Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 9.djvu/205

Rh the town has continued to this day. At that time the town was then, as it is now, strongly Republican, and this overturn was only accomplished after a hard fight. He was re-elected in 1881, and 1882, during both of which years he served as chairman of the board. During his term of office the financial affairs of the town were straightened out and a system of reform inaugurated which saved money to the town and benefited everybody. For many years he has been a delegate to the State Conventions and other conventions of his party, and has always been ready and willing to serve his party on the stump. His own nomination in June, 1886, although given by a very large majority on the first ballot, came unsolicited and apparently spontaneously. This result was brought about by his very large circle of personal friends, men who know him, who believe in him, who want to vote for him and who hope to elect him. They know his strength as a speaker, as an executive, as a man of affairs, and his great personal popularity.

For many years Mr. Cogswell has been interested in educational affairs. Mention has been made of his service one year as superintending school committee of Gilmanton. Since 1868 he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Gilmanton Academy. He has been President of the Board since the death of Judge Eastman, and is now its Treasurer. To the affairs of the institution he has given a great deal of time and attention. In no small degree is its increasing reputation owing to his interest in it. At all times he has been generous in helping students who are seeking an education.

Since the death of his father in 1868 he has had the charge of a farm of over four hundred acres, now increased to five hundred acres, and this he has steadily improved, not only in its capacity for yielding crops, but in its buildings, fences, and orchards. Its chief crop is hay, of which he cuts from seventy-five to one hundred tons annually. He winters from forty to sixty head of cattle, and keeps from six to ten horses. His cattle are Durham and Devon grades, well adapted to his hillside farm. His horses are of the Wilkes stock. Only a few sheep remain at present of what was formerly a large flock. For sixty-five years the farm has produced a crop of wheat, sometimes amounting to one hundred bushels; and in 1869 he received a silver medal for the best wheat from the New Hampshire Agricultural Society. Corn, beans, potatoes, and vegetables enough are raised on the farm for home consumption. There is much valuable wood and timber land on the estate. Mr. Cogswell requires the services of two assistants through the whole year, and during the haying and harvest seasons of as many as are available. There is a system in all his farm operations, and for the last ten years that of calling ten hours' labor a day's work on his farm has been in force. This is true even in haying weather. His men are always well treated, and, as a matter of course, it is considered very desirable to obtain work on the Cogswell farm.

Mr. Cogswell was one of the first members of the Board of Agriculture,