ABSTRACT
Thomas Benton Cottingham was born at Logan Cross Roads, Dearborn county, Indiana, on April 3, 1846. He is the son of Thomas and Sarah Mills (Stohmes) Cottingham, natives of Yorkshire, England, and Ohio, respectively. Thomas Cottingham, Sr., was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1810, and at an early age emigrated with his parents to America. They settled near Baltimore, Maryland. A short time after the death of the father, Thomas Cottingham, Sr., came with his mother to Cincinnati. Here he received the rudiments of a common-school education and learned the blacksmith's trade by apprenticeship. Later removing to Dearborn county and settling on a farm at Logan Cross Roads, he built a shop and followed his trade as a blacksmith. The father, Thomas Cottingham, Sr., after operating his ninety-acre farm in Harrison township and following his blacksmith's trade for a number of years, spent the last fifteen years of his life with a daughter, Mrs. Liddle, of Bright, Indiana.
