Arthur St. Loe Livermore and his brother, William Butterfield, George G. Fogg, and O. A. J. Vaughan. Here for twenty years has Mr. Cogswell practiced law, doing the legal business for all the country round. He enjoys an excellent standing at the bar, not only with his clients and the people generally, but with his brother lawyers and with the court. It has always been his policy to discourage litigation, and many a promising lawsuit has been nipped in the bud by his advice. He has had the confidence of his neighbors and townsmen, and has done a large probate business, written many wills, settled many estates and accepted many fiduciary trusts. He has had no specialty but has done a general law business in Belknap and in Strafford counties, and in the United States Courts, to which he has been admitted to practice. He is bold and aggressive in the trial of causes and is a strong advocate before a jury. He is generally considered a well educated, well read, and safe lawyer, careful in giving advice, and careful not to be drawn into a suit when his client is in the wrong. A compromise with him is a very common and effective mode of procedure. Possibly had he been more dependent upon his profession for a livelihood, he might have been more industrious, but he could not have been more consciencious or more careful of the interests of his clients. In 1884 he was elected solicitor of Belknap County, running ahead of his party ticket, which office he now holds. POLITICS. The town of Gilmanton was divided in 1859, when Belmont was set off; but as it was against the will of the people of that section, they retained the old organization and the records, while the new town kept the old name. Of Gilmanton Mr. Cogswell was chosen representative to the General Court in 1871 and 1872, although the town was Republican. (The first office to which he was elected was that of superintending school committee, which office he held for one year.) During the latter term he received the nomination of his party for speaker of the House of Representatives. He was elected Senator from the old district, Number Six, in 1878, and was the candidate the following year for re-election in the new district, Number Six. In this election there was no choice by the people and he lost his election in the Senate. In 1880 he was candidate for councillor in the Second Councillor District, but found it impossible to overcome a Republican majority of from sixteen to eighteen hundred. In June, 1886, he received of the Democratic State Convention the nomination for Governor. Mr. Cogswell is a Democrat. His father before him was a Democrat, a loyal supporter of the administration during the Rebellion, and a firm believer in the great underlying principles of the Democratic party. He believes in the sacredness of the Constitution which forms the union of the States, in maintaining our national honor at home and abroad, in the equality of American citizens, and, with President Cleveland, heartily endorses the doctrine that public office is a public trust. He is, and has always been, a conservative Democrat. Although he was defeated for councillor in 1880, that was the year he was elected by his fellow-citizens of Gilmanton to the office of selectman, succeeding in raising that most important office out of the realm of party politics and inaugurating a non-partisan board, which the town has continued to this day. At that time the town was then, as it is now, strongly Republican, and this overturn was only accomplished after a hard fight. He was re-elected in 1881, and 1882, during both of which years he served as chairman of the board. During his term of office the financial affairs of the town were straightened out and a system of reform inaugurated which saved money to the town and benefited everybody. For many years he has been a delegate to the State Conventions and other conventions of his party, and has always been ready and willing to serve his party on the stump. His own nomination in June, 1886, although given by a very large majority on the first ballot, came unsolicited and apparently spontaneously. This result was brought about by his very large circle of personal friends, men who know him, who believe in him, who want to vote for him and who hope to elect him. They know his strength as a speaker, as an executive, as a man of affairs, and his great personal popularity. EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS. For many years Mr. Cogswell has been interested in educational affairs. Mention has been made of his service one year as superintending school committee of Gilmanton. Since 1868 he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Gilmanton Academy. He has been President of the Board since the death of Judge Eastman, and is now its Treasurer. To the affairs of the institution he has given a great deal of time and attention. In no small degree is its increasing reputation owing to his interest in it. At all times he has been generous in helping students who are seeking an education. FARM. Since the death of his father in 1868 he has had the charge of a farm of over four hundred acres, now increased to five hundred