120 



CLARKE, WALTER. 



COGSWELL, JOSEPH G. 



but, having become a member of the Methodist 

 Church, he abandoned his previous design of 

 being a sailor, and determined to obtain an 

 education. After studying for some time at 

 home, he entered the Wesleyan Seminary at 

 Kent's Hill, Me., at the age of nineteen, and, 

 nearly two years later, became a member of 

 the Freshman class in Wesleyan University, 

 Middletown, Conn., whence he graduated in 

 1836, with high honors. From 183G to 1843 

 he was the popular and successful principal of 

 Amenia Seminary, Dutchess County, N. Y., 

 and in the latter year entered the itinerancy in 

 the Methodist Church, preaching with great 

 acceptance till 1852, when he was elected 

 editor of the Ladies' Repository, one of the peri- 

 odicals of the Methodist Church at Cincinnati. 

 He made an admirable editor, and greatly in- 

 creased the circulation as well as improved the 

 literary character of the Repository. He re- 

 mained in this position for twelve years, preach- 

 ing almost constantly during the time, and such 

 was his reputation for eloquence and catholicity 

 in the pulpit, that he was often, for months to- 

 gether, called to supply the pulpits of church- 

 es of other denominations. In 1864, he was 

 chosen by the Quadrennial General Conference 

 one of the bishops of the Church, and had filled 

 the responsible position with marked ability 

 and wisdom. The feebleness of Bishop Mor- 

 ris, the hopeless illness of Bishop Baker, and 

 the sudden death of Bishops Thomson and 

 Kingsley, threw upon him a greater amount of 

 labor than his somewhat delicate constitution 

 was capable of sustaining, but he went through 

 it uncomplainingly, until April, 1871, when, on 

 his return from attending his last conference, 

 in a condition so feeble as to be unable to sit 

 up, he said, "I have come home to die." He 

 had furthered with all his devotion and lib- 

 erality the erection of two elegant church edi- 

 fices, and the founding and endowment of a 

 Wesleyan female college in Cincinnati, and 

 these remain as monuments of his love and 

 zeal for Methodism. Bishop Clark had been a 

 somewhat prolific writer, mainly of religious 

 works, though he had published one or two 

 academical text-books while at Amenia. The 

 catalogue of the Methodist Book Concern has 

 about twenty volumes from his pen; among 

 them, aside from two or three volumes of 

 sermons, are: "A Treatise on Mental Dis- 

 cipline;" "Death-bed Scenes;" "Fireside 

 Reading," 5 vola. ; "Life and Times of Bishop 

 Hedding; " "Select London Lectures," etc. 



CLARKE, WALTEE, D. D., an American 

 clergyman, pulpit orator, and author, born in 

 Middletown, Conn., April 5, 1812; died in 

 Buffalo, N. Y., May 23, 1871. He graduated 

 from Yale College in 1837, and, having already 

 turned his attention to medicine, attended two 

 courses of lectures, but did not take a diplo- 

 ma. In 1838 he taught in the Waterbury 

 (Conn.) Academy, and commenced reading 

 law. He was nearly ready for admission to 

 the bar, when he was elected Professor of 



Greek in the College of Mobile. He spent 

 about a year there, and returned North for the 

 summer, expecting to resume his duties in the 

 fall, when he was surprised by the intelligence 

 of the failure of the institution. He had pre- 

 viously had strong inclinations toward the 

 ministry, and at this time decided that he 

 would enter it. He took a partial course in 

 Yale Theological Seminary, and in May, 1841, 

 was ordained pastor of the First Congrega- 

 tional Church in Canterbury, Conn. Four 

 years later he was called to the South Con- 

 gregational Church in Hartford, where he 

 remained fourteen years, and won for him- 

 self high reputation as an eloquent preacher, 

 a vigorous original thinker, and a profound 

 scholar. In 1859 he became pastor of the 

 Mercer Street Presbyterian Church in New 

 York City, and two years later accepted the 

 call of the First Presbyterian Church in Buf- 

 falo, where he remained till his death, greatly 

 beloved and honored. He received the degree 

 of D. D. from Williams College in 1853. Dr. 

 Clarke was a close student all his life. His 

 range of knowledge was very great ; he was 

 at home alike in languages, in metaphysical 

 studies, and in English and continental litera- 

 ture. Yet, aside from his preparations for the 

 pulpit, he wrote comparatively little. His 

 occasional sermons and addresses were re- 

 markable for the vigor of their thought and 

 the dignity and magnificence of their diction. 

 He published, also, we believe, a volume of 

 sermons, a semi-centennial history of the First 

 Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, and one or 

 two controversial pamphlets. 



COGSWELL, JOSEPH GREEN, LL. D., who 

 died at Cambridge, Mass., November 26, 1871, 

 was descended from a highly-respectable Eng- 

 lish family. His progenitor, John Cogswell, 

 sailed from Bristol, May 23, 1635, in a vessel 

 called the Angel Gabriel a name significant 

 of the Puritan habit of connecting every thing 

 with religion. Her cargo was mostly his 

 own, and consisted of a large portion of his 

 valuable estate. The vessel arrived off the 

 coast of Maine nmid a fearful tempest, and 

 was wrecked at Pemaquid Bay, August 15th, 

 the crew and passengers all being saved, but 

 a large proportion of the cargo was lost. After 

 camping out for some days, Mr. Cogswell char- 

 tered a small bark, which landed him with his 

 family, furniture, silver plate, and such books 

 as he had saved, at Ipswich, Mass., where 

 many of his descendants have continued to 

 reside to the present time. Later in the same 

 year, he purchased an extensive tract of land 

 and erected the third house built at Ipswich. 

 The reasons assigned for leaving his opulent 

 English home for a log house in the wilder- 

 ness of a new world were, that the ancient faitli 

 and true worship might be found inseparable 

 companions in their practice, and that his pos- 

 terity might be undefiled in religion. Among 

 John Cogswell's descendants was Nathaniel 

 Cogswell, who studied medicine with Dr. 



