1585 – Born on December 4th in Derby, Derbyshire, England. John Cotton was a leading minister in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his ideas were an important factor in the development of Puritan social and religious beliefs.
– English and American Puritan divine, sometimes called "The Patriarch of New England".
1603-1606 – He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. and M.A. and became a fellow in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, then a stronghold of Puritanism, where, during the next six years, according to his friend and biographer, Rev. Samuel Whiting, he was "head lecturer and dean, and Catechist", and "a diligent tutor to many pupils".
1612 – He became vicar of the parish church of St. Botolph’s in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he remained for twenty-one years and was extremely popular.
1615-1632 – He ceased to observe certain ceremonies prescribed by the legally authorized ritual and action was begun against him in the High Commission Court.
1633 – Escaped, disguised, to London, lay in concealment there for several months, and, having been deeply interested from its beginning in the colonization of New England, he eluded the watch set for him at the various English ports, and in July, emigrated to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, arriving at Boston early in September.
– On the 10th of October he was chosen "teacher" of the First Church of Boston, of which John Wilson was pastor.
1652 – Died on December 23rd in Boston, Massachusetts.