Cotton, John (1585–1652)

English-born American religious leader. In England, his extreme Puritan views led to charges of heterodoxy being filed against him 1633. In the same year, he immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where he was named teacher of Boston's First Congregational Church. A powerful force in the colony, he published widely circulated sermons and theological works.

Cotton was born in Derby and educated at Cambridge University. He was named vicar in Boston, Lincolnshire, 1612 before the persecution of Puritans under Charles I forced him to leave the country.

Cotton, John (lived 12th century)

English or Flemish music scholar. He was the author of a Latin treatise on music which seems to have been widely distributed in manuscript form; six copies are preserved in various European libraries.