Person:William Cogswell (1)

William Cogswell, son of John, was sixteen years of age at the time he came with his parents to America in 1635, and about thirty when he was married. He settled on the home place, and lived in a house that then stood a little to the north of the site now occupied by the ancient Cogswell house. He possessed many of the traits of his father. He was a man of Christian character, and one of the most influential citizens in that part of Ipswich. It was largely by his efforts that the Gospel ministry was established in Chebacco. After two years of opposition, and several appeals to the General Court, at last, May 5, 1679, the Parish of Chebacco was established. Mr. Cogswell gave the land on which to erect a meeting-house, a lot thirteen rods by three. This first meeting-house in Chebacco stood on what was long known as Meeting-house Hill. Mr. Cogswell entertained at his house the Ecclesiastical Council that met Aug. 12, 1683, to organize the church and to obtain Mr. John Wise, their first pastor.

William Cogswell was the defendant in the "historic" suit, Cogswell vs. Cogswell, brought by his nephew, John Cogswell, son of John Cogswell, who had appointed William guardian of his children, and who died at sea. After two years of trials and appeals, William was found innocent, and John was ordered to pay the court's costs, £13 4s.^[5]

Mr. William Cogswell having taken Thomas Bettes, who was sentenced to be whipped, and paying 40s., said Bettes had his corporal punishment remitted, and in consideration of his master Cogswell buying off his whipping, he agreed to serve him one year more than the time of his indenture and the six months ordered to serve his master Simmons by Ipswich court, Mar. 29, 1682." ^[6]

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011)
   II:138.
2.   Felt, Joseph B. History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Printed by C. Folsom, 1834)
   172.

   1700, Dec. William , son of John Cogswell , d. Æ. 81, and was buried the 17th. He left a daughter Elizabeth , widow of Col. T. Wade, and had three other daughters m. to Thomas Burnam , Benjamin White , and Wm. Noyes . His wife was living in 1693 , when a committee, for assigning places in the meeting-house, appointed her to sit with the minister's wife. Mr. Cogswell was active, against much and protracted opposition, in getting a church and society formed in Chebacco, where he lived; was often Selectman of this parish, and one of its most intelligent, useful, and respectable inhabitants.

3. ↑ Jameson, Ephraim Orcutt. The Cogswells in America. (Boston, Massachusetts: A. Mudge & Son, 1884)
   1.
4. ↑ Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910, 1919)
   II:530.

   William, s. John, Dec. --, 1700, a. 81 y. (citing "Family record, now in possession of Mrs. Daniel Fuller Appleton")

5. ↑ "Descendants of John Cogswell," published 1998, [1]
6. ↑ "Records and Files of the Quarterly Court of Essex, VIII:302 [2]