My Grandfathers - The Selectmen Who Rewrote the Book

On January 13, 1653, a meeting of Selectmen was held at the tavern of George Walton on Great Island in Portsmouth. In attendance were Brian Pendleton, Renald Fernald, John Pickering, Henry Sherburne, and James Johnson. As fate would have it, I am related to all except James Johnson. Frank W. Hackett, in his 1645-1656. Portsmouth Records, called them "men of force and character and all of them prominent in the records."




It seems that not everyone was happy with the extension of Puritan-controlled Massachusetts Bay authority over the Piscataqua region. Supporters of the Church of England and other religious non-conformists had attempted to break away from this control and been arrested. So the Selectmen decided to tighten the grip by looking at the old Town Book and crossing out the items that did not meet their approval. Then the approved items were copied into a new book. This eliminated evidence of conflicting land claims and allowed the Puritans to distribute the land as they saw chose. Obviously, they would favor those who agreed with their views and could use the land as rewards or to benefit their own interests.

Brian Pendleton continued to be active in extending Puritan control over the New Hampshire and Maine frontier. In England, Cromwell and the Puritans were in control and those who disagreed with their beliefs found little relief from the mother country.

On November 16, 1652, Pendleton and other commissioners met at the home of William Everet in Kittery. There the settlers agreed to submit to the authority of the Massachusetts Bay colony. On November 22, York also agreed to this arrangement. Brian Pendleton was made a justice of a County Court at Kittery. Other areas also fell into line; Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise in 1653. The towns gained representation in the General Court but they had other freedoms that those in Massachusetts did not. There was no religious test for voting rights and the local military groups were not required to join with others beyond their own town.




Lines to my dad's mother - Fern Lyndell Cotton
Brian Pendleton - 11th great-grandfather, Mary Pendleton, Pendleton Fletcher, Pendleton Fletcher, Jr., Sarah Fletcher, Gibbins Edgecomb, Thomas Edgecomb, Mary Edgecomb, Benjamin Perley Philbrick, Lizzie Philbrick, Ray Everett Cotton, Fern Lyndell Cotton

Renald Fernald - 10th great-grandfather, William Fernald, Margaret Fernald, Benjamin Cotton, William Cotton, William Cotton, William Cotton, Jr., John Henry Cotton, Francis Llewellyn Cotton, Ray Everett Cotton, Fern Lyndell Cotton

Henry Sherburne - 11th great-grandfather, Elizabeth Sherburne, Elizabeth Langdon, Margaret Fernald - see above

Lines to my mom's mother - Linona Alice Yates
George Walton - 11th great-grandfather, Abishag Walton, Grace Taprill, Dorothy Hoyt, Alice Babb, Lydia Waterhouse, Alice Garland, Richard Hayes, Sydney Hayes, George Hayes, Eva Delphinia Hayes, Linona Alice Yates

Renald Fernald - 11th great-grandfather, Mary Fernald, Mary Partridge, John Blaisdell, Stephen Blaisdell, Stephen Blaisdell, Jr. , Susannah Blaisdell, Stephen Blaisdell Rowe, Charles H. N. Rowe, Anna J. Rowe, Eva D. Hayes, Linona Alice Yates

Renald Fernald - 10th great-grandfather, Sarah Fernald, Timothy Waterhouse, John Waterhouse, Lydia Waterhouse - see above

John Pickering - 9th great-grandfather, Thomas Pickering, Mary Pickering, Elizabeth Fabyan, Temperance Downing, Molly Wildes, Jacob Emmons, Laura Emmons, Estes Gilbert Yates, Linona Alice Yates

Henry Sherburne - 10th great-grandfather, Ruth Sherburne, Ruth Moses, John Waterhouse, Lydia Waterhouse - see above


Source:
from Brian Pendleton and His Descendants, 1599-1910, With Some Account of the Pembleton Families of Orange County, N.Y., Ostego County N.Y., and Luzerne County, Pa., and Notices of Other Pendletons of Later Origin in the United States, Everett Hall Pendleton, compiler; accessed on Openlibrary.org.

Surname Saturday - William Cotton of Portsmouth

William Cotton, immigrant, settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1673, he said he was 60 years old, so he was born about 1613. About 1650, he married Elizabeth Ham, daughter of William Ham. About that time, he settled at Strawberry Bank and was constable in 1651, and selectman in 1654 and 1671. In 1674, he bought a tavern from Walter Abbott, one of my ancestors from my mother's side and he ran it until he died in 1678. 

Children of William & Elizabeth (Ham) Cotton:
1. John was born about 1652 and died in 1714. He married Sarah Hearle/Earl, daughter of William Hearle of Portsmouth. His will names his wife and twelve children. He was a farmer in Portsmouth. 
2. William was an innkeeper and farmer who married Abigail Pickering and had eight children. 
3. Solomon was granted lands by his grandfather, William Ham but apparently died before his father and without leaving any children. 
4. Sarah married Edward Beale of New Castle. 
5. Thomas was a minor in 1678 when his father died and Anthony Nutter was apointed his guardian. Thomas died before September 27, 1706. 
6. Benjamin was also a minor in 1678 when his father died. Administration fohis estate was handled in 1724 by four sons-in-law. His wife was named Elizabeth and she married John Golden of Kittery as her second husband. 

Solomon Cotton, son of John & Sarah (Hearle) Cotton, was a shipwright. He kept an ordinary at Greenland until 1727 when he moved to Stratham and was an innkeeper there until the end of his life. He married Margaret Fernald, daughter of William & Elizabeth (Langdon) Fernald of Kittery. She was born March 27, 1681 and died January 12, 1719/20. He married his second wife, Judith Cutt, on December 3, 1721. The final few years of his life Solomon spent back in Portsmouth. His will was proved March 27, 1755. 

The next generations:
Benjamin Cotton married Elizabeth Leavitt
William Cotton married Ruth Cram
William Cotton married Margaret Green
William Cotton married Tryphenia Lunt
John Henry Cotton married Christiana Cox
Francis Llewellyn Cotton married Lizzie Philbrick. In an interesting twist, his third wife was Nina (Ellingwood) Gibbs, the mother of Annie Florilla Gibbs. 
Ray Everett Cotton married Annie Florilla Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother


NEHGR Vol. 58 p. 294-299. 
The Cotton Family of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Piscataqua Pioneers: Selected Biographies of Early Settlers in Northern New England