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JAMES R. COTTINGHAM
Vol. 3, p. 1157

Solicitor for Oklahoma for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway
Company, Mr. Cottingham maintains his residence in Oklahoma City,
where he is a member of the representative law firm of COTTINGHAM &
HAYES, with offices at 810 Colcord Building. He has been a prominent
and honored member of the Oklahoma bar since the early territorial
period and has not only stood exponent of the highest professional
ideals but has also proved a most loyal and public-spirited citizen
whose influence has been definite and benignant in connection with
governmental, political and general civic affairs.

Mr. Cottingham was born in Scott County, Kentucky, on the 5th of
September, 1865, and is a son of John W. and Elizabeth C. (HANNA)
Cottingham both likewise natives of the fine old Blue Grass State,
whence they removed to Kansas in 1869 and numbered themselves among
the pioneer settlers of Cowley County, where the father developed a
productive farm and became a valued and influential citizen. For
nearly a decade prior to his death, which occurred in 1904, he served
as judge of the probate court of that county, and he was one of the
county's best known and most honored pioneer citizens when he was
thus called from the stage of life's mortal endeavors, after a career
of many years of earnest and endeavors, after a career of many years
of earnest and effective work, his loving wife having preceded him to
eternal rest. The original American progenitors of the Cottingham
family came from England to the "eastern shore" of Maryland shortly
after that colony was settled by Lord Baltimore.

James R. Cottingham was about four years of age at the time of the
family removal to Kansas, where his boyhood and early youth were
compassed by the conditions and influences of the pioneer farm and
where he was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the
period, this discipline being supplemented by an effective course in
the Southwest Kansas College, at Winfield, the judicial center of his
home county. In that city he initiated the study of law in the office
of HACKNEY & ASP, and there he was admitted to the bar in 1890, his
novitiate in the active practice of his profession having there been
served with the firm under whose preceptorship he had gained his
technical training. In March, 1892, Mr. Cottingham came to Oklahoma
Territory and settled at Guthrie, the territorial capital, where he
continued in the general practice of law and where he was associated
with his former preceptor, Henry E. Asp, under the firm name of Asp
and Cottingham, from 1902 until 1907, the year which marked the
admission of Oklahoma to statehood. In the following year he formed a
professional alliance with S., T. BLEDSOE, under the title of
Cottingham & Bledsoe, and in 1911 they removed to Oklahoma City,
where the partnership was continued until Mr. Bledsoe's removal to
Chicago, January 1, 1915, the firm controlling a large and
representative law business. On the removal of Mr. Bledsoe to Chicago
the firm was reorganized, January 1, 1915, by the admission of Judge
Samuel W. HAYES, the firm name becoming Cottingham & Hayes as at
present existing. Much of Mr. Cottingham's time is devoted to railway
work, he having been in the law department of the Santa Fe
continuously for twenty-five years. Mr. Cottingham is a member of the
American Bar Association and is prominently identified also with the
Oklahoma State Bar Association and the Oklahoma City Bar Association.
Substantial and well merited financial success has attended his work
as a member of the Oklahoma bar and he is a stockholder in many
prominent industrial and commercial corporations in this state and
elsewhere.

Before assuming his present official position with the railroad
company Mr. Cottingham was for a number of years an influential
figure in the councils and campaign activities of the Oklahoma
contingent of the republic party. He was an active member of the
Republican State Central Committee and served for a term of years
also as chairman of its finance committee. Notwithstanding his
political activities, which have been prompted by civic loyalty, he
has manifested no ambition for political office, even along the line
of his profession. Mr. Cottingham is a member of the Oklahoma Chamber
of Commerce, and in his home city is affiliated with the Country Club
and the Men's Dinner Club.

In October, 1893, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cottingham to
Miss Ada HIXON, daughter of John W. Hixon of Guthrie, and the one
child of this union is Madeline, who was born in February, 1896, and
who remains at the parental home.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Lois L. Coffelt, November 6, 1998.