Dr Cedric Lemoine Cotton, MD (1856-1904)

 

Born at Brome Corner, Quebec, August 11, 1856, he was the son of Doctor Charles Edward Cotton and Jane Victoria Stuart.

After his grammar school in Cowansville, he attended a public high school in England. A brilliant student, he earned, at 16 years old, an Oxford distinction amongst an important group of students, all older than Cedric.

Back in Canada, he studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal where he graduated as a doctor before reaching his majority. He then returned in England to continue his medical studies.

In 1877, he came back to Cowansville where he practiced medicine until his death. His doctor's office was on Main Street, just across the street from the Old Court House which was located on the present site of the shopping centre.

A well-respected doctor, he was also very involved in the community: president of the Cowansville Protestant School Commission for many years, municipal councillor from 1898 to 1900, Mayor of Cowansville from 1901 to 1903 and Member of Parliament representing the Missisquoi County from 1898 to 1900. He was the first president of the Missisquoi County Historical Society.

He was married to Harriet Clapp Gibson (1858-1854), also the daughter of a doctor, Dr John B. Gibson. They had a son, Thomas F. who became a doctor and two daughters, Lucy and Katharine.

On June 4, 1904, during a surgery, he pricked himself on a finger with a contaminated surgical instrument. He died on June 15, 1904, at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, from blood poisoning.