he town and the church. His name
is often seen in the records of Ipswich and always with the prefix
"Mr.," which, in those days, was a title of honor given to only a few
who were gentlemen of distinction. He died November 29, 1669, aged
seventy-seven years. His funeral procession traversed a distance of five
miles to the old North graveyard of the First Church, under an escort of
armed men as a protection against a possible attack of Indians. Three
years later the body of Mrs. Cogswell was laid beside her husband's. The
record that remains of her is: "She was a woman of sterling qualities
and dearly loved by all who knew her." Their son, William Cogswell,
seems to have had many of his father's traits and was one of the most
influential citizens of that period. To him was due the establishment of
the parish and church and the building of the meeting-house; and when,
according to the quaint custom of those days, the seats in the
meeting-house were assigned, his wife was given the place by the
minister's wife, a mark of greatest distinction. Two of his grandsons
were men of note. Colonel Nathaniel Wade was an officer in the
Revolutionary army and a personal friend of Washington and Lafayette.
Another, the Rev. Abiel Holmes, father of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, was
a graduate of Yale, and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from
Edinburgh. He was settled for many years over the First Church of
Cambridge.

[Illustration: Cogswell House, Ipswich, Mass.]

One of the deeds of land made to their children was to their son William
"on the south side of Chebacco River." The variation in the spelling of
this proper name is one of the many we find in early New England
records. At the same time a dwelling at Chebacco Falls was given to
Deacon Cornelius Waldo, who had married their daughter Hannah. In
direct line of descent from these two, and in the sixth generation from
the first Cogswell in America, was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Mrs. Bemis was
in the eighth generation, through the son William, and from him also was
descended Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the fifth generation. We cannot well
follow here the descendants of the other children of John and Elizabeth
Cogswell, but certain it is that in each of the generations to the
present day we find many well-educated men and women of character, with
a strong sense of their obligations as citizens, all doing good work for
the world in various lines of activity. They have verified what on