Thomas A. Cotton (Noxubee County)
State House: 1874-1875
Born: November 1833 in Georgia
Served on the Committee on Corporations. Listed on the 1880 census in Noxubee County, occupation minister, with wife Jane and six children. The 1900 census documents Thomas, Jane, and two of their children in Beat 2 of Lauderdale County.
Daughter Clara (1884-1974) married a David Kennedy, and daughter Mattie (born about 1872) married a Thomas Jimerson. Both daughters raised large families in Lauderdale County, with descendants well-documented in later records all over the country. One of Mattie’s sons, Thomas Cotton Jimerson (1894-1978), went by Thomas Cotton when he moved to Chicago sometime before 1920, possibly as a nod to his grandfather.
Thomas A. Cotton’s great-grandson, Rev. Jesse Walden Cotton (1922-2005), was a civil rights activist in Chicago.
This page was last updated on January 12, 2026.