Lord Humphrey Cogseell

Information taken from The Cogswell Family Tree book housed at The Berkshire Antheum in Pittsfield , Massachusetts .

FROM THE KNAPP FUND , The Cogswells in America. by E. O. JAMESON. Copyright, 1884, By E. O. JAMESON. Publisher: Alfred Mudgk & Son, Printers, 24 Franklin Street, Boston

(https://archive.org/stream/cogswellsinameri00jame/cogswellsinameri0...)

"THE COGSWELLS IN ENGLAND. 1580-1635.

It is not the object of this work to give any extended account of the Cogswells in England, but merely as introductory to their record in America to mention the birthplace and the more immediate ancestors of John Cogs- well, who with his family were the first immigrants of the name to this country. Tradition and probability identify the name Cogswell with the old English town of Coggeshall, which is located forty-four miles from London, in the County of Essex. Coggeshall was the ancient Canonium of the Romans, and held by them as a military trading post for several centuries, being surren- dered only on their departure from Britain. Roman bricks, tiles, broken urns, and coins, relics of Roman possession, have often been found in Coggeshall. In the time of the Saxons it was called Coed Garr's Hall. When Canute, the Dane, ruled Britain, Godwin, one of his favorites, who lived also under Edward the Confessor, came into possession of Coggashael, whose daughter Edward the Confessor married, and whose son was King Harold, the last of the Saxon kings. In 1046 Coggeshall was given to the Church of Christ for the support of the Benedictine monks of Canterbury. In 1139 the Abbey of Coggeshall was founded by King Stephen and Queen Matilda, the monks being of the Cister- cian Order. The first Abbot of Coggeshall was William. In the reign of Edward III., A. D. 1337, Johanus Coggeskale was M. P. from Gloucester, England For further history of Coggeshall, vid. The Annals of Cogges- hall, by Bryan Dale^ M. Z?., and The Chronicles of Ralph De Cogges- hall, /;/ Latin. It is the family tradition of the Cogswells now holding the ancient Cogswell possessions in Westbury, County of Wilts, England, that their ancestors came from the County of Essex, and were there known as Coggeshall, with the vari- ous spellings which appear, viz. : Cogshall, Coggeshall, Hoggeshale, CogeshoU, Cogeshole, Coggashael, Cogshol, Coxhall, Cockshall, and Coggshale. Beside Vlll the family tradition tlie experts in such matters say that Cogswell and Cogges- hall in England have the same origin. The ancient Family Arms, which appear on the cover of this volume, are recorded in England : Argent, a cross belween four escallops sable. Crest, a stag lodged sable attired or. Motto : "^cc s:pernc> xxcc ttntco." The Coggeshalls lost their head in the reign of Henry VI., and became a widely distributed race, the branches remaining in several counties ; and "between Henry VI., 1422, and Charles I., 1625, there was plenty of time for the name to change among bad spellers." But while Coggeshall and Cogswell have the same origin in England, they are two distinct names in America although sometimes confounded. The Coggeshalls of this country have mostly descended from John Cogges- hall, the First Governor of Rhode Island, while the Cogswells, with the exception of a few recent immigrants, have sprung from John Cogswell, who came from Westbury Leigh, County of Wilts, England, and settled, in 1635, in Ipswich, Mass. "