[1] His father, Henry Ward Beecher Cotton, was an attorney and a member of the Boston Common Council from 1880 to 1881.

During World War I, Cotton served in the United States Army at Camps Devens and Grant, but was never sent oversees.

He was mustered out of the Army following the Armistice of November 11, 1918 and later served as the first commander of Lexington's American Legion post.

[2] In 1938, Senate President Samuel H. Wragg was elected Sheriff of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, and Cotton was chosen to succeed him with little opposition.

[4] In December 1939, Cotton was appointed to the additional position of chairman of the state Public Utilities Commission.