Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
years of usefulness, of duties, of benevolence, of affection,
and of honor have since filled up and rounded off a life into
the completeness of manhood. When he was removed from earth,
death claimed a dutiful son, a tender and loving husband, an
affectionate father, a devoted brother, and a constant friend.
"Since I came to this city, death has been constantly busy in
our midst. None of us who have lived here these thirty years but
have witnessed its ravages, snatching from many of us our
dearest treasures. He has gathered to himself many of the gifted
and the good, whose memories are still fragrant; but the sincere
tributes to the memory of Nathaniel White have never been
equaled, I fear never will be. No person in New Hampshire has
ever had the happy combination of means and disposition to
bestow such noble charities as he. I feel myself privileged,
after forty years of constant friendship, to unite my tears of
sorrow and sympathy with those of his bereaved family and
afflicted friends, and to lay a laurel upon the freshly made
grave which covers one of earth's true noblemen.
"How well he filled up all the days of his years with love for
and duty to his family, his kindred, and his friends; to the
poor, to the downtrodden, to the slave, and to all the
unfortunate of earth! He claimed no right or privilege for
himself, in the wide domain of nature, that he did not want
others to enjoy. Hence he insisted always that the nation should
immediately strike the shackles from the slave, and let the
oppressed go free. Never himself under the thraldom of rum and
tobacco, he wished everybody else to be free from it. He
exercised the largest liberty himself, and enjoyed perfect
freedom of thought and action in religious, political, and other
matters; and he desired every man and woman to do the same.
Hence, when he arranged his worldly matters, he gave the
ownership and sole control of his business affairs into the
hands of his wife, with whom he had walked life's journey,
thereby giving signal proof of his sincerity that the wife is
the equal of the husband in the sight of God, and should be in
the love, esteem, and regard of man. He often said that the
wife, in the event of the husband's death, should maintain the
same rights and the same relation to the family that the husband
would if the wife were taken away. In his will he made her
responsible to no court or other tribunal. She was only required
to make proof of his will, in order that the ownership of all
his property should vest in her. In all this he recognized the
rights of womanhood as well as the rights of manhood. In this
way he gave proof of his belief that the twain, man and wife,
are one flesh.
"The Centennial Home for the Aged was the apple of his eye; and
yet he made no large bequests to it himself, having perfect
assurance that the wife, who had borne life's burdens with him,
and shared his devotion to this noble benevolence, would be
equally the author of her own charities and the almoner of his.
As a business man and a citizen, his reputation ripened by
integrity. It was beautified by sincere sympathy for the poor
and the downtrodden; it was embellished by his generous
charities; and it was endeared by his gentle and winning
manners. When his final summons came, he had filled out a life
of rare usefulness and of singular success.
"Mr. White was fifty-four years a resident of Concord. In every
thing that made for her welfare he was always the foremost
citizen. Many others did nobly, but he exceeded them all. In a
single matter that vitally affected the city of Concord,[6] in
which the writer was engaged, and in which liberal expenditures
were needed, he contributed more than all the others combined;
and I make mention of this because the people of Concord should
know of his liberality, about which he rarely ever spoke and
never boasted.
"In all his aspirations to make himself an honorable name, and
to do good to his kindred, his friends, his country, and his
race, Mr. White was most fortunate and happy in that he had the
early suggestion, the prompt encouragement, the ready
co-operation, and the ardent sympathy of her who for nearly half
a century kept his home constantly blooming with the
sweet-scented flowers of affection.
"Farewell, noble spirit!
'Thou 'rt buried in light:
God speed unto heaven, lost star of our night!'
We dismiss thee, not to the tomb of forgetfulness and death, but
to a blessed memory, an unclouded fame, and to a limitless
life."
FOOTNOTES:
[6] The retention of the state-house.
FRANCIS COGSWELL.
FRANCIS COGSWELL was born in Atkinson, December 21, 1800. He died at his
home in Andover, Mass., February 11, 1880. His death closed a long,
honorable, and useful career. He was a gentleman of the old school,
strong, steadfast, and true. God gave him talents of a high order, and
he improved them all. He was honest, not from policy, but because it was
his nature to be. His ambitions never clouded his convictions of duty,
nor swerved him from the path which his high sense of probity and honor
pointed out; and, after more than fifty years of business activity, and
association with thousands of people in almost every relation in life,
he could say, as he did: "I die contented. I have no ill will towards
any one, and I know of no reason why any one should have any ill will
against me." He loved his family with a love that never wearied and
never forgot; which dared all things, suffered all things, did all
things, that could make for their comfort and happiness. He loved his
books. He was a stanch friend, a kind neighbor, and a generous citizen,
who never left to others the duties he could discharge. In business, he
was sagacious without being a schemer, patient and industrious without
being a slave. He had judgment, foresight, and reliability; and he
worked his way to success openly, steadily, and surely. He died
universally respected and widely and sincerely mourned.
