Cornell Genealogical Mystery
Copyright 1998 by Wm. E. Wright
For the last couple of years I have been researching my Cornell ancestry.
Let me start with the known:
William H. (Probably Henry) CORNELL was born 19 December 1806 in (a county history says Fayette Co.) Pennsylvania. He married first 21 April 1826 in Coshocton Co., Ohio, Harriet Slaughter, possibly daughter of Samuel Slaughter.
Who were William's parents?
The 1790 census of Fayette Co., PA, lists two Cornells: Peter and William.
Peter Cornell (joined by wife Rachael) sold his land in Fayette Co. in 1796; and in 1799, he and Tunis Cornell signed a petition in Jefferson Co., Ohio. Peter is not listed in the 1800 census of Fayette Co., but William is. A Peter Cornell appears again in the 1810 census of Fayette Co. In 1817 Peter with wife Rachael died in Jefferson Co., Ohio. From this information I assume that the Peter Cornell appearing in the 1810 census of Fayette County is not the same Peter Cornell who is listed in the 1790 census, sold his land in 1796 and most likely moved to Jefferson Co., Ohio. According to the Jefferson Co., Ohio, records, Peter had children: Moses (probably no children), William (with sons, Moses Johnston Cornell and Joseph Hervey Wilson Cornell), Hannah, wife of Thomas Hughes, and Margaret, wife of Thomas Wilson. Peter Cornell appears in the tax lists for Franklin Twp., Fayette Co., PA, for some of the years, 1787-1798.
Tunis Cornell appears in the tax lists for Franklin Twp., Fayette Co., PA, in 1795 and 1798. He signed a petition with Peter Cornell in 1799 in Jefferson Co., OH. A Tunis and Marrya Cornell had a son William baptized in Harlingen Reformed Dutch Church of Montgomery Twp, Somerset Co., NJ, on 6 June 1762. Tunis and Peter Cornell are listed as taxpayers in Hunterdon Co., NJ in 1780, 1789, and 1790. The will of Tunis is dated 1814 and proved 15 February 1815 naming children: William, Sarah, Peter, Olcky, Yonachy Mapel, and Cary Peterson.
William Cornell. In 1832 William Cornell of Fayette Co., PA, filed a Revolutionary War Pension Application. He said he was born 29 March 1762. He entered the service in 1789 in Hunterdon Co., NJ, where he lived. He moved to Fayette Co., PA, about 1789, returned to NJ for a short time and then moved back to Fayette Co., PA in 1790. He married in Hunterdon Co., NJ, shortly after the war (wife's name not given). His name appears in the tax records of Franklin Twp., Fayette Co., PA in some years between 1787 and 1798. William Cornell, William Cornell, Jr., and William Cornell, Sr. are listed as taxpayers in Hopewell Twp, Hunterdon Co., NJ, in 1785.
Among the signers of a power of attorney in 1823 to settle the estate of Agnys Miller of Hunterdon Co., NJ, are the following residents of Fayette Co., PA: Miller Cornell, William Cornell, John Cornell, Joseph Cornell, James Todd and wife Mary (late Cornell) and Jonathan Dur. Margaret Cornell married Jonathan Dