The earliest members of the Cotton family appear in the census of 1870. Ephraim Cotton is listed with his family.
1. Ephraim Cotton (born March 1837 – died 1915)
In 1870 we find Ephraim Cotton in the Census records. He is said to be 40 years old, and his wife Mary is 25 years old. Census records are well known to be somewhat unreliable when it comes to the spelling of the names of people and their ages. Ephraim and Mary have 4 children in 1870: Menerva Cotton, William Cotton, James Cotton, and Hannah Cotton. Ephraim is a farmer, but does not own his own land, so he is a sharecropper. He cannot read or write, which would have been typical for most emancipated slaves. He does have personal property worth $689. This could refer to farm equipment or even cattle that he may have owned. The Census mentions that the record was made on the 10th of August 1870 in 16 Township, County of Noxubee in Mississippi.
Ephraim and Mary were both born in Alabama, and all of their children were born in Mississippi. The neighbors of Ephraim and Mary in 1870 are a white farmer named Hannah Cotton (52 yrs old) and many black families that also went by the last name Cotton. It is likely that the black men and women in that township were the emancipated slaves of Hannah Cotton. Hannah and her son Walter (23 years old) own combined $8,500 worth of real estate (land) and the owners of the land farmed by the black families.
In the 1880 census Ephraim is said to be 41 years old, and his wife is called Moretta Cotton and is said to be 25 years old. The later 1900 census indicates that Mary, Moretta and Marietta are the same person. The 1900 census indicates that Ephraim and Marietta married in 1864 as they were married for 36 years at that time. The eldest children in 1880 are named Menerva, Bill , James and Hannah which indicates the Ephraim in the 1880 census is the same person as the one mentioned in 1870. It is interesting that Ephraim is recorded as being a mulatto, indicating he had a white ancestor (father?, grandfather?). Ephraim is still working as a farmer. His daughter Menerva is not said to have had a job, but she may have been helping her mother. The children William (Bill), James, Hannah, Fannie, and John are said to be going to school.
- Menerva Cotton (born 1862) There are two women named Minerva Cotton living in Noxubee County in 1900. Both are widows, but it is not clear which one is the daughter of Ephraim.
- William Cotton (born 1864)
- James Cotton (born 1866)
- Hannah Cotton (born 1868)
- Fannie Cotton (born 1874)
- John Cotton (born December 1878 – died 1969)
- Isaac Cotton (born 1879)
- Isaiah Cotton (born June 2, 1881 – died 1969)
- Wilson Cotton (born December 1885)
- Marietta Cotton (born December 1887 – died 1962)
The 1900 census shows that Ephraim and his wife owned the farm they worked on. They still had a mortgage at this time, but they were not renting the farm. Ephraim was 63-years old at this time and was working the farm with his wife and his sons John Cotton and Isaiah Cotton who we 21 and 18 years old respectively. The family also had two grandchildren living with them: granddaughter Lula (13-years old) and grandson Samuel (3-years old). The records show that the eldest sons were literate and had learned to read and write. Children Wilson (14-years old) and Marietta (13-years old) and granddaughter Lula (13-years old) were all going to school.
but shows what their farm may have looked like
2. Isaiah Cotton 1875-1969 Son of Ephraim Cotton
Isaiah grew up in Noxubee County Mississippi.
3. Wesley Cotton 1902-1994 Son of Isaiah Cotton
4. Geraldine W. Cotton 1935-1990 Daughter of Wesley Cotton
5. Earline Barton 1960- Daughter of Geraldine W. Cotton
6. Durrell Love 1990- Son of Earline Barton and later adopted by Anneke Bart.
7. D’Mar Love, Son of Durrell Love and Marleena Thomas