Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/426

 COTTOX

COUCH

of Dr. Bray, and had eleven children, of wlioni John. Rowland and Tlieophilus were graduates of Harvard, and ministers; Josiali (Harvard, 1698) compiled the manuscript history of the Cotton family ; and Elizabeth married, first, the Rev. James Ailing, and afterward Caleb Cushing (Harvard, 1692). His edition of Eliot's Indian Bible was pviblished in 1685. He died of j^ellow fever at Charleston, S.C., Sept. 18. 1699.

COTTON, John, clergyman, was born at Hamp- ton, Mass., now X.H., May 8, 1658; son of Seaborn and Dorothy (Bradstreet) Cotton; and grandson of John and Sai'ah (Hankredge) Story Cotton; and of Gov. Simon and Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet. He was graduated from Harvard in

1678 and on Aug. 31, 1679, with his class- mate and cousin. Cotton Mather, was admitted to the first church in Boston, then under the care of Increase ]\Iather. He was chosen fellow of Harvard college, Aug. 9, 1681, and was made librarian of the college Nov. 7, 1681, (^^ /^ -J J — . — — .. probablv continuing ^/~. U (HyUrM.^— ij, t,,e office till 1690, at which time his office as fellow expired. His father died April 19, 1686, and on Nov. 28, 1687, a committee of Hampton was chosen to treat with him in reference to settlement. After declining several invitations to be settled over the church, he finally accepted and was ordained Nov. 19, 1696, the church at that time consisting of ten male and fifteen female members. He was one of the four settled ministers in New Hampshire at the beginning of the eighteenth century. During his niinistrj' two hundred and twenty persons were admitted to full communion and four hundred and seventy-eight were baptized. A portrait, similar to the one accompanying this sketch, is given erroneously in Drake's History of Boston, as that of John Cotton the Puritan. The autograph is probabh' his but the portrait is unquestionably that of his grandson, the Hampton minister. He was married Aug. 17, 1686, to Ann, daughter of Capt. Thomas and Mary (Goodyear) Lake and had eight children. His daughter Mary married the Rev. John Whiting (Harvard, 1700) and his daughter Dorothy married the Rev. Nathaniel Gookin (Harvard, 1703). His widows- became in 1715 the wife of Increase Mather (Harvard, 1656). John Cotton died suddenly of apoplexy at Hamp- ton, N.H., March 27, 1710.

COTTON, Josiah, missionary, was born in Plvmouth, Mass., Jan. 8, 1680; sou of the Rev.

Jolm and Joanna (Bray) Cotton, and grandson of tlie Rev. John Cotton, the Puritan. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1698, studied theology, taught at Plymouth and Marblehead, and occasionally preached, although he was never ordained. He conducted a productive farm at Plymouth, acquired a good knowledge of the Indian language and visited the tribes as a mis- sionary for forty years, receiving for his services a salary of £20 from the Venerable society for the propagation of the gospel. He was clerk of the county court and register of probate. He published an Indian dictionary. He died at Plymouth, Mass., Aug. 19, 1756.

COTTON, Seaborn, clergyman, was born at sea, Aug. 13, 1633; son of the Rev. John and Sarah (Hankredge) Story Cotton. He was grad- uated at Harvard college in 1651, studied theology and was minister at Hampton, N.H., from 1660 till his death. He was married first, June 14, 1654, to Dorothy, daughter of Gov. Simon Brad- street of Massachusetts; and secondly, July 9, 1673, to Mrs. Prudence Crosby, daughter of Jona- than Wade of Ipswich, Mass. He was succeeded in his pastorate b}- his son John, who died after a ministry of thirteen years. Seaborn Cotton died at Hampton, N.H., April 19, 1686.

COUCH, Darius Nash, soldier, was born in South East, Putnam county, N.Y., July 23, 1822; ■son of Jonathan Couch. He was graduated from the U.S. military academy in 1846, and was as- signed to the 4th U.S. artillery, joining his bat- tery at Monclara, Mexico, in November, 1846, when on his Avay to the seat of war. He was on duty with Captain Washington's battery on the battlefield of Buena Vista, Feb. 22- 23, 1847, and received for " gallant con- duct " the brevet of first lieutenant and on the promotion of Captain Washington f^i to the command of the artillery battalion of General Taylor's army. Lieutenant

Couch was made his adjutant. He was pro- moted 2d lieutenant in May, 1847 Point Isabel, where he was taken ill, and in Au- gust was sent home on sick leave. He returned to the army in the winter, reporting at the City of Mexico in January, 1848, and with his battery was ordered to Tolluca. After the war he was .stationed at Fort Monroe. He then served in Florida against the Seminoles, at various artil- lery posts, and in the department of natural his-

and ordered to