WILLIE WESLEY COSS

The following bio was taken from page 157 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Kittie Helm, with her two sons, was brought to Texas by a white man and became situated somewhere near Laneville. They were never slaves. One of the sons was Wesley Coss; the name of the other cannot be recalled. Wesley married Harriett Moreland, and fourteen of their children lived to adulthood. These were: Willie Wesley, who married Margaret Ann (Annie) Henry, and is the subject of this story; James (Jim), whose marriage is unknown; John who married Sarah Henry; Henry, who married Bertha Gipson; Albert who married Corrie Lilly; Arnold, who married Electra Murphy; Winmon, who married Lura Booth; Lela, who married Scott Taylor; Josie, who married Adam Tatum; Mary, who never married; Gertrude, who married George Smith; Lucy, who married John Bell; and Bertha, who married Frances (last name unknown).

On Christmas Day, 1900, Willie Wesley married Margaret Ann (Annie) Henry, the daughter of Nelson Henry, who was freed from the Devereaux plantation or Monte Verdi in the southern part of Rusk County. Nelson Henry and his four brothers would not take the Devereaux name, but instead chose to use their owner’s first name Henry, as their last name.

Will and Annie Henry were married at her home near New Salem, and they became the parents of five children. These were: Robert Weldon, born April 18, 1906 at Laneville, attended grade school at Hollis Springs and finished high school at Texas College at Tyler, Texas. He received his B. S. degree in agriculture from Prairie View A & M, where he also played baseball. He taught at Jarvis Christian College and was county agent in Hopkins and Marion counties. He also served as farm security administrator, Sabine Farm, Harrison County and was an instructor at several schools and colleges, including Butler College, during his career. He married Carrie Bell Brown, who was an instructor at Jarvis College, Lanston University, and Prairie View A & M. She resides at Prairie View, Texas.

Minnie Lee, the oldest daughter, attended grade school at Hollis Springs and finished high school and two years of college at Jarvis College. She married Joe Ollie Bowles in Dallas, Texas, and they both taught at Laneville and in Wood County. Minnie Lee received her B. S. degree in home economics in 1933 and taught at Magnolia Springs and Mt. Pleasant, Texas. She died October 14, 1944, in Little Rock, Arkansas. She and Joe were the parents of two children, Joe Ollie II, who passed away in infancy, and Ollie Margaret, who passed at age nineteen.

Eula Bell, deceased, was born April 26, 1908 at Laneville and attended grade school at Hollis Springs, completing high school and two years of college at Jarvis College. She began teaching at Hollis Springs, and after earning a B. A. degree from Wiley College, she taught at Roxton, Texas for many years. She married Leo Burdette in Dallas in 1942, and they had no children.

Baby D. Coss, the youngest child of Will and Annie, died in infancy.

Willie Roscoe was born March 18, 1910 and attended Hollis Springs schools through the eighth grade, then completed high school and two years of college at Jarvis College. He received his B. S. and M. S. degrees from Prairie View A & M at Hempstead, Texas. He served as classroom teacher, coach, athletic director, and vocation agriculture instructor at Laneville colored school. He married Christine Witcher at the home of her parents on November 26, 1943. (See Witcher story.) In 1959, W. R. became principal of New Salem Junior High School and was Boy Scout counselor and superintendent representative there. He is a member of T.S.T.S., N.A.M.P., N.E.A., Rusk County Classroom Association, and East Texas School Men’s Club. He is a member and Sunday School teacher at Anadarko Church of Christ and owns Sonny’s Café, Chris’ Beauty Shop, and Barbara Lacy’s Barber Shop in Henderson. He and Christine had no children, but reared a foster daughter, Deborah Jean Witcher, from her second birthday.

Willie Roscoe is the only surviving member of this Coss family. He and his wife, Christine, live at Oak Hill.

Submitted by W. R. Coss