Alice Cogswell Bemis: A Sketch by a Friend

								

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 one has
written concerning John Cogswell and his family: "They were the first of
the name to reach these shores; the lapse of two hundred and fifty years
has given to them a numerous posterity, some of whom in each generation
have lived in eventful periods, have risen to eminence, and fulfilled
distinguished service in the history of the country."



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With these rich inheritances as her birthright, with parents who
enforced and strengthened in their children the principles that they
themselves had been taught, Alice Cogswell was born in the family home
of her parents, Daniel and Mary Davis Randall Cogswell, at Ipswich, on
January 5, 1845. She was one of seven children, three of whom died very
young, and of the seven only her sister Lucy survived her. The mother
died when Alice was only four. Until the time of the father's death,
when she was eighteen and her sister three years older, several
different housekeepers were in charge of the home, and yet it appears
that these two young girls very early and in a way most unusual for any
so young, not only gave life and charm to the house, but directed and
controlled all its activities to a great extent. A cousin who was very
dear to Alice writes to her son of his memory of those days in the quiet
country home at Ipswich, giving a charming picture that shows the spirit
that prompted all her life to its end. He says: "Every one in Ipswich
who remembers her would speak of her sweet, cheery and generous spirit.
One of the very earliest of my childhood recollections is a little
incident that occurred when I could not have been more than four or five
years old. One day my mother let me go all by myself to Uncle
Cogswell's to see Cousin Alice. Our homes were rather near together but
it was to me then a journey of large proportions. At dinner I can
remember that I sat next Cousin Alice in a chair with two big books to
make it high enough. After dinner we went into the garden and picked a
basket of pears which she gave me to take home. This little visit was