On Christmas Eve, while my kids were busily playing with their new toys (they each opened one present early), I spent a few hours scanning in documents.  Honestly, I barely even made a dent in the pile – but it felt good to at least start sifting through all of it.

Among the documents in this pile was a will for my husband’s 3rd great-grandfather, James H. Leonard (1796-1892).  It’s been sitting there for at least five years. 

Well, now it will see the light of day and be posted for the world to see!!!  I’m only transcribing the actual will, below the images.

Do you have any important documents that haven’t seen the light of day for years?  Share them!!!

The last Will and Testament of James H. Leonard of the Town of Newfane in the County of Niagara + State of New York.

I, James H. Leonard considering the uncertainty of this mortal life + being of sound mind and memory do make and publish this my last Will and Testament in manner + form following that is to say:

First, I give and bequeath unto my two sons Dewitt C. Leonard + Henry B. Leonard + unto my daughter Eliza Jane Sawyer the sum of two hundred dollars each, to be paid to them from the proceeds of the real or personal estate I should be possessed of at the time of my decease + to be paid to them within a reasonable time after my decease for their use forever.

Second, All the rest and residue of my real + personal estate not herein before given + bequeathed after payment of debts, funeral expenses + e I give unto my five children Dewitt C. Leonard, Henry B. Leonard, Eliza J. Sawyer, Roxanna Spencer, + Maria Peck to be equally divided between them, that they share + share alike for their use forever and I do here by constitute and appoint Augustus B. Kendall of the Town of Newfane, sole executor of this my last Will and Testament hereby revoking all other heretofore made wills by me.  Witness my hand + seal the twenty eighth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and eighty.

James H. Leonard (Seal)

The above instrument consisting of one half sheet of paper was now here subscribed by James H. Leonard the testator in the presence of each of us + was at the same time declared by him to be his last Will and Testament + we at his request signed our names there to as attesting witnesses.

Anthony McKee residing in Newfane Niagara County NY
Martha A. McKee residing in Newfane Niagara County NY

Dated 3 Sep 1968 in the Wyoming County Times, Warsaw, NY.

FORMER RESIDENT DIES

Mrs. Lillian Cossaboon, of 40 Inwood Pl., Buffalo, died Friday, (Aug. 23, 1968) in a Buffalo hospital.  She had been in frail health for some time.
Mrs. Cossaboon had formerly lived in Silver Springs, when her late husband, Rev. Nicholas V. Cossaboon, was pastor of the Silver Springs Methodist Church.  She spent her summers at their Silver Lake cottage, and winters in Buffalo with her daughter, Mrs. Virginia Johnson. Because of ill health, she was not at her cottage this past summer.
She is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Pearl Dull of Arlington, Va, Miss Ruth Cossaboon of San Antonio, Tex., and Mrs. Virginia Johnson of Buffalo. Another daughter, Mrs. Helen Woods of Lockport, preceded her in death; also 4 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

His obituary was in the Wyoming County Times, Wyoming County, NY, dated 7 July 1949.

Retired Methodist Minister Died at Silver Lake
The Rev. Nicholas Van Cossaboon, 72, Methodist clergyman for 41 years, who retired only a month ago, died unexpectedly at his cottage at Silver Lake last Saturday, July 2nd.
His death occurred one month after his retirement from the ministry. During the last eight years, he had been pastor of the Silver Springs Methodist church. Recognition of his 41 years in the ministry was paid last month at the annual meeting of the Genesee Conference at Asbury-Delaware Church in Buffalo.
He was honored this spring at a testamonial dinner given by members of the Silver Springs congregation.  Bishop W. Earl Leden of the Syracuse area of the Methodist church, who had once been a Sunday school pupil of the retiring minister, was the principal speaker.
He had held a number of pastates in Western New York, including ones at Woodhull, Sardinia, Ellicottville, Salamanca, Depew, Buffalo, Lockport, Marilla, Middleport, Addison, and Silver Springs, where he was located at the time of his retirement.
He was born at Winslow, N.J. , October 4, 1877 and on February 9, 1901 married Lillian Pierce, who survives him.
He also leaves four daughters, Mrs. John Dull and Mrs. William Johnson of Buffalo; Mrs. Elsie Woods of Lockport and Miss Ruth Van Cossaboon of Middletown, Pa.; a brother Loveman Van Cossaboon of Camden, N.J.; two sisters, Mrs. Edward Cottrell of Glassboro, N.J. and Mrs. Mary Woodruff of Monroeville, N.J. ; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The Rev. Mr. Van Cossaboon was a member of the Masonic lodge at Castile, the East Aurora Capter R.A.M., of the Buffalo Consistory, and Ismaila Temple of the Shrine, Buffalo.
Bishop W. Earl Leden of Syracuse, officiated at the funearl services which were conducted at the Silver Springs Methodist church at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.  Assisting him were the Rev. Harold Hewiit, former district superintendent of the Methodist church, now pastor of the East Aurora church; the Rev. Charles Boellinger, present district superintendent, and the Rev. Homer Evans, pastor of the Silver Springs church. The burial was in Acacia Park cemetery, Tonawanda, at 4:00 p.m. with Masonic services at the grave.
The organist was Kenneth Motts and the bearers were Norman Tallman, Robert Humphrey, Elmer Gardner, Edwin Chase, Clayton Husted, and Frank Granger.

