Alice Cogswell Bemis: A Sketch by a Friend

								


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ALICE COGSWELL BEMIS

ALICE COGSWELL BEMIS
A SKETCH BY A FRIEND
BOSTON
PRIVATELY PRINTED
1920

The Merrymount Press · Boston
ALICE COGSWELL BEMIS

Alice Cogswell Bemis came from a long line of good British stock. She
was in the eighth generation from John Cogswell, who was born at
Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, in 1592. He was a man of standing and of
considerable inherited property. Among the latter were "The Mylls,"
called "Ripond," situated in the parish of Fromen, Selwood, together
with the homestead and certain personal property. He married Elizabeth
Thompson, a daughter of the Vicar of Westbury parish. After twenty years
of married life, during which they had lived in the family homestead and
he had carried on his father's prosperous business, he decided to
emigrate to America, and on May 23, 1625, leaving one married daughter
in England, they embarked with their eight other children on the famous
ship, The Angel Gabriel. We find no mention of a special reason for
their leaving England, but it was probably the same that led many others
of their type to begin life afresh in the new world; here the
possibilities of the country to be developed were limitless, and
doubtless these offered a better outlook for their children, whose
welfare must have been uppermost in their thoughts and plans.
The voyage of The Angel Gabriel and its wreck off Pemaquid, on the
coast of Maine, in the frightful gale of August 15, 1625, are told in
the graphic story of the Rev. Richard Mather, who was a passenger on the
ship James, which sailed from England on the same day. The James lay
at anchor off the Isles of Shoals while The Angel Gabriel was off
Pemaquid. She was torn from her anchors and obliged to put to sea, but
after two days' terrible battling with storm and wave, reached Boston
harbor with "her sails rent in sunder, and split in pieces, as if they
had been rotten rags." Of The Angel Gabriel, he says: "It was burst in
pieces and cast away." Strong winds from the northeast and great tidal
waves made it a total wreck. John Cogswell and all his family were
washed ashore from the broken decks of their ship, but several others
lost their lives. Some of the many valuable possessions they had brought
with them never came to shore, but among the articles saved was a tent
which gave good service at once; this Mr. Cogswell pitched for a
temporary abiding place. As soon as possible he took passage for Boston,
where he made a contract with the captain of a small bark to sail for
Pemaquid and transport his family to Ipswich, Massachusetts, then a
newly settled town.
The settlers of Ipswich at once appreciated these newcomers, and the
municipal records show that liberal grants of land were made to John