Annie James Culbreth was the daughter of Joseph Warren Culbreth and Elizabeth Young McNeill. Her father died when she and her sister, Nettie Culbreth, were still very young. Consequently, the girls and their widowed mother spent years fighting for the estate. They also traveled frequently as evidenced by her scrapbook, in the possession of her granddaughter Anne Cotton.

She married Rev. Moses Eli Cotton on June 26, 1912. They had the following children:

1) Horace Peabody Cotton (Sept 3, 1913 - Apr 1982) who married Magdayln Davis.

2) Russell Culbreth Cotton (Mar 16, 1915 - Oct 16, 1974) who married Mary Lee Edwards.

3) Doyel Lakin Cotton (Nov 11, 1920 - Oct 1, 1998) who married Mary Ella Bullock.

4) Boyce Young Cotton (Aug 19, 1923 - Nov 1974) who married Barbara Shellsmith.

5) Elizabeth Cotton (May 18, 1925 - May 12, 2008) who married William Jefferies.

6) Guyte McCord Cotton (July 2, 1930 - Dec 26, 2002) who married Winnie Williams.