Cotton of Isle of Wight County
The first known immigrant was William Cotton, mariner, who was found in Virginia as early as 1659, the son of William Cotton who owned a house at Bedminister, near Bristol, England.
John Cotton was married to Martha, a daughter of William Godwin. His plantation consisted of 200 acres in the Isle of Wight County in 1704; but afters he removed to Nansemond County, then to North Carolina.
One of John Cotton's sons was married to Sarah, the widow of William Bridgers of Northampton County, North Carolina.
Sources: William and Mary Quarterly, page 124; Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight; Last Will and Testament of John Cotton of Northampton County, North Carolina (1761).
