DIXON, HON. JAMES, LL. D. (deceased). Among the able and
cultured people who made their home in Hartford, and have gone to their
reward after giving society a notably refined and intellectual tone, none
took higher rank than did the late United States Senator, James Dixon,
and his gifted wife.
James Dixon was born Aug. 5, 1814, in Enfield,
Conn., the youngest son of Hon. William Dixon, a native of Killingly, Conn.,
who for many years was a prominent and influential citizen of the town.
A lawyer by profession, he engaged in practice from 1807 to 1825, and attained
high rank in his calling. He was a delegate to the convention which formed
the State Constitution, held at Hartford in 1818. Gov. Oliver Wolcott presiding.
[See "Hollister's Historv of Connecticut."] In 1831 the town of Enfield
was made a probate district, and Ephraim P. Prudens became the first probate
judge, serving one year, and being followed by William Dixon, who served
three years. Mr. Dixon also served his town in the General Assembly. He
died in 1835, his wife, formerly Miss Mary Reynolds Field, passing away
in 1840. She was descended from Henry Whitfield, of Guilford, Matthew Allyn,
and the Revolutionary Capt. Newberry.
James Dixon, of whom we more particularly
write, was graduated from Williams College in 1834. He was class laureate;
member of the Kappa Alpha Society: president of the Adelphic Union; president
of the Philotecnian, 1833, delivered the master's oration in 1837, and
was honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity. In 1862 the degree
of LL. D. was conferred on him by Trinity College. After leaving college
he commenced the study of law in his father's office, afterward visiting
Europe, where, at Paris, he was presented to Louis Philippe, King of France.
Mr. Dixon being at that time aide to the governor of Connecticut. He was
admitted to the bar, and removing to Hartford entered upon the practice
of his profession in partnership with Judge Ellsworth, at once giving promise
of eminence at the bar. About this time he became interested in politics
and the anti-slavery cause, and his attention was somewhat diverted from
the legal profession.
In 1837, when only twenty-three years of age,
Mr. Dixon was elected from his native town as a member of the State Legislature,
at the time being the youngest representative, and was chosen Speaker of
that body, in which he also served in 1838, 1844, and 1854. About this
time he declined the nomination for governor of Connecticut, though strongly
urged to accept it. In 1845 he was elected on the Whig ticket to the United
States Congress, being also the youngest member in that body, and served
from Dec. 1, of that year, until March 3, 1849. In 1854 he was a candidate
for nomination as United States senator, but L. F. S. Foster, of Norwich
(who afterwards became his sincere friend), was elected. Two years later
he was again a candidate, and was elected by a large majority; when he
took his seat he was the youngest member of the Senate, and he served therein
until 1869. In 1869 he was appointed by President Johnson minister to Russia,
and his acceptance was greatly desired by the Russian legation at Washington,
but he declined the office. He was an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln,
who frequently sent for him for conference, and has even been known to
telegraph for him to come to Washington after an adjournment of Congress.
Mr. Dixon was also intimate with Charles Sumner, William Pitt Fessenden,
Horace Greeley and Gen. Grant, who were frequently at his home. An advocate
for the cause of liberty, he was a warm friend of the soldiers in the Civil
war, and his house was frequently visited by officers of the army and navy,
while his wife was untiring in her kindly ministrations to the wounded
in the hospitals. After the war Senator Dixon was opposed to the confiscation
of property in the South, being more desirous to see the restoration of
the Union. He advocated "State rights" and was in favor of Free Trade.
Upon the expiration of his term in the United States Senate he retired
into private life, though strongly urged by his colleagues in the Senate
to accept the position of minister to Austria.
Mr. Dixon's health was uniformly good until
some time in February, 1873, when he contracted a chill which terminated
in a sudden affection of the heart, which caused his death March 27, 1873.
