The Cogswells in America - citizen hylbom blog

Edmond Gardiner's on the South East, and a lott of Edmond Sayward's on
the souih west; with six acres of ground, the s'' John Cogswell hath sold to
John Perkins, the younger, his heirs and assigns."
The grant of " three hundred acres of land at the further Chebokoe '' was
some five miles to the eastward, in a part of Ipswich that was constituted, May 5,
1679. Chebacco Parish ; and Feb. 5, 1S19, incorporated the town of Essex.
A settlement had been commenced in the Indian Chebokoe, in 1635, by William
White and Goodman Bradstreet. This grant to John Cogswell embraced
a swell of land, the western boundary of which is the main road which runs
from Ipswich to Gloucester. On the south flows the Chebacco River; on the
north is a brook, which marks the boundary of a farm lately owned by Col.
John P. Choate ; and to the eastward is an arm of the sea. The grant of "a
parsell of ground containinge eight acres, upon part whereof y= s'' John Coggs-
well liath built an house," embraced land located near the present site of the
court-house. This house, which Mr. Cogswell built soon after his arrival, stood
on the site occupied by the residence of the late Hon. Charles Kimball, where
Edward L. Kimball, Esq., now, 1884, resides.
Mr, Cogswell, some time in 1636. put up a log-house and removed to
• !rther Chebokoe," where he spent the rest of his days. His descendants
101 eight generations, through a period of two hundred and i.ty years, have
>• ->:Viinued to cultivate these ancestral acres. A few rods from where stood the
iog-house of the first settler now stands an ancient dwelling-house, which is
the third in succession built on or near the same spot to domicile Cogswells in
America. This house was erected by William^ Cogswell [39] in 1732, and is
still occupied by Cogswells, the lineal descendants of John Cogswell, of West-
bury, England. For more than one hundred and fifty years " The Cogswell
House " has withstood time and change. Within its walls have dwelt six gen-
erations of the name. In it are carefully treasured many relics and articles of
household use. which were brought over in 1G35, ^"^ survived the wreck of
the " Angel Gabriel.'' These have been handed down from father to son as
having belonged to their great ancestor, and are enshrined in various and
quaint traditions. This ancient dwelling-house, which is well preserved, is
represented by an engraving on the following page.
This engraving is the work of Miss Charlotte Bruo.me Cogswell, of
Brooklyn. N. Y.. who for some years has been a teacher in drawing and
engraving in that city and in New York. She is a lineal descendant of John
Cogswell in the eighth generation. Miss Cogswell visiteil Essex, Mass., in
1882, made a sketch of the Cogswell homestead, and on her return completed
the engraving with her own hands.
It appears that John Cogswell was the third original settler in thai part of
Ipswich which is now Essex, Mass. His comparative wealth, intelligence, and
piety gave him an acknowledged prominence in the town and church. On the
records of Ipswich his name often appears. It is uniformly distinguished by
the appellation of A/r., which in those days was an honorary title given to but
few, who were gentlemen of some distinction. There were only alxuit ihirly of