1821, and is the only survivor in a family of three children, of whom he was the second in order of birth. The parents were Samuel and Mary (Folsome) Cotton. The father was born and reared upon a farm in Gilford, N. H.,and devoted his life to agricultural and mercantile pursuits. His death occurred at the ripe old age of eighty-eight j'ears. For several generations his ancestors have lived in the United States, and their ancestry could be traced back to Rev. John Cotton, of Boston, whose father was an English lawyer, and who came to the United States in the early days of the Colonies. Mrs. Cotton, mother of our subject, was also a native of Gilford, and her death occurred in Dover, N. H., at about the age of thirty years. She was of Welsh extraction.

Samuel Cotton attended the common and high schools until about eighteen j'ears of age, when he ship)ed before the mast and for three years sailed on the high seas. He was on a sailing-vessel which at one voyage captured fifty whales. He then spent four years in sailing to Europe, after which he turned his attention to land pursuits, learning the holder's trade in Great Falls, N. H., in which trade he was later employ'ed in Boston and Lowell, Mass., and Dover and Laconia, N. H., until the spring of 1852. In that year he came to the West. He had heard of the advantages and privileges afforded in Minnesota and the opportunities for securing a home, so in April he left New York City, and on the 4th of May reached Minnesota City, coming as one of the members of the Western Farm and Village Association of New York, which numbered about two hundred people. There was only one house in Minnesota City at the time, and two little shanties where Winona now stands. The land had not been surveyed by the Government, and the treaty with the Indians had been passed but not ratified. The little New York colony laid out the village of Minnesota City, and Mr. Cotton built him a house on a lot therein. After the farm lands were surveyed he secured one hundred and sixty acres on the prairie near Utica, about sixteen miles west of his present home. Ihere he did his first plowing, but never planted any crops at that place. Returning to Minnesota City, he secured eighty- acres adjoining the village limits, part of which he sold in 1858. He then purchased the farm upon which he has resided continuously since.

On the 28th of October, 1847, Mr. Cotton was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. Roberts, who was born in Berwick, Me., September 10, 1828. With her husband she came West, and here resided until her death, which occurred October 29, 1893. Her parents were of English and Irish extraction. To Mr. and Mrs. Cotton were born nine children, of whom two died in infancy. Nell is now the wife of Thomas Thorpe, of West.Superior, Wis.; John E. is engaged in the operation of the old homestead; Charles Henry occupies the responsible position of foreman in Bemis Bros.' bag factory of Minneapolis; George Walter is a foreman in the Winona Wagon Works of Winona; Fred R. is a telegraph operator in Minnesota; Herbert F. holds a responsible position with the Winona Wagon Works; and Frank L. is on the home farm.

Mr. Cotton is a Republican in politics. When Winona County was organized, however, he was elected Probate.Judge,.Justice of the Peace and Assessor on the Democratic ticket. He served as Assessor of the county when there were only three people in his district to assess. He was appointed Postmaster of Minnesota City under Buchanan, the second to fill that office, and thus served until 1857, when he resigned, but for many years past he has served as Assistant Postmaster. In 1860 he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and has since been a stalwart Republican. In 1853 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and has held that office almost continuously since. He has also served in other local official positions, and in the discharge of his public duties has ever been found faithful and true.

Mr. Cotton has succeeded in his business dealings and now owns a valuable farm of two hundred acres, which is pleasantly situated a mile from Minnesota City. It is, however, operated by his sons, while he gives his attention to his duties as Assistant Postmaster and.Justice of the Peace. He is one of the oldest settlers in the county, there probably being not more than three who located here ere his arrival. He has seen the wild lands transformed into beautiful homes and farms, has seen towns and villages spring into existence, has watched their transformation into cities, has known the hardships and trials of pioneer life, and has ever been found a valuable citizen, ready to aid in all worthy public enterprises.

Lucius Brainard.

As printed in Portrait and biographical record of Winona county, Minnesota. Containing biographical sketches of prominent ... citizens .. (1894). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.