Dr. Charles Cotton

Charles Cotton, son of Rossiter and Priscilla (Jackson) Cotton, born Oct. 7, 1788 in Plymouth, Mass., married at Newport, R. I., Mary Northam, who died March 12, 1876, daughter of Capt. Stephen T. and Mary (Langley) Northam. Mr. Cotton was graduated from Harvard College in 1806, with the degree of A. B.. and in 1812 received from that institution the degree of A. M. He was a pupil of Dr. James Thatcher, of Plymouth, Mass. Early in the year 1811 he received the appointment of surgeon's mate on the frigate "Constitution," and on April 2d following received his commission as such officer in the United States Navy. In October, 1812, he was assigned to the "Hornet," under Capt. Lawrence. In April, 1813, he was commissioned as Surgeon. U.S.N. He was on board the "Constitution" at the time she carried as a passenger the Hon. John Jay to France. Subsequently he was stationed at the Charlestown (Mass.) Navy Yard. He was in charge of the naval hospital at Newport, R.I., in 1817, and it was at this time that his marriage occurred. He participated in the battle between the "Hornet" and the "Peacock" and, it is said, was severely censured by Commodore Bainbridge, for unnecessarily exposing himself in action. In 1820 he was awarded by Act of Congress a silver medal for gallant services, which order has never been executed. In 1823 Dr. Cotton resigned his commission in the Navy, and then took up the practice of his chosen profession in Newport.

Dr. Cotton is credited with having been one of the most distinguished men of the medical profession of Newport of his time. He was a student, well-read and an accomplished gentleman. He had a keen appreciation of humor. and was possessed of a fund of local anecdotes, which with his genial ways made his society not only agreeable but instructive. As a man he was highly esteemed and respected, and as a physician and surgeon he was a worthy representative of the medical profession. Dr. Cotton was endowed in an unusual degree with the qualities which constitute a good physician and skilled surgeon. For nearly fifty years he held his position as physician in many families in Newport, his straightforward, honorable and pleasing personality making him welcome both as physician and friend. Though at times rather blunt in manner, Dr. Cotton enjoyed a good joke, and was of a jovial disposition, his cheery manner encouraging his patients, and he literally took possession of the sick room. Progressive in his ideas, he kept pace with his calling and enjoyed the signs of improvement which, during his long life, he was permitted to see in his profession. In his day Dr. Cotton was without a doubt one of the most successful practitioners that Newport county had. He was ever a man of strong personalities, kind of heart, and very charitable. although his benevolences were always bestowed with a modest and unpretentious hand. He was ever faithful to his large constituency, and always ready both day and night to administer to the sick and suffering, frequently leaving his bed to call upon the poor from whom he never expected nor demanded pay. Dr. Cotton was made a member of the Medical Consociation of Brown University, March 9, 1813, and of the Rhode Island Medical Society, Sept. 29, 1817. He was a member of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and of the Pilgrim Society, and delivered an address before the latter body on the occasion of the removal of a portion of the Plymouth Rock to the Society's premises, which, however, later was restored to its original position. Dr. Cotton died at his home in Newport Feb. 3, 1870. To Dr. Charles Cotton and his wife were born fourteen children, of whom only the following survived infancy: Stephen Rossiter was a very distinguished lawyer of Wisconsin, having for several years been judge of the Circuit Court of Brown county, and shortly before his death received his nomination as judge of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin; he died in Green Bay. Wis., in 1867, aged forty-nine years. Thomas Jackson was a merchant in Wilmington, N.C., for a time, and then went to San Francisco, Cal., where he became purser on the steamer "Julia," plying between Sacramento City and San Francisco. A steam drum exploded on board the vessel, and while trying to save some valuable papers he was burned to death, Oct. 15. 1866, when he was aged forty-seven years. Charles, Jr., was second mate on a clipper ship sailing from New Bedford, Mass., and while aloft on volunteer duty in 1847, was blown overboard and lost his life at the age of twenty-seven years. Robert E. was a promising young civil engineer, engaged on the Panama Railroad, and died in Aspinwall in 1852, of Panama fever, at the age of twenty years. Mary S. married, Oct. 4, 1847. David Fairbanks, of Brooklyn. N.Y., for many years a very successful New York merchant, dealing in domestic commission goods, who died in the Adirondack Mountains, Sept. 2, 1886. To Mr. and Mrs. Fairbanks were born five children, of whom the first three died in infancy. Florence, married June 7. 1894, Guy DuVal, of Brooklyn. and Miss Minnie resides at home, in Brooklyn, N. Y., with her mother, Caroline M. married (first) Henry Brown, of Boston, and (second) John F. Hobbs, of Hallowell, Maine. There was no issue to either marriage. Mrs. Hobbs is now a widow, residing in La Jolla, Cal. Susan Augusta married (first) David Bogart and (second) David Cooper Ayers, who was a practicing physician of Green Bay, Wis., where he died. Mrs. Ayers now resides in Brooklyn. N.Y. Emily C. married Pedro J. Carrasco. a native of Cuba, and their son, Charles Cotton Carrasco, married Marian Gray, of Roxbury, Mass. William H., the youngest of seven sons, is mentioned below. Julia C. married Dr. Joseph Rogers, of Middletown, R.I., now a dentist of Chicago, and their daughter, Jennie, is the wife of Charles Newton, of Chicago. Jennie M. married Allen Ebbs, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and she and her husband and their nineteen-months-old son were lost on the steamer 'City of Boston," which vessel has never been heard of since sailing from Halifax, Jan. 27, 1870; their eldest son, Robert C. Ebbs, married Minnie C. King, of Newport, where they reside.

Links

• Dr. Charles Cotton Historic House on Wikipedia
• Newport Restoration Foundation: Dr. Charles Cotton House
• USS Constitution Crew List
• USS Constitution Officer Letters
• Portrait found at Redwood Library & Athenaeum
• Find-a-Grave Profile
• Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission
• Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island Vol. 1 Pg. 74
• Plymouth Memories of an Octogenarian Pg. 258

The approximate GPS coordinates for the Cotton family plot within the Common Burying Ground are 41.49525300, -71.31423800