He was a man of high culture, a graceful writer and able debater, and his
fame as an erudite and accomplished scholar, a ripe lawyer, and close student
of political economy, was not confined to his immediate surroundings, but
extended throughout the entire State, and even far beyond its limits. In
his death the people of Connecticut reasonably felt that they had lost
not alone a much needed adviser in State affairs, but also a citizen who,
long and often trusted with public interests, was ever true to his best
belief and convictions. He was possessed of a fine and sensitive temperament,
and his head and face made one of the finest studies ever seen in the Senate
chamber of the United States. In his youth a writer of much merit, his
articles were published in the "New England Magazine," the "Southern Literary
.Messenger," and other journals, while in the files of the Hartford Cunrant
may be found some of his best writings. Socially he was affiliated with
the F. & A. M.
Hon. James Dixon was married to Miss Elizabeth
Lord Cogswell, a descendant in the seventh generation from John Cogswell,
who was born in 1592, in Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England, and came to
America in 1635, settling at Ipswich, Mass., where he received a large
grant of land. The line of Mrs. Dixon's descent was through William, Capt.
Jonathan (who held a commission from the King), Jonathan (2), Dr. Nathaniel,
and Rev. Dr. Jona-than Cogswell. The last named was born Sept. 3, 1782,
in Rowley, Mass., a son of Dr. Nathaniel Cogswell, a man of superior education
and acquirements, a member of the Committee of Safety, and a model of the
most remarkable integrity, and of the purest character. The son, Dr. Jonathan
Cogswell, was admitted to Harvard College in 1803, and was graduated in
1806, among the first scholars of his class. Subsequently he attended Andover
Theological Seminary for one year, being associated with the first class
that graduated from that institution, in 1810. In October of that year
he was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and installed pastor of the Congregational
Church in Saco, Maine, and there he labored some eighteen years with great
fidelity and marked success (giving largely of his private fortune to the
work), resigning in October, 1828. After resting for a year he was in 1829
installed pastor over the church in New Britain Parish, Berlin, Conn.,
where he remained until he was called, in 1834, to the chair of Ecclesiastical
History in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, at East Windsor Hill,
where his fine old Colonial house may yet be seen. On May 13, 1834, he
was inaugurated professor of church history in that institution. In 1836
he received the degree of S. T. D. from the University of New York. Prof.
Cogswell continued to fill the chair of Sacred History in the Theological
Institute for ten years, resigning in 1844—having been appointed executor
of his brother's estate, which required his presence in or near New York—and
retiring to the city of New Brunswick, N. J., where he resided until his
death, which occurred Aug. 1, 1864, when he was aged about eighty-two years.
He was a man of great physical strength, strikingly handsome, being over
six feet tall and enjoying good health to the last.
Rev. Dr. Cogswell was twice married, in 1811
to Elizabeth Abbot, daughter of Joel and Lydia (Cummings) Abbot, and sister
of Commodore Joel Abbot, of the United States navy. She was a lady of high
culture, and of most gracious hospitality. She died April 30, 1837.
Rev. Dr. Cogswell afterward married Jane Eudora Kirkpatrick, daughter of
Hon. Andrew Kirkpatrick, chief justice of New Jersey. She passed away in
1864.
To Senator and Elizabeth L. (Cogswell) Dixon
were born two sons and two daughters. The eldest son served in the Civil
war on the staff of Gen. Wright, later, in the cavalry, as aide to Gen.
Han-cock. The mother of this family was a lady of large fortune, rare attainments,
and great personal attractions. It is said that Hon. Richard Spofford once
remarked: "Mrs. Dixon was the most accomplished lady I have ever seen in
Washington." Others have spoken of her as ''beautiful and amiable." Donald
G. Mitchell dedicated to her his "Reveries of a Bachelor." She was a personal
friend of Mrs. Lincoln, who sent for her after the assassination of the
President, and Mrs. Dixon went and remained through the night with her.
Mrs. Dixon died June 16, 1871, at the age of forty-nine years, deeply beloved
and regretted by all who knew her and admired her for her many virtues.
(Photo attached.)
Commemorative
Biographical Record
of
Hartford County,
Connecticut
Illustrated
Chicago
J. H. Beers & Co.
1901
pgs 1-2
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