Representative Joseph Stewart Cottman

Joseph Stewart Cottman (August 16, 1803 – January 28, 1863) was an American lawyer, state legislator, and U.S. Representative from Maryland. He was born near Allen in Somerset County, Maryland, a region that was later incorporated into Wicomico County. Raised on the Eastern Shore, he grew up in a rural, agrarian environment that would shape his later interests in agriculture and local affairs. Although details of his early family life are sparse in the historical record, his subsequent education and professional pursuits indicate that he came from circumstances that allowed for advanced schooling and entry into the legal profession.

Cottman completed preparatory studies in Maryland before pursuing higher education at prominent institutions. He attended Princeton College in 1821, then continued his studies at Yale College in 1822 and 1823. His time at these colleges placed him within the educated elite of his generation and provided a classical foundation that supported both his legal training and his later literary pursuits. After leaving Yale, he turned to the study of law, following the customary path of reading law under established practitioners rather than attending a formal law school, which was typical in the early nineteenth century.

In 1826, Cottman was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Princess Anne, Maryland, the county seat of Somerset County. As a practicing attorney, he became a figure in local legal and civic life, handling matters characteristic of a rural Eastern Shore practice of the era, including property, commercial, and estate issues. His legal work helped establish his reputation in the community and provided a platform for his entry into public office. Princess Anne, as a regional center of government and commerce, offered him opportunities to engage with influential local leaders and to participate in the political currents of the state.

Cottman’s political career began at the state level. He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, serving in 1831 and 1832, and returning for another term in 1839. Between these periods in the lower house, he advanced to the Maryland State Senate, where he served in 1837. His service in both chambers of the General Assembly placed him at the center of state policymaking during a period marked by debates over internal improvements, banking, and the evolving party system. Although specific legislative initiatives associated with him are not extensively documented, his repeated elections indicate the confidence of his constituents in his representation of Somerset County’s interests.

Building on his state legislative experience, Cottman was elected from Maryland’s sixth congressional district as an Independent Whig to the Thirty-second Congress. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1851, to March 3, 1853. His identification as an Independent Whig reflected the fragmentation and realignment of national parties in the decade preceding the Civil War, as issues such as slavery’s expansion, sectional tensions, and economic policy strained traditional party structures. During his term, he served in a Congress that confronted major national questions, including the implementation of the Compromise of 1850 and the intensifying disputes between North and South, though the surviving record does not highlight particular committee assignments or major speeches by him.

Cottman sought to continue his service in Washington but was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress. After leaving Congress in March 1853, he returned to Princess Anne and resumed the practice of law. At the same time, he devoted increasing attention to agricultural pursuits on his property, reflecting both his Eastern Shore roots and the economic base of his region. He also engaged in literary pursuits, an indication of his continued interest in intellectual and cultural matters, though the specific nature of his writings is not well documented in the surviving historical record.

In his later years, Cottman resided on his farm, known as Mortherton, located near his birthplace of Allen in what had been Somerset County. He lived there through the turbulent years leading up to and including the early period of the Civil War, although there is little direct evidence of his public role during that conflict. Joseph Stewart Cottman died on his farm Mortherton near Allen on January 28, 1863. He was interred in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Churchyard in Princess Anne, Maryland, a burial place that reflected both his long association with the community and the prominence he had attained as a lawyer, state legislator, and member of Congress from Maryland’s Eastern Shore.