Report for Hiraku Kitabayashi from Dr. Thompson, Salt Lake City, UT (with Hiraku's permission)
REPORT No. 2
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This report is directed to English origins of some of your ancestors and in particular to the Cottons; some of this work was done before you left but I have completed the examination of the various records.

Wolverhamgton, co. Stafford Registers

These registers are in the early years, before 1660, in print, and bracketed page references refer to the published versions, which have been verified with the originals. Please note that none of the Cotton children were married at Wolverhampton and that an examination of original registers to 1700 have not uncovered any burials for William Cotton, his unnamed wife, or any of his children, which strengthens the hypothesis that we may be dealing with the immigrants to Virginia in Walter and Thomas Cotton:

22 Mar. 1638/9 Richard son of William Cot on "of this Towne" buried [41:1841
1 May 1638 John son of William Cotton baptized [41.72]
15 Mar. 1640/l John son of William Cotton buried [41:187]
15 June 1641 John son of William Cotton baptized [41:80]
1 May 1643 WALTER son of William Cotton baptized [41.85, see copy annexed]
24 June 1645 Ann daughter of William Cotton baptized [41:91]
18 Apr. 1647 THOMAS son of William Cotton baptized [41:95]
17 Oct. 1651 Elizabeth daughter of William Cotton baptized [41:134]
31 July 1655 Katherine daughter of William Cotton born [41:217, date blank but calculated after original examined]

You found a Visitation family, the Cottons of Crakemarsh, which also showed brothers Walter and Thomas Cotton, but these would have had to be born well before their father William Cotton died in 1641. I found nothing to connect them to the emigrants. At the same time, no will or administration for William Cotton, his wife, or any of his sons was found in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, the Consistory Court of Lichfield, or the peculiar Probate Court of Wolverhampton.

You had thought that WILLIAM COTTON might be the man baptized at Penkridge, co. Stafford 3 JUNE 1610, BUT this child was VERY LIKELY the William Cotton BURIED there 14 JANUARY 1611/2 [Penkridge PR]. The register does not distinguish between adult and child burials at this time. It was not the child's father, also William, because two children were baptized in 1613 and 1616 respectively. Again, I found no probate to use to check this family. (NOTE: My capitalization regarding the birth date of this William Cotton) ( Jean Cotton 09/09/00)

That William Cotton apparently had a son Richard born before his father came to Wolverhampton directed my attention to the parish of Claybrooke, co. Leicester, where one William Cotton and his wife Elizabeth had several children baptized and buried up to January 1637/8 and the family then seems to have disappeared from the parish and may have gone to Wolverhampton, not that far away. The citations are from a transcript of the register, the originals not being here.

10 Nov. 1623 Joane daughter of William and Elizabeth Cotton baptized
18 Feb. 1625/6 Elizabeth daughter of Cotton baptized
23 Mar. 1627/8 John son of Cotton baptized
29 Aug. 1630 Edward son of Cotton baptized
10 Feb. 1637 Thomas son of Cotton baptized
30 Dec. 1637 John son of Cotton buried

For this to be the family, burials as children would have to be found or hypothesized for Elizabeth [b. 1625/6] and Thomas [b. 1632/3] and a burial for an Elizabeth Cotton, not designated as widow or wife of William, 5 April 1672, assigned to someone else, both of which conclusions are quite possible. Geographi-cally, Claybrooke is not that far from Wolverhampton, and there is a connecting road. Again, probates of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, the Consistory Court of Lincoln and the Arch-deaconry Court of Leicester were consulted but with no help. If this is the family, William and Elizabeth would have had children over a period of more than thirty years,You had taken note of an Elizabeth Stockley baptized at Hamstall Ridware, co. Stafford 28 December 1662; noting that an Elizabeth Stockley was imported by Walter's brother Thomas Cotton, some have suggested that she later married Walter, although there is no evidence to give Elizabeth, wife of Walter Cotton, a surname or parentage at this time. Unfortunately for this hypothesis, this Elizabeth was buried at Hamstall Ridware 5 March 1664/5. I looked for Elizabeth (---) Cotten after November 1702 in Surry County but found nothing to establish the date of her decease. The fact that she signed her name to the 1702 deed would indicate some substantial family back-ground. Another Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Stockly, was baptized at Broad Chalk, co. Wilts 21 June 1658, and a burial is found for her mother Jane, wife of Nicholas, 12 January 1664/5, in the same parish. Unfortunately, the registers of this parish have a gap in baptisms 1659-1700, and in marriages 1650-1725, as well as in burials 1654-60, so there is not all that much we can say about this family.
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