And other times you’re not really looking for anything and hit the jackpot.  I didn’t expect all of this biographical information in an anniversary announcement, but was happy to have found it!

REV. AND MRS. N. VAN COSSABOON OF ADDISON NOTE 40TH WEDDING DATE AT FAMILY DINNER PARTY IN BUFFALO

ADDISON – The Rev. and Mrs. N. Van Cossaboon left Sunday afternoon via rail for Buffalo where they were entertained at a dinner party Sunday evening at the home of their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Johnson, in celebtration of their 40th wedding anniversary. Other guests attending were their two daughters and their families, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Faust and children Nancy and Louis Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Woods and children Margaret and Nicholas Thomas, all of Lockport; their youngest daughter, Miss Ruth Cossaboon, a teacher at Marilla. Mr. and Mrs. Cossaboon are expected home Wednesday or Thursday.
Before leaving Addison, Mr. and Mrs. Cossaboon were presented with a bouquet of daffodils from the Epworth League of the Methodist Church of which they were advisors. They also received many cards of felicitation.
The Rev. and Mrs. Cossaboon were married February 9, 1901, at Bridgeton, N.J. , at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Horner, a brother-in-law and sister of Mrs. Cossaboon. The Rev. Lewis D. Stultz, D.C., minister of the Bridgeport Methodist Church officiated. Mrs. Cossaboon’s maiden name was Miss Lillian Pierce and she was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ward Pierce of Bridgeton. At the time of their marriage Mr. Cossaboon was employed in the glass industry and was president of the Bridgeton Glass Bottle Blowers which then had a membership of approximately 2,500. Four years later Mr. Cossaboon entered the ministry, having pursued special theological courses in the Methodist Conferences at Alexandria, Va.  He earned his Ph. B. in 1920 and his D. D. degree in 1925 at Oskaloosa College in Ia. His first charge was at Fox Hill, Va. He served various places in New York and New Jersey until transferred to the Addison-Rathbone M.E. charge in October of 1939. In 1913-1912 Mr. Cossaboon had served at Woodhull.
Since coming here, Mr. Cossaboon has been successful in his ministerial work, increased the membership in both Addison and Rathbone. Mrs. Cossaboon is active with the church societies. They are both active in local civil organizations and have many loyal friends in the community.

Ruth Cossaboon was my husband’s great aunt and from what I’ve heard she was quite the lady.

I found a few newspaper articles about her service during WWII that I thought I’d share today.

From the Perry Herald, Perry, NY, Wednesday, June 16, 1943.

MISS COSSABOON NOW U.S. MARINE

Miss Ruth Cossaboon, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Van Cossaboon, has enlisted in the Marine Corps.  Sworn in at New York City last week, she is now on the reserve list awaiting call to active service service in a few weeks.  She expects to receive her basic training at the Marine base, New River, N.C.  By an odd coincidence, Miss Cossaboon is the only Marine of the hundred-odd local men and women now in service, as far as is known.  One other member of the Marine Corps, Pvt., Edward Courtney, was killed in an auto wreck early in the war.

This is from the Wyoming County Times, Warsaw, NY, Thursday, July 22, 1943, Page 4

FIRST SILVER SPRINGS LADY TO LEAVE FOR SERVICE IN THE MARINES

Tuesday evening Agnes Baker’s restaurant was the scene of another Citizen’s Sendoff supper to honor Miss Ruth E. Cossaboon, daughter of Rev. and Mr. N. Van Cossaboon, who will leave soon for service in the Marines, and Robert W. Fagan, who leaves the 21st of July for service and he will report to Camp Upton, L.I.

