My name is Barry Arthur Cotton and I am the 7th great-grandson of John Cotton, the Puritan Patriarch of New-England. John Cotton was a Founding Father to America’s Founding Fathers and was pivotal in establishing America’s first public school and its first institution of higher learning, Harvard College.
I served on the Board of the Winthrop Society for 9 years, was National Chairman & President for 5 years, and elected President Emeritus in 2010. Concurrently, I served as a Trustee of the Partnership of the Historic Bostons for 14 years and have authored articles for the Winthrop Journal and the Mayflower Quarterly. Recently, I contributed several articles to BOSTON: The Small Town with a Big Story published September 2019.
Currently, I am working on a book titled, THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COMPANY BOSTON MEN. Between the sailing of the Mayflower in 1620 and the advent of the English Civil Wars in 1640, approximately 20,000 individuals migrated from England to America during The Great Migration. Although less than 1% of these immigrants were from the Boston, Lincolnshire area, their impact was immense as Boston Men were elected Governor and Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for all but four of its fifty-six year existence. This work tells their story.
At the same time, I am writing a biography of John Cotton titled JOHN COTTON: An Intimate Investigation of His Life and Times, which was awarded First Place in the WRITERS’ LEAGUE OF TEXAS MANUSCRIPT CONTEST for nonfiction.
LINEAGE & HEREDITARY SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS:
- Society of the Cincinnati (Massachusetts Branch)
- Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts
- Order of Founders and Patriots of America
- General Society of the Mayflower
- Winthrop Society
- General Society of Colonial Wars
- National Society of Descendants of Colonial Clergy
- Hereditary Order of the First Families of Massachusetts
- National Society of the Sons & Daughters of the Pilgrims
- National Society of the Sons of Colonial New England
- National Society of Sons of American Colonists
- Sons of the American Revolution
- Order of the Indian Wars of the United States of America
- Society of the War of 1812
- Military Society of the War of 1812
- First Families of Ohio
- Society of Indiana Pioneers
- Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
I also maintain a personal blog/website @ THE COTTON CHRONICLES.
