Cotton, Moses (1827-1907)

Moses was apparently accepted in the membership of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in 1842, and became a Local Preacher in 1846. In 1849 he moved over to the Primitive Methodists, being accepted for their ministry in 1851. He was accepted into Full Connexion in 1856, but transferred again, to the Methodist New Connexion in 1857. He was accepted into Full Connexion of the MNC in 1861. He retired at the age of 65, and died between the meetings of the last MNC Conference and first United Methodist Conference of 1907, as is recorded in the minutes of that first Conference.

Family

Moses was born in 1827 at Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, to parents Charles, a collier, and Ellen. He was baptised on  9 December 1827 at St James, Newchapel, Staffordshire.

Before entering the ministry Moses worked as a coal miner.

He married Mary Ann Clarke (1833-1926) in the summer of 1860 at Sheffield, Yorkshire. Census returns identify seven children.

• Ellen Antoinette (1861-1946)
• Charles Samuel (1863-1897) – a draper’s cashier (1881); died at Parkes, New South Wales
• Edmund Albert (1864-1938) – a bank manager (1907)
• Sarah Elizabeth (1866-1951) – a housekeeper (1911)
• Miriam Maud (1867-1961) – a milliner (1939)
• John Alexander (b1868) – a clerk (1891); emigrated to Australia
• William Henry (1870-1952) – a bank clerk (1901); a bank manager (1911)

Moses died 8 August 1907 at Arnside, Westmorland.

Circuits

• 1852 – 1857  Primitive Methodist Ministry (see My Primitive Methodists)
• Methodist New Connexion
•  1857  Gateshead
• 1858   Sheffield North
• 1859  Liverpool
• 1860  Sheffield South
• 1861   Oldbury and Tipton
• 1863  Yarmouth
• 1865  Longton
• 1866  Derby
• 1868  Thorne
• 1871   Leicester
• 1873  Hartlepool
• 1876  Shields
• 1880  Stourbridge
• 1883  Halifax North
• 1885  Batley
• 1889  Leeds II
• 1892  Leeds II (Supernumery)
• 1896  Leeds Hunslet (Supernumerary)
• 1898  Bradford (Supernumerary)

References

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990

Oliver A Beckerlegge, United Methodist ministers and their circuits: Being an arrangement in alphabetical order of the stations of ministers of the Methodist New … and the United Methodist Church, 1797-1932

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Minutes of the United Methodist Church 1908  [Obituary] p 22