John Cotton (1671-1736) of the Middle Temple, Carolina Lord Proprietor, was the second son of John Cotton of Ashill, Norfolk, by Anne, daughter of Jermyn Wright of Wangford, Suffolk, sister of Sir Robert Wright, Chief Justice of the King’s bench. He was the first cousin of Robert Wright, Chief Justice of South Carolina. He married Elizabeth, the second cousin of them both, daughter of John Wright (1645–1728), merchant tailor of London, and his wife Anna-Maria Smith (1652–1714). Elizabeth's brother Robert Wright married Elizabeth Rayney, daughter of Henry Rayney (d.1740) of London and Tyers Hill and Frances Wright, the sister of the abovementioned Robert Wright of Downham and also a Kilverstone Wright. Their sister Martha was the wife of Henry Partridge. The daughter of Elizabeth Wright and John Cotton, Elizabeth Cotton, married Sir John Tyrrell, 3rd Baronet (1685 – 21 June 1729), one of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Tyrrell County, North Carolina is named after him. He himself was a distant relation of the preceding.