Cotton, Josiah Dexter, 1822-

Physician.

Josiah Dexter Cotton was born in Marietta, Ohio, May 19, 1822. The son of Dr. John Cotton and Susan (Buckminster) Cotton, he graduated from Marietta College in 1842 and obtained his medical degree from the University of Louisville in 1847. Dr. J. D. Cotton practiced medicine in Marietta for many years, and he served as a surgeon in the 92nd Ohio Infantry Regiment of the Union army during the Civil War. He died August 6, 1903, in Marietta.

Ann M. Steece married Josiah Dexter Cotton, July 6, 1848, in Lawrence County, Ohio. She was born in Adams County, Ohio, September 5, 1828, the daughter of George and Polly (Burkitt) Steece. Her father was an iron manufacturer with the firm of Campbell, Ellison & Co. Ann (Steece) Cotton died in Marietta, May 17, 1911.

Josiah D. Cotton (called "Dexter" by the family) and Ann (Steece) Cotton were the parents of eight children, four of whom (John, Anna, Alice, and Maud) did not live to adulthood. The oldest child, Ella (1849-1908), married Major C. H. Conrad, who became a victim of the Spanish-American War. Ella died in New York City, May 13, 1908. Mary Cotton (1854-1881) married Fred E. Sterns of Rapid City, South Dakota, and died shortly after her marriage. George Dexter Cotton (1861-1927) moved to Holt County, Nebraska, in 1884, where he homesteaded. He died at his farm on August 11, 1927. Willia Dawson Cotton (1868-1942), an 1898 graduate of Marietta College, remained in Marietta and became the first librarian of the Washington County Public Library. She was active in preserving local history and was instrumental in the founding of Campus Martius Museum. Willia Cotton died in Marietta, June 7, 1942.