acres, and this he has steadily improved, not only in its capacity for yielding crops, but in its buildings, fences, and orchards. Its chief crop is hay, of which he cuts from seventy-five to one hundred tons annually. He winters from forty to sixty head of cattle, and keeps from six to ten horses. His cattle are Durham and Devon grades, well adapted to his hillside farm. stock. His horses are of the Wilkes Only a few sheep remain at present of what was formerly a large flock. For sixty-five years the farm has produced a crop of wheat, sometimes amounting to one hundred bushels; and in 1869 he received a silver medal for the best wheat from the New Hampshire Agricultural Society. Corn, beans, potatoes, and vegetables enough are raised on the farm for home consumption. There is much valuable wood and timber land on the estate. Mr. Cogswell requires the services of two assistants through the whole year, and during the haying and harvest seasons of as many as are available. There is a system in all his farm operations, and for the last ten years that of calling ten hours' labor a day's work on his farm has been in force. This is true even in haying weather. His men are always well treated, and, as a matter of course, it is considered very desirable to obtain work on the Cogswell farm. Mr. Cogswell was one of the first members of the Board of Agriculture, and served two years, and as his successor named Professor Jeremiah W. Sanborn, who has since done so much to elevate the farm and the farmer. He was President of the Belknap County Agricultural Society in 1883 and in 1884, and was a charter member of Crystal Lake Grange, number one hundred and one, Patrons of Husbandry, of Gilmanton Iron Works, and has been its Lecturer since its formation. He takes especial pride in his horses, for one of which he took the first prize at the New England Fair a few years since. His farm, as a whole, is one of the best in the town of Gilmanton, and is excelled by only a few in the State. It is good, strong land, and is very carefully cultivated. CITIZEN. Mr. Cogswell was commissioned colonel by Governor Weston. His fighting rank was captain, won on the field of battle at the age of twenty-two years, and very acceptable to him when used in addressing him by an old comrade of army days. The Colonel is a very generous man to his needy townsmen. Many good men are ready to help the "Lord's poor;" Colonel Cogswell always has a kind word and a helping hand and purse for that other kind of poor not so often in high favor. A tendollar bill, given or loaned at times by him, has saved many a poor fellow from trouble and distress of a serious nature. The Colonel is public-spirited. supports all measures calculated to better his immediate locality, his native town, the State, or the nation. The village at the Iron Works has been improved and the value of property enhanced by his efforts with others in erecting there a shoe factory, which He gives employment to above one hundred operatives. His large house is the home for the whole family of Cogswells whereever scattered, and his many personal friends are there hospitably entertained. For many years he has been a liberal supporter of the Congregational Church of Gilmanton Iron Works, of which society he is a member, and he attends meeting regularly every Sunday. He is a member of the executive committee, which has charge of a fund of some $3500. He is not bigoted in his religious views, however, but contributes to the support of the gospel in all the neighboring churches. He is a member of the John L. Perley, Jr., Post, No. 37, G. A. R., of Laconia, and has frequently been called upon to deliver Memorial Day addresses. He is a member of the Winnipisseogee Lodge, F. and A. Masons, of Alton, and for two years was Master of the Lodge. He possesses a retentive memory and is an eloquent speaker, his off-hand addresses being especially pleasing to his audiences. He is a storehouse of facts relating to the early history of Gilmanton and its pioneers, and is especially interested in genealogies and subjects He is a man of antiquarian interest. of large frame, large head, large heart, popular with all who know him and with all who can appreciate a thoroughly good fellow. In the entertainment of company at his hospitable home he is ably seconded by his bright and vivacious wife, who heartily enters into all plans and aspirations of the Colonel's life. ANCESTRY. The Cogswell family of America can. trace their descent from John Cogswell, -*Largely compiled from The Cogswells of America." by E. O. Jameson. the emigrant ancestor, who came to this country with his wife and family in 1635 and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. well's property. The whole family, however, reached the shore in safety. Mr. Cogswell soon after settled in Ipswich, where he became a leading citizen, and died full of years and honors, November 29, 1869. Mrs. Cogswell, who "was a woman of sterling qualities and dearly beloved by all who knew her," died, June 2, 1676. II. WILLIAM COGSWELL, eldest son of John and Elizabeth (Thompson) Cogswell, was baptized in March, 1619, and came with his parents to