Mr. Cogswell was the son of Dr. William Cogswell, the son of Nathaniel
Cogswell of Atkinson, who was born July 11, 1760, and was married to
Judith Badger, July 22, 1786, the daughter of the Hon. Joseph Badger,
senior, of Gilmanton, N. H., born May 15, 1766, whose children were as
follows:
William, born June 5, 1787; Julia, born February 20, 1789; Hannah
Pearson, born July 6, 1791; Joseph Badger, born August 30, 1793;
Nathaniel, born March 5, 1796; Thomas, born December 7, 1798; Francis,
born December 21, 1800; George, born February 5, 1808; John, born
February 14, 1810, and died August 6, 1811.
Julia Cogswell was married to Greenleaf Clarke, of Atkinson, March 1,
1810. They were the parents of William Cogswell Clarke and John Badger
Clarke, who are sketched elsewhere in this book.
Hannah Pearson Cogswell married William Badger, of Gilmanton, who was
afterwards governor of New Hampshire. Their children are Col. Joseph and
Capt. William, of the U. S. army.
Joseph Badger Cogswell was married to Judith Peaslee, October, 1817.
They had six children, three sons and three daughters: William is a
successful physician in Bradford, Mass.; Francis has been a very popular
teacher, and is now superintendent of schools in Cambridge, Mass.; and
Thomas is a dentist in Boston.
Rev. Nathanial Cogswell married Susan Doane, October, 1825. He was a
settled clergyman at Yarmouth, Mass., a man of great influence, and his
son John B. D. Cogswell has been speaker of the Massachusetts house of
representatives.
William, Thomas, and George Cogswell are sketched in this book.
Francis Cogswell received his early education in the public schools and
at Atkinson Academy, from which he entered Dartmouth College, where he
graduated with honor in the class of 1822. Selecting the law for his
profession, he prepared himself for admission to the bar at Exeter, was
admitted in 1827, and commenced practice in Tuftonborough, N. H., the
same year. He removed, in 1828, to Ossipee. In 1833 he removed to Dover,
and was appointed clerk of the court in Strafford county. Nine years
later he located at Andover, Mass., and became treasurer of the
Ballardvale Woolen Company.
May 16, 1845, he was chosen cashier of the Andover bank, to which
institution he devoted himself with great fidelity until he was called
to the presidency of the Boston & Maine Railroad, in 1856. In this
position, his systematic methods, untiring industry, ability to manage
men, careful regard for the public and respect for its opinions, and
stern integrity asserted themselves, to the great advantage of the
corporation and the approval of its patrons; and his resignation, which
he tendered in 1862, caused wide-spread regrets, which grew more and
more pronounced until 1865, when he yielded to the general demand and
accepted a re-election. His second term lasted until 1871, when he felt
compelled to lay down the heavy burdens inseparable from the office, and
retire from active life.
In addition to these, Mr. Cogswell held many other public and private
trusts of great responsibility, in all of which his sterling qualities
were quietly but effectively asserted. He was a director of the Andover
bank for twenty years; treasurer of the Marland Manufacturing Company
for twenty-two years; a trustee of Gilmanton and Atkinson academies, and
of the Punchard free school at Andover; an overseer of Harvard College;
and senior warden of the Episcopal church at Andover, where he was a
constant worshiper for many years. Many private properties were also
committed to his care; and his advice was constantly in demand by his
neighbors and acquaintances.
Mr. Cogswell was a man of pronounced political views, but would never
accept political honors. Prior to the war he was a Democrat; but the
attempt of the southern slaveholders to destroy the Union made him an
earnest Republican, and one of the strongest supporters of the loyal
cause. He was chairman of Andover's war committee, and gave liberally of
his means to her soldiers and their families.
Mr. Cogswell was married, June 8, 1829, to Mary S. Marland, daughter of
Abraham Marland, of Andover, by whom he had eight children. Three of
these--John F. Cogswell, of Andover, at the head of the well known and
very successful express company of Cogswell & Co., Lawrence, Mass.,
Thomas M. Cogswell, of Lawrence, engaged in the same business as his
brother, and Mary M., wife of William Hobbs, Esq., of Brookline,
Mass.,--are living.
HON. JOSEPH BOND CLARK.
JOSEPH BOND CLARK, son of Samuel and Betsey (Clement) Clark, was born at
Gilford, N. H., June 21, 1823. He had four brothers and four sisters, of
whom two survive,--Samuel C., a lawyer at Lake Village, and Hannah B.,
widow of the late William G. Hoyt, of Moultonborough. At the age of
seventeen he began a preparatory course of study at New Hampton Literary
Institution, and, after three years, entered Brown University at
Providence, R. I., in 1844, and graduated in 1848. He then spent six
years teaching in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, meanwhile qualifying
himself for the profession of law, some time with the Hon. Asa Fowler,
of Concord, N. H., and with Stephen C. Lyford, of Laconia, from whose
office he was admitted to the Belknap-county bar in 1853. He however
continued for two years longer principal of the Wolfeborough Academy,
and then removed to Manchester, N. H.