William Cogswell

Copyright, Plagiarism, and Disclaimer

Copyright: The material on this website is protected by the copyright laws of the United States.

Plagiarism: Please give credit where credit is due and properly cite your source.

Disclaimer: Mistakes and errors are inevitable. Caveat emptor.

For more information, please see this page.
ChartsAncestors of Harriet Hanson Robinson
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Harriet Hanson (Robinson) Pierce
Diana, Princess of Wales, and Edward Warrington Robinson
John Adams & John Quncy Adams - Harriet Hanson (Robinson) Pierce
Millard Fillmore - Harriet Hanson (Robinson) Pierce
William Cogswell, son of William Cogswell and Susannah Hawkes, was born at Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts, 4 December 1659.1 He died at Ipswich, 14 April 1708.2

William married Martha Emerson, daughter of John Emerson and Ruth Symonds, at Ipswich 9 October 1685.3,4

When William was a youngster (about 12), he observed some men trying to save acow from choking on a potato. Martha Emerson, then about 8 or 10, also was watching. When all efforts failed to relieve the cow, someone suggested reaching down the cow's throat to dislodge it. Martha said at once, "My arm is small; I can do it best; you hold her mouth." They did so, and she drew out the potato, to the great relief of the poor cow and all present. William observed, "That young Miss by and by shall be my wife." And later it was so.

When William died, he left an estate of 741 pounds, 2 shillings, divided among his children. His brothers Jonathon and Lieutenant John Cogswell and his son Edward were joint administrators. His estate included among other things, 70 acres of upland and marsh, the homestead in Chebacco with housing of all sorts valued at 243 pounds. Twenty-six acres of land at the neck and point of rocks, 60 acres at Loblolly Cove (now part of Rockport), mills in Gloucester, and a one-fourth share in the Little River Saw Mill. His house was mentioned to contain a parlor and chamber, kitchen and chamber, and porch chamber.5

Family

Martha Emerson b. 28 Nov 1662
Children
  • Edward Cogswell5,6 b. 13 Aug 1686, d. 17 Apr 1773
  • William Cogswell7,6 b. 1688, d. 1710
  • Martha Cogswell7,6 b. say 1690
  • Dorothy Cogswell5,1 b. 31 Aug 1692
  • Emerson Cogswell+7,6 b. abt. 1699, d. 29 Mar 1788
  • Lucy Cogswell7,6 b. 1699
  • Eunice Cogswell7,6 b. 1704
This person was last edited on19 Jun 2012

Citations

  1. [S664] , Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849: Volume I - Births (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910), 95-99, further cited as Vital Records of Ipswich - Vol I.
  2. [S665] , Vital Records of Ipswich Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849: Volume II - Marriages and Deaths (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910), 527-530, further cited as Vital Records of Ipswich - Vol II.
  3. [S665] Vital Records of Ipswich - Vol II, 105-109.
  4. [S1872] Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700, 3 vols. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), 344, further cited as Torrey, New England Marriages (2011).
  5. [S296] Ephraim Orcutt Jameson, The Cogswells in America (n.p.: p.p., 1884), 23-24, further cited as Jameson, Cogswell Family.
  6. [S691] Benjamin Kendall Emerson and Capt. Geo. A. Gordon, Ipswich Emersons A.D. 1636--1900 (Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1900), 57, further cited as Emerson and Gordon, Emersons.
  7. [S691] Emerson and Gordon, Emersons, 43-46.