Cotton DNA Project

FAMILY 7A

1 John Cotten, b.ca. 1660/70, Virginia, d. 1728, Bertie Co., NC

...+ Martha Godwin

.....2 Samuel Cotten, b. 1708, Nansemond Co., VA, d. 1774, Northampton Co., NC

........+ Elizabeth Thomas

..........3 Samuel Cotten Jr., b. 1744, Northampton Co., NC

.............+ Elizabeth Ewell

...............4 Roderick Cotten, b. Mar. 16, 1788, Edgecombe Co., NC, d. 1814, Edgecombe Co., NC

..................+ Mary Topping Braswell

....................5 John Llewellyn Cotten, b. May 6, 1810, Edgecombe Co., NC , d. 1848, Edgecombe Co., NC

.......................+ Nancy Bell Penina Tart Johnson

.........................6 Robert Randolph Cotten, b. June 20, 1839, Edgecombe Co., NC, d. Aug. 12, 1926, Pitt Co., NC

............................+ Sallie Swepson Sims Southall

..............................7 Preston Sims Cotten, b. Apr. 1878, Pitt Co., NC, d. Mar. 1966, Middlesex Co., MA

.................................+ Willa Strange

...................................8 Robert Randolph Cotten II, b. May 4, 1917, Middlesex Co., MA, Dec. 20, 2003, Broome Co., NY

......................................+ Elizabeth Moss

........................................9 ROBERT RANDOLPH COTTEN III

The paper trail for this family indicates that they belong to family 7 but the y-chromosome results suggest that this family was actually descended in the male line from the Murphrees. It is possible that Roderick Cotten was the son of Samuel Cotten Jr.'s 15 year old daughter, Nancy, and a neighbor, John Murphree.