His descent is from John Cogswell, who settled in Ipswich, Mass., in 1635, and Giles Badger, who settled in Newbury, Mass., the same year.
His parents were Dr. William and Judith (Badger) Cogswell, of Atkinson.
His grandparents were Nathaniel and Judith (Badger) Cogswell, of Haverhill, Mass., and Gen. Joseph and Hannah (Pearson) Badger, of Gilmanton.
His grandfather, Nathaniel Cogswell, was the son of Lieut. John and Hannah (Goodhue) Cogswell, of Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, Mass. Lieut. John Cogswell was the son of William and Susannah Cogswell of the same place, and William Cogswell was the son of[3]John and Elizabeth (Thompson) Cogswell, who emigrated from Westbury, Wilts county, England, in 1635, and settled in Ipswich, Mass.
His grandfather, Gen. Joseph Badger, was the son of Joseph and Hannah (Peaslee) Badger, of Haverhill, Mass. Joseph Badger was the son of John, Jr., and Rebecca (Browne) Badger, of Newbury, Mass. John Badger, Jr., was the son of John and Elizabeth Badger of the same place; and John Badger was the only son of Giles and Elizabeth (Greenleaf) Badger, immigrants to Newbury, Mass., in 1635.
It may be said of his ancestry, in general, that they were a religious, intelligent, liberty-loving, and an enterprising people. By reason of ability, integrity, piety, and attainments, many of them have been called to positions of municipal, military, political, and ecclesiastical duty and eminence, and have excelled in the learned professions, in the halls of legislature, on the field of battle, and in the Christian pulpit.
From such choice Puritan stock, having in his veins the blood of the Thompsons, the Greenleafs, the Brownes, the Goodhues, the Peaslees, and the Pearsons, as well as of the Cogswells and the Badgers, it is not strange that he and his no less eminent brothers should be found among the distinguished men whose portraits adorn and whose biographies fill the pages of this volume.
William Cogswell was born only a few years after the victory of our great struggle for national existence and independence. His rural home was far up the side of one of New Hampshire's grand old hills, sloping southward and crowned with a New England meeting-house. He was born where he could breathe to heart's content the pure air of heaven, look off upon scenery of landscape wide, varied, and grand. His early life was beneath the shadow of the best religious and educational institutions, which his father had been the prime mover in establishing. In full sight of his early boyhoood's home was the academy which said to country boys of those days. The door is open to you here to enter a college course and find your way into the learned professions. The lad heard the invitation, seized the opportunity, and eagerly pursued his preparatory studies at Atkinson Academy, then under the charge of John Vose, Esq. He entered the sophomore class of Dartmouth College in 1808, maintained a high rank of scholarship during his course, and was honorably graduated in the class of 1811.
Before entering college, William Cogswell received deep and abiding religious impressions which ripened into a personal religious experience, and during the vacation of his junior year, September 23, 1810, he made a public confession of faith and united with the Congregational church of his native town. After graduation from college he taught in the academy of his own town, in Essex, Mass., and was one year principal of the Hampton Academy. While teaching in Essex, Mass., he had, for a pupil in the classics, a lad some ten years of age, whose name was Rufus Choate. This Rufus Choate was heard of in later years.
Meanwhile, occupied with teaching, Mr. Cogswell pursued somewhat his theological studies, having his eye on the Christian ministry. At the end of two years, he found that his labors in school and studies out of school had told seriously upon his health. Acting upon the advice of his physician and of his minister, he procured a good saddle-horse and a license to preach the gospel in destitute parts, and galloped off toward the northern wilderness of his native state, in eager pursuit of health and men's souls. In both these objects he was successful. He regained his health, and under his earnest presentation of the gospel a large number of persons were hopefully converted to Christ, and Christian institutions planted in the then spiritual wastes, which have since blossomed as the rose and borne fruit to the glory of God. Upon his return, Mr. Cogswell completed his professional studies under the instruction of Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., of Newburyport, and Rev. Samuel Worcester, D. D., of Salem, Mass. After preaching a few Sabbaths, he received a unanimous call to become the pastor of the South church in Dedham (now Norwood), Mass., which he accepted, and was ordained and installed over that church, April 26, 1815.