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| Herbert F. Agard |
Every writer knows that Murphy’s Law states that as soon as
you publish, new information immediately comes to light. It is somewhat comforting to know that
my great grandmother, Jessie Agard, was not immune.
As I read through the Jacksonville
Community Church history, towards the back is a page marked “Extra,” and
dated March 1947. The entry reads:
“The day after this
church manuscript was finished and had already been handed in, a paper was
found. It was a copy of the Last Will and Testament of the late Herbert F. Agard. The will was executed
on the 5th day of January 1926.
The third notation in
this document concerns this church and will be quoted verbatim.
‘Third – After
the death of my said wife, if any of my property should remain, I give, devise
and bequeath, to the Methodist Church of Jacksonville, Tompkins County, State
of New York, the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200) to belong to said church
absolutely.’
Herbert F. Agard died
Feb. 27, 1926 and his wife died July 18, 1926
John Agard was
executor and settled the business.
A returned voucher
from the First National Bank, Trumansburg, N. Y. dated Jan. 25, 1927, the
amount ‘Two Hundred dollars’ estate of Herbert F. Agard was made out payable to Philo B. Smith, President of the Board
of Trustees of the Jacksonville Methodist Church and signed by John W. Agard,
executor.
Trustees book shows no
record of such bequest.
And therein lies a mystery. Did the money get put into the
church treasury, was it turned back over to the bank to relieve some of their debt, or just missed in during the next meeting discussion?
On May 23, 2013 I wrote a blog on Herbert and Emma Susan Baker Agard. In that blog I wished for a photo of Herbert. During this recent search, I found an
early photo of Herbert, so another Christmas wish has been granted.
