Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
COTTINGHAM AND BUTLER, INC.
COTTINGHAM AND BUTLER, INC. Commercial and casualty insurance brokerage and claim administration firm. The company's founder, Dixon Cottingham, was born April 16, 1840, in Gunnerside, Swaledale, Yorkshire, England, the son of Dixon Cottingham and Isabelle Metcalfe. At the age of nine Dixon started working in the mines of Yorkshire, and at the age of thirteen came to America with his family settling in Big Patch, Wisconsin in May 1853. Dixon Cottingham married Barbara White, whom he had grown up next to as a child, and together they had twelve children, six boys and six girls. After serving in the Wisconsin Voluntary Infantry in the CIVIL WAR, Dixon moved with his family to Dubuque. It was here that he owned and operated a farm while starting his own insurance 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 current CEO, John E. BUTLER. The agency's main focus when founded was to offer insurance to individuals in the community.
Ellis Butler married John Cottingham's daughter, Barbara, in 1929 and went to work for his father-in-law's agency in 1931.