After a large company of relatives and friends had enjoyed the supper, and the usual short speeches were given and the Testaments and Legion literature were presented to Miss Cossaboon and Mr. Fagan, a short time was spent in wishing them the best of luck and a speedy return.

Perry Herald, Perry, NY, November 10, 1943:

Cpl. Ruth Cossaboon is spending a few days with her parents, Rev. and Mrs. N. V. Cossaboon. Cpl. Ruth who recently graduated from the Air Control School in Atlanta, Ga., has been assigned to tower control duty at Edenton, N.C.

Perry Record, Perry NY, March 15, 1945:

Rev. and Mrs. N. Van Cossaboon have received word that their daughter, Cpt. Ruth Cossaboon , has been transferred from Edenton, N.C. to the Marine Base at Quantico, Va, where she is an Air Control operator.

Perry Record, Perry, NY, February 28, 1946:

Air Control Operator
Miss Ruth Cossaboon, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. N. Van Cossaboon, has accepted a position as air control operator at the army airport near Harrisburg, Pa. This is a large transport center and friends of Miss Cossaboon wish her much luck in her new position. Miss Cossaboon has recently received her honorable discharge from the armed forces.

Lucky me, that my husband has family from this area.  I plugged in the surname “Cossaboon” {which thankfully isn’t very common} and I immediately came up with tons of hits, which I will be sharing over the coming weeks.

I found this article interesting.  Maybe because I kill house plants and I was so impressed that they had their plant for 15 years.   Really though, have you ever heard of a night blooming cereus plant?  I hadn’t.  I thought that it was kind of neat that they had friends and family over to see it – and that news of the flower made the newspaper.  Small Town, U.S.A.

From the Perry Herald, Perry, NY, dated Thursday, September 18, 1947:

PEOPLE VIEW NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS

   Many friends and neighbors called at the home of Rev. and Mrs. Nicholas Van Cossaboon on Friday evening to see their night blooming cereus which had a beautiful blossom in bloom that evening.  The plant had six buds but only one came into bloom.  The blossom, which was white in color with a tint of pink on the outside of the petals, seemed to grow out from the side of the leaf.

   The Cossaboons have had the plant for 15 years.  A blossom on the plant is a rare thing.  This is the second time in seven years that this plant has had a blossom on it.  All who viewed the blossom feel that it was a great privilege to have been able to see it.

During the evening photos were taken of it but at the time of writing the news it is not known whether they were successful in getting a good picture or not.

I got this picture from Wikipedia, not from the family photo album.   I think that this may be the flower they are talking about, or something similar. It doesn’t look very dark out, does it?

This picture was taken on Easter 1925 at the Clinton Street United Methodist Church in Lockport, NY.

The minister (standing to the right) is my husband’s great-grandfather, Nicholas Van Cossaboon.

The other people in the picture are as follows:

Front Row
Altos
Margaret Saxton (16)
Helen Cossaboon (15) She was my husband’s grandmother, and the preacher’s daughter. She went on to marry Elgie Woods (who is not in the picture).
Dora Woods (17) She was Elgie’s sister.
Sopranos
Azalia Crego (17) She married Elgie’s brother Albert Woods.
Virginia Cossaboon (20) Helen’s sister.
Jennie Russell (17)
Ida Woods (14) Elgie’s sister.
Back Row
Basses
Eugene Hilger (19)
Albert Woods (19) Elgie’s brother.
Organist
Lorraine Kelly (19)
Leader
John Jellings
Tenors
Hobart Woods (28) Elgie’s brother
Leslie Murrell (26)

He would have been my husband’s great uncle.

He is buried in Cold Spring Cemetery in Lockport, Niagara, New York.

George Spencer and his wife, Rosanna V. Leonard.

\\

Woods,
Florence Amy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Woods, died at her home, No. 440 Clinton Street Wednesday evening, November 27, 1918, aged 18 years. She is survived by her parents, four sisters and five brothers, Mrs. Byron Belknap, Dora, Ida, Mildred, Ernal, Elgie, Albert, Kenneth of this city and Hobart overseas.
Private funeral services were held from the home Friday afternoon November 29th at 1:30. Rev. Hazen officiating. Interment was made at cold Springs Cemetery.

James H. Leonard and his wife, Mary Van Tassel.