COTTON TOWNSHIP - Lies in the north-central part of Switzerland County. Prior to 1834 the area was covered mostly in forest. Settlers moved into the area with William Demaree being the first documented settler in 1816. William Cotton was the first Justice of the Peace and was elected by the citizens in 1816 as one of forty-three delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Corydon. Some other early settlers were William Oaks a farmer and carpenter, Winship & Bartlett the owners in 1825 of Allensville's first mercantile, Daniel K. Harris had a tannery as did Daniel Cole who also owned saddle and shoe shops. John Hawkins and his wife Sarah came from Connecticut, John was a millwirght.
Most of the area's forests were cleared in a short time and four villages developed; Fairview, Allensville, East Enterprise and Stowtown. An early settler in Fairview was David Lee, he received a land grant in 1813. Fairview was originally called "Sugar Branch" but the name was changed in 1911. The Gibbs Store operated in Fairview for 114 years not closing until 1964. Tobacco which became a major crop in the area is first thought to have been grown by James Cunningham a Fairview resident. Allensville was first town and was platted by Peter Demaree in 1816 and by 1879 it was one of the county's first trading posts. Stowtown was named after the Stow family, who had a large number of barns and sheds to store the fruit they produced on their farm in the early nineteenth century. John Littlefield settled East Enterprise between 1815 and 1819. East Enterprise has the largest number of historic sites still standing in Cotton Township.
The land in Cotton Township is more level than in some other parts of the county making it an area that produced a large amount of hay and many farmers used hay presses. At one time, eighty-seven operated in the township. Samuel Hewitt of Allensville invented and patented the vertical hay press in 1845. It was sometimes called the "Mormon hay press" because Hewitt was a Latter Day Saints member.
May 20, 1838 Sherman S. Lockwood married Angeline Heath in Switzerland County, their son Joseph Lockwood married Sarah Ann Oak on January 15, 1859.