George Cogswell was born in the town of Atkinson, N. H., February 5, 1808. He came from that sturdy stock of ancestors whose history is so closely interwoven with the early life and enterprise of New England. In 1635, John Cogswell, a prosperous Englishman of good estate and standing, established a settlement in the town of Ipswich, now Essex, Mass., on a grant of three hundred acres of land, which have remained in the Cogswell name, in regular line, to the present time. His maternal ancestor was Giles Badger, who settled in Newbury, Mass., the same year. These families have been closely allied by marriage, and their descendants have been prominent in church and state, in medicine and in letters. The father of the subject of this sketch, Dr. William Cogswell, was a medical practitioner of wide reputation, noted for his executive and judicial abilities. He was appointed chief surgeon of the military hospital at West Point during the Revolutionary war, closing his service in 1785, when he settled in Atkinson, N. H., practicing his profession until the close of his life, January 1, 1831. His mother was Judith Badger, daughter of Gen. Joseph Badger, Sen., of Gilmanton, N. H. She was a woman of great force of character, of devout piety and strong faith. When in her ninety-fourth year, after her earthly vision had become dim, the name of Jesus would light her face with a radiant glow of loving recognition. This devout woman united with the church in Atkinson in 1810, on which interesting occasion her husband and their three oldest children joined her in the act of consecration; and on the same day their six younger children were baptized by the pastor, Rev. Stephen Peabody. The youngest of these nine children died in infancy. All of the remaining eight became professors of religion, and lived to a good old age, in the enjoyment of the honors and dignities of the high official trusts committed to them. Of this large family, the subject of this sketch alone survives (1882), vigorous in his threescore years and ten, and actively engaged in the discharge of the duties of his several official trusts.