For thirty years Arthur Cleveland Cogswell was connected with the business interests of Detroit as vice president, secretary and sales manager of the Detroit Sanitary Supply Company. His name was also widely known as that of a magazine writer and, moreover, he was a Speaker of ability. His activity along these lines as well as in business made him most widely and favorably known and he enjoyed the honor and respect of all with whom he came into contact. Mr. Cogswell was born in Salem, Massachusetts, April 4, 1858, a son of Epes and Martha Ray (Hammond) Cogswell. The ancestral line can be traced back to a very early period in the colonization of the new world, for John Cogswell, with his wife, Elizabeth, and eight children, embarked on the '23d of May, 1635, at Bristol, England, on the Angel Gabriel for New England. With Mr. Cogswell besides his wife were his three sons, William, John and Edward, and five of his six daughters, One daughter remaining in England, where later she married and is making her home in London. Mr. Cogswell also brought with him several farm hands, household servants, an amount of valuable furniture, farming implements, housekeeping utensils and a considerable sum of money. The party was detained many days after going aboard the ship for lack of wind, so that not until the 4th of June did they actually set sail from Bristol. On the same day another vessel, The James, also sailed, having on board emigrants for America. Among the passengers was the Rev. Richard Mather, who was the progenitor of the distinguished Mather family of New England. He was fleeing from religious intolerance in his native country in order to have freedom to worship according to the dictates of his conscience in the new world. The vessels kept company for about two weeks and then became separated but arrived about the same time on the coast of New England. The James lay at anchor off the Isles of Shoals and tho Angel Gabriel off Pemaquid, Maine. When the great gale of August 15, 1635, struck them The James was torn from her anchor and was obliged to put to sea but with two days of careful battling with storm and waves she reached Boston Harbor with "her sails rent in sunder and split in pieces as if they had been rotten fagged." The passengers of The James landed in Boston, August 17, having been twelve weeks and two days on the passage The Angel Gabriel fared still worse. "The storm was frightful at Pemaquid, the wind blowing from the northeast, the tide rising to a very unusual height in some places more than twenty feet. This was succeeded by another and unaccountable tidal wave still higher." The Angel Gabriel became a total wreck, passengers, cattle and goods being all cast upon the angry waves. Among those who reached the shore were Mr. Cogswell and his family. Three or four passengers and one seaman perished and there was much loss of cattle and property. It was in this manner that the first of the name of Cogswell reached American shores. In the intervening period of two hundred and eighty- seven years there has sprung up a numerous posterity, some of whom in each generation have lived eventful lives, rising to eminence and rendered distinguished service to their country in various ways. They intermarried with many of the illustrious families of the country, becoming related by such a marriage to Oliver Wendell Holmes and other distinguished people.

Arthur C. Cogswell, who is a representative of the family in America of the eighth generation, attended the common schools of Salem and passed through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. Later he attended the Boston School of Technology and while still a very young man he filled the office of councilman in his native city. With all the enthusiasm of youth he entered upon the work and we find him responsible for many notable reforms and innovations in the city government during the period of his office. He became a member of the original survey party of the Santa Fe Railroad and in this connection traveled extensively through the west and southwest, returning after some years to Salem. He was also interested in railroad contracting and building with John and Lester Mundy, having their headquarters at El Paso, Texas. From 1870 until 1882 he was in business in Hutchinson, Kansas, and then returning to Salem entered mercantile circles as a member of the clothing firm of Sinclair A Cogswell, so continuing from 1884 until 1886. It was in the year 1801 that he arrived in Detroit, where he continued his residence throughout his remaining days, becoming the vice president, secretary and sales manager of the Detroit Sanitary Supply Company, in which capacity he served throughout the three decade* in which this city was his home.

During the years of a very busy, useful and active life Mr. Cogswell found it possible to travel extensively and visited many points of interest throughout the world gaining that liberal knowledge and culture which is never secured as quickly in any other way as in travel. He was an exceptionally well-read man. a most interesting and entertaining public speaker and a writer of considerable ability, his articles appearing in many papers and magazines and discussing many public questions.

On the 3d of July, 1902, in New York. Mr. Cogswell was united in marriage to Miss Emma Barbara Kuerner, a daughter of Jacob Kuerner of Stuttgart, Germany, and of Emma (Stark) Kuerner, who was born in Philadelphia. Mr. Cogswell belonged to several trade organizations and also to the Detroit Board of Commerce. He was a charter member of Flint Lodge, No. 222, B. P. O. E., and he belonged to the Old Colony Tub, to the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, to the Masonic fraternity, attaining the Knights Templar degree in Detroit Commandery, and to the Old Guard. He was also a member of the Woodward Avenue Baptist church and his life was ever actuated by the highest and noblest principles. In politics, like the others of the family, he was always a republican and he was actuated by profound love of country and a deep patriotism at all times. Mr. Cogswell died on the 28th of May, 1920.

The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Volume 5 By William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller