Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
COTTINGHAM, Dixon
COTTINGHAM, Dixon. (Gunnerside, Swadedale, Yorkshire, England, Apr. 16, 1840--Dubuque, IA, 1921). The son of Dixon Cottingham and Isabelle Metcalfe, Cottingham began working in the mines of Yorkshire and at the age of thirteen came to America with his family. They settled in Big Patch, Wisconsin in May 1853. Dixon married Barbara White, with whom he had grown up next to as a neighbor, and together they had twelve children, six boys and six girls.
After serving in the Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry in the CIVIL WAR, Cottingham moved with his family to Dubuque. It was here that he owned and operated a farm while starting his own insurace agency. The D. Cottingham & Son Insurance Agency, owned and operated by Dixon Cottingham and his son, John D. COTTINGHAM, was established in 1887. These founding fathers were the great grandfather and grandfather respectively of COTTINGHAM AND BUTLER, INC. CEO, John E. BUTLER. The agency's main focus when founded was to offere insurance to individuals in the community.