Charles W. Cotton, b. 4 Oct 1829

HAYES, LAMBERT

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/23/2004 at 10:25:58

Charles W. Cotton, the subject of this sketch, now deceased, was one of the pioneers of Sabula, and in an early day one of the most widely known business men in the locality. He was born at Baldwinsville, Onondago Co., N.Y., Oct. 4, 1829. In early life he learned the trade of a butcher, working with his father. This trade, together with the varied life of a canal-boatman, occupied his time until he was twenty-three years of age, when the push and energy within him caused him to turn his face toward the then undeveloped West. Collecting his father's family, (the father being dead) consisting of a mother, two sisters, and a younger brother, he started for Iowa, reaching Sabula on the 19th of June, 1852. He first located in Iowa Township, at Sterling, and in the fall of the same year entered 160 acres of Government land near that place. He resided at Sterling, running a hotel and meat market, until the fall of 1854, when he removed to Sabula, and opened a hotel and livery stable. In the fall of 1855 he quit the hotel business, and opened a meat-market, which business he followed in that city until the time of his death, and was generally known as the "pioneer butcher."

On the 24th of December, 1857, Mr. Cotton was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Hayes, at Sabula. The bride was the daughter of John and Frances Hayes, both of whom were pioneers, and now deceased. She was born in Jo Daviess County, Ill, June 23, 1840. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Cotton consisted of nine children, six of whom are still living, namely: Charles B.; Jennie (now Mrs. Thomas Lambert); John M., Ida M., Joseph D., and Lizzie.

In all business affairs Mr. Cotton was a man of unusual energy and push, and could always be found identified with every move looking toward the advancement of the town in which he lived. Of a kind and sympathetic nature, he was a liberal giver, and no worthy person was ever turned away unassisted by him. Jovial and light-hearted, he was a man familiarly known and universally popular among his fellow-men. Politically, he was a Republican, but was never inclined to be an office-holder. He was not identified with any church organization, but was a liberal giver to religious institutions. He passed quietly to rest after a long and painful illness, on the 16th of August, 1881. In his death his family lost an affectionate husband and father, and the community a valuable member of society.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)