Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Isaac Cotton (b. 1830 - d. 1882)
MSA SC 5496-51533

Free Black Property Owner, Trustee to Joshua Chapel
Morgnec, Kent County, Maryland

Biography:

             Isaac Cotton was born in 1830. Isaac and his wife, Nancy, had six children: James (born 1859), Julia (born 1861), Helen (born 1862), Lucy (born 1866), Ruth (born 1867), and George W. (born 1869).1 Isaac’s uncle was Joseph Cotton, who lived in Bigwoods and came to many agreements with Hugh Wallis, a wealthy land owner and slaveholder. Isaac’s nephew, also Joseph Cotton, was a slave of Hugh Wallis’s, but was eventually a free man living in Kennedyville, Kent County.

 He married Nancy and together they mortgaged two acres of land with William Ford for $150 to give to Joshua Chapel, an African Methodist Episcopal Church.2 This land was formerly part of Darnell’s Farm, belonging to Hugh Wallis and then to his daughter Hannah Isabella Wallis.3 He is most likely the trustee to Joshua Chapel in 1869, though Isaac Cotton, his father, who was born in 1797 could have been involved in the initial formation of the church in 1839.4

In 1862, Isaac Cotton and Joshua Thomas Cork bought a tract of land, formerly owned by Henry M. Rollinson, from Henry Archer, the trustee. This land was part of “Travilla Farm,” which happens to be the property just east of the black community and Joshua Chapel in Morgnec. Cotton and Cork paid about $600 for this land, containing twenty acres.5 In 1863, however, Isaac Cotton and Joshua Cork engaged in another deed whereby they seem to divide the lands. For $300 each, each party received about eight acres, instead of the total of twenty acres, which they bought together.6

             Isaac’s meager inventory included a feather bed, a pine chest, a Dearborn, a horse cart, a Wiley Plow, and a stone, all of which was valued at $16.75.7 Isaac’s bondsmen for the administrative account were Charles W. Jones and Isaac Caulk and the subscribers for his inventory were Marshall J. Jones and Samuel G. Dorman. Almost all of these administrators were trustees to Joshua Chapel, with Isaac Cotton.8 

            Isaac died in April or May of 1882.9

1. U.S Census Bureau, (Census Record, MD), Isaac Cotton, 1840, p. 156, Kent, 2nd Election District, SCM 4721-2, MSA SM 61-112; U.S Census Bureau, (Census Record, MD), Isaac Cotton, 1870, p.71, Kent, District 2, SCM 7255, MSA SM 61-274.

2. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cotton to William Ford et al., 1870-1873, MSA CE 57-16, JKH Liber 10, Folio 56.

3. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cotton to William Ford et al., 1870-1873, MSA CE 57-16, JKH Liber 10, Folio 56.

4. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Charles W. Jones et al. to Church Extension Society, 1869-1871, MSA CE 57-14, JKH Liber 8, Folio 281; “Joshua Chapel.” K-441. Maryland Historical Trust, Inventory of Historic Properties. http://mdihp.net.

5. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cotton and Joshua Thomas Cork of Henry Archer Trustee, 1861-1863, MSA CE 57-9, JKH Liber 3, Folio 291.

6. Kent County Circuit Court (Land Records), Isaac Cotton to Joshua Thomas Cork, 1861-1863, MSA CE 57-9, JKH Liber 3, Folio 522, 523.

7. Kent County Register of Wills (Inventory), 1874-1883, Isaac Cotton, MSA CM657-36, WS Liber 1, Folio 420.

8. Kent County Register of Wills (Estate Docket), 1664-1945, Isaac Cotton (cold.), MSA C1020-1, Maryland State Archives.

9. Kent County Register of Wills (Estate Docket), 1664-1945, Isaac Cotton (cold.), MSA C1020-1, Maryland State Archives.


 

Return to Isaac Cotton's Introductory Page

Researched and written by Kathy Thornton, 2012.
 
 


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