America. He settled on the home place in Ipswich, now in the town of Essex, Massachusetts, and was an influential and highly respected citizen. He married, in 1649, Susanna Hawkes, daughter of Adam and Mrs. Anne (Hutchinson) Hawkes. She was born in 1633, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and died in 1696. He died December 15, 1700. III. LIEUTENANT JOHN COGswell, son of William and Susanna (Hawkes) Cogswell, was born May 12, 1665, in Chebacco, Ipswich, where he lived until his death. I. JOHN COGSWELL, son of Edward and Alice Cogswell, and grandson of Robert and Alicia Cogswell, was born in 1592 in Westbury Leigh, County of Wilts, England. His father and his grandfather and his ancestors for generations had been engaged in the manufacture of woollen cloths in the neighborhood of his birthplace; and members of the Cogswell family continue to this day making cloth in the same locality. He married, September 10, 1615, Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Rev. William and Phillis Thompson, and settled down in the old homestead. His parents died soon after his marriage, and he succeeded to the business. This business he carried on successfully for a score of years, when he was impelled to migrate with his family. Those were troublesome times in the mother country, and the tide of emigration had already commenced to flow towards the New England coast. With his wife, He was called to fill various the daughter of the parish vicar of public offices in the town and was a Westbury Leigh, and eight of their nine member of the church. He married children, he embarked May 23, 1635, before 1693 Hannah Goodhue, daughat Bristol, England, on the ship Angel ter of Deacon William, Jr., and HanGabriel, to find the home of religious nah (Dane) Goodhue. He died in freedom in the new world. He had 1710. He had 1710. Mrs. Cogswell, born July 4, previously disposed of his "mylls," his 1673, after the death of her first hushouses, his land, and his business, and band married in 1713 Lieutenant took with him several farm and house- Thomas Perley. She died December hold servants, an amount of valuable 25, 1742. furniture, farming implements, housekeeping utensils, and a considerable sum of money. After a very long passage the vessel approached the harbor of Pemaquid, on the coast of Maine, when, within sight of their haven, they were overtaken by a fearful gale, which made a wreck of the Angel Gabriel and caused the loss of much of Mr. Cogs IV. NATHANIEL COGSWELL, son of Lieutenant John and Hannah (Goodhue) Cogswell, was born January 19, 1707, in Chebacco Parish, Ipswich. He was three years old when his father died and in early boyhood entered a store in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He became a leading merchant and a prominent citizen of the town. He was a man of integrity and business capacity, mate in the Military Hospital at West and was a devoted and efficient member of the church. He married January 31, 1740, Judith Badger, daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Peaslee) Badger. Mrs. Cogswell was the only surviving daughter of her father, who was a merchant of Haverhill. She was born February 3, 1724, and died May 7, 1810. After a successful business life, Mr. Cogswell retired in 1766, and settled upon a farm in Atkinson, New Hampshire. He at once became active in religious and educational matters in the town. During the Revolutionary War his patriotism was declared by large loans of money to provide equipments and provisions for the soldiers. These loans of money, by reason of a depreciated currency, proved almost a total loss. Besides providing money Mr. Cogswell gave eight sons to the army who served with distinction and fulfilled an aggregate term of service of more than thirty-eight years. The aggregate height of these eight brothers was about fifty feet. They all survived the war and became prominent in professional and civil life. Mr. Cogswell died March 23, 1783. V. DR. WILLIAM COGSWELL, son of Nathaniel and Judith (Badger) Cogswell, was born July 11, 1760, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. At the breaking out of the Revolution he entered the army at the age of fifteen years, enlisting in the company commanded by his older brother, Captain Thomas Cogswell, in Colonel Baldwin's regiment. He served through the year 1776. For the next year he studied medicine and surgery with Dr. Nathaniel Peabody, at Atkinson. In 1778 he served with General Sullivan in Rhode Island. Having completed his medical studies he was appointed, July 19, 1781, surgeon's Point. January 5, 1784, he was pro- She was born VI. HONORABLE THOMAS COGswell, son of Dr. William and Judith (Badger) Cogswell, and father of Honorable Thomas Cogswell, of Gilmanton, the subject of this sketch, was born December 7, 1798, in Atkinson. He married, February 25, 1820, Mary Noyes, daughter of James and Mary (Weston) Noyes, and settled and resided in Gilmanton until his death, nearly fifty years later. He was an extensive farmer, owning the homestead of his maternal grandfather, General Joseph Badger, which he increased to one thousand acres. He was a man of great influ. |