Rev. Rana Cossitt
Many of our Cossitt Cousins who currently live in Canada trace their ancestry through The Rev. Rana Cossitt. He was actually the third Rene Cossitt in their ancestor line. Born on December 29, 1744 in Simsbury (Granby), Hartford County, Connecticut, he was the eldest son of Rene Cossitt Jr. and Phoebe Hillyer.
After studying in England for some time, in 1773 he was ordained an Episcopal Clergyman by the Bishop of London. Upon returning to the United States, he officiated in the parish of St. Andrew's in Simsbury. That same year he married Thankful Brooks who was also a resident of Hartford County. Between 1775 and 1802 they bore seven sons and six daughters .
During the American Revolutionary War his politics got him in much trouble. He was a stanch Loyalist and in 1786, after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, he was pressured to move from Connecticut to Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was also some what of a rebel as he then changed his name from Rene to Rana.
In Sydney he continued to be an active member of the Clergy and in 1787 he personally built a parsonage. That same year he began work on a church which was named St. George and which was finally completed in 1805. On October 11, 1802 his wife Thankful died during childbirth.
He remained in Sydney and continued with his not always popular political endeavors. In early 1806 he moved to Yarmouth, NS where he dropped out of politics, but continued to attend to his ministry. Here is where he died in 1815.
Even though his politics were not always popular, he made a big contribution to the areas that he lived in and preached in. He started the formal education system in Sydney. He founded the Church of England in Cape Breton and Yarmouth and he was the founder of the Masonic order in Cape Breton. In August 1977 his house in Sydney was opened as "The Cossitt House" and remains a museum to this day.
