Edmund Cotton

Generation-3

Edmund was born around 1315. He was probably not a first son, but was his father's only surviving son. It is from him, that the manor he owned in Christleton came to be called Cotton Edmund's as opposed to another neighboring manor in Christleton which came to be known as Cotton Abbot's because it was owned by a local abbey. Cotton, as we can see, was the place name for that part of Christleton. Thus, the Cottons here, as in many other places in England known as Cotton (it was a very common place name), took their family name from where they lived, meaning that when the first Cotton man coming from Normandy to settle in Cheshire arrived, he was a fairly ordinary person, not even possessing a family name, something only the elite had in those times.

Edmund's wife was Katherine. Her family name may be Brett or Brett de Dana, but this is first evidenced in a family tree appearing more than 250 years after she lived. One should not place a high reliance on this and, though not dismissing it entirely, refrain from including a family name for her in a Cotton family tree or, at least, should make some designation that this family name is only to be considered on a provisional basis.

Edmund had two children, William and Robert, probably both by Katherine. Both married heiresses in Stafford.

The coat of arms Edmund used was different from the one received by his father William from the Grosvenors. The one received from the Grosvenors was, however, used for awhile by Edmund's oldest son William II, as William inherited the properties associated with these arms, while Edmund's other coat of arms was used by his son Robert and Robert's descendants. This coat of arms and not that received from the Grosvenors is most likely the original coat of arms, though no surviving Cotton family today uses it.