The Cogswells in America - citizen hylbom blog

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ord.iined Deacon and Priest by the Bisliop of London in 1774, and crossed
tile Atlantic with liis wife, leaving children behind them. His daughter Isabella
was born nt Windsor, the only child of the new home. Slie never saw brother
or sister. That .Mr. Ellis had been a man of some good settled position in
Ireland would appear from the personal efTects he and his wife brought with
them, some of which are still preserved as heirlooms, including ricli brocade
dresses, and articles of plate and jewelry engraved with a "Dolphin" crest.
Of curious interest are a lock of hair, and a gold ring with the two sides slid-
ing on each other, and so contrived that when they are brought together the
mounting represents a "hand in hand." They were merely wrapped in a
paper with the writing on it: " Flora Macdonald's hair and ring." How they
came into the possession of the family is unknown, but Isabella Ellis used to
speak of the ring as one of several given by Charles Edward to Flora Mac-
donald for distribution among his adherents.
Nine children were the ottspring of the marriage, of whom three died in
childhood. Si.x reached maturity, and only one was living in 1S84, Charles
Cogswell, M. D. 1
1539 J. of London. Of those who grew up to adult
estate, some were well known to a public that may possibly turn with peculiar
interest to tliis part of the volume for the sake of old memories.
Hexrv Ellis Cogswkll was born in 1S06, and at the proper age was
sent to the Halifa.x Grammar School, then, or soon after, 1 resided over by
the Rev. Dr. Twining, whose labors in another field as Garrison Chaplain are
commemorated in the memoir of Headley Vicars. When duly prepared he
matriculated at King's College, where he was an ardent and successful student.
But his lot was cast in the pre sanitary days of "all work and no play," and
his health had early begun to sufifer from over-devotion to brain work. .After
taking his degree, he studied law in his father's office, but was cut off in his
twenty-second year, before completing his term for admission to the bat. " .V
YOUTH OF GREAT PROMISE." Such is his brief epitaph, written on the last
page of Murdoch's history of Nova Scotia.
Isabella Binxey Cogswell. The name of this lady was for many years
a household word in Halifa.x. Her noble life may be regarded as one of the
blessed results of her brother William's ministry, and as one of the most
remarkable examples of the Evangelical revival. The Lord Bishop of the
Diocese, after her death quoted the following words of Christ as applicable to
her in every respect : " I was an hmtgcreil, anJ ye garc me meat ; I was thirsty,
and ye gave mc drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed
me : I was siek, and ye visited me ; I 'luas in prison, and ye came unto me." To
the hungry and thirsty she gave food and drink ; to the worn with toil, or
enfeebled by age. or saddened with affliction, or straitened in circumstances,
she gave sympathy and relief. She visited the prison to counsel, to pray with,
to befriend, the depraved and the criminal. Her constant attendance on the
sick and dying prematurely exhausted her strength, and after fourteen nights
spent in nursing a friend's family, she was in the grasp of a dangerous illness.
I'rayers were ofTered for her recoverv bv everv religious denomination in H.d-