{"id":252,"date":"2018-07-10T19:36:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T00:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/?page_id=252"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T18:56:32","slug":"t-a-cotton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/t-a-cotton\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas A. Cotton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-253\" src=\"http:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cotton.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"279\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cotton.png 279w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/cotton-208x300.png 208w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 279px) 100vw, 279px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Thomas A. Cotton (Noxubee County)<\/h2>\n<p><strong>State House:\u00a0<\/strong>1874-1875<\/p>\n<p><strong>Born:<\/strong> November 1833 in Georgia<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas A. Cotton&#8217;s great-grandson, Rev. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/2005\/06\/10\/rev-jesse-walden-cotton-83\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jesse Walden Cotton<\/a> (1922-2005), was a civil rights activist in Chicago.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5983\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5983\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5983\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cottonsig.png\" alt=\"Signature of Thomas A. Cotton from an 1874 petition to Governor Ames\" width=\"500\" height=\"81\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cottonsig.png 711w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cottonsig-300x49.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5983\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signature of Thomas A. Cotton from an 1874 petition to Governor Ames<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6726\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6726\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/t-a-cotton\/letter-to-freedmens-bureau-july-29-1868\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-6726\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/007677412_00457-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Freedmen's Bureau document, July 29, 1868\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/007677412_00457-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/007677412_00457-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6726\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Freedmen&#8217;s Bureau letter, July 29, 1868<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5968\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5968\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/shirley-2\/jan2474petition1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5968\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-5968\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jan2474petition1-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Petition of legislators, Jan 24, 1874\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jan2474petition1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jan2474petition1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5968\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Petition of legislators, January 24, 1874<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4777\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4777\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/charles-caldwell\/petition-4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4777\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-4777\" src=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/petition-1-150x150.png\" alt=\"Petition to Governor Ames, Feb 12, 1874\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/petition-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/petition-1-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4777\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Petition to Governor Ames, Feb 12, 1874<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas A. Cotton (Noxubee County) State House:\u00a01874-1875 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 &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/legislators\/t-a-cotton\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Thomas A. Cotton&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-252","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6730,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/252\/revisions\/6730"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/much-ado.net\/legislators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}