His only daughter married Richard I. Cowper, long the Sheriff of Hertford, and a representative in the Legislature.
It may be well to preserve the fact in our memories, that the Court House of Hertford County has twice been burned--once in 1830 by an incendiary, instigated by Wright Allen, who hoped by this means to destroy the evidence against him of uttering a forged paper; and again in March 20, 1862, by the Federal forces, under Captain Allen Thomas, with his Massachusetts troops.
In 1791, along with General Wynns and Harry Hall, of Manney's Neck, as members of the Legislature, appeared James Jones, of Pitch Landing. He was the son of Colonel James Jones, and was born in 1765. His father entertained much of the tastes and ideas of the English people as to primogeniture, and left to his son the bulk of his estate. He was fond of high living, elaborate dress, and the accumulation of wealth. His son was a member of the Legislature from 1792 to 1806, until his increasing business compelled him to decline. He waxed richer and richer, until 1815, when he hazarded a bold speculation, to-wit: he purchased all the naval stores in Eastern North Carolina. Peace came, produce fell, and he was ruined. His proud spirit could not brook his fallen fortunes, and he sank under the blow. He died in 1816.
He married Anne, the sister of Isaac Walton, who lived near Nashville, Tennessee, and left a large family. Among them was James Sidney Jones, who stood at the head of the Bar, the peer of Gavin Hogg, Gov. Iredell, and others. He became very wealthy, and removed to Alabama.
Thomas Manney was born in Manney's Neck, in this county, and was long one of its honored citizens. He was the son of James Manney, a wealthy and influential man, who represented the county in 1778 and 1785.
His son read law with William H. Murfree--settled in Murfreesboro, and practiced for some years with great success. In 1817 he represented the county in the Legislature. In 1820 he acted as Secretary to Governor Franklin.
About 1825 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and practiced the law; was elected one of the Judges of the Superior Courts of that State, which high office he held with the respect and esteem of the whole country. He married in Murfreesboro, Rebecca, daughter of Rev. Daniel Southall, and raised a large and distinguished family, among them General Manney, and others.
He died at Nashville, April 15, 1864.
The Cotten family and their descendants have, for nearly two centuries, been inhabitants of the St. John Section, in this county.
Captain Arthur Cotten, the progenitor, came from England early in and about 1750; made voyages as commander of a ship between England and North Carolina. He became wealthy, retired from the sea, and in his old age built the first brick house that was ever erected in Hertford; he was quick in temper, sudden in quarrel, although a staid vestryman in the Church. He bore undying hatred to the English, arising from the barbarous murder of his father's kinswoman, the gentle and loving Lady Alice Lisle, at the hands of George Jeffries. His eldest son, Jesse, lived and died in Northampton County; Cullen, in Hertford, and Godwin, (already referred to, 44) at Mulberry Grove, where his great-grandson, Dr. G. C. Moore, resided.
His oldest daughter married James Moore, of Virginia; another married Cornelius Moore, of Northampton; another, Dr. James Usher; another, Samuel Bell, and the youngest married Powell, and afterwards, Moses Tyler, father of the late Perry Tyler, of Bertie County.
One of the Lords Proprietors, who joined in 1729 in the surrender of the Charter of North Carolina to the Crown, was an English Barrister, John Cotten, of the Middle Temple, London. He represented the district originally granted to Lord Ashley. He was the grandson of the Rev. Thomas Cotten, the father of Lady Lisle. Under his proprietorship, several of his kinsmen and his name, emigrated to Bertie and the surrounding precincts
Moore, 11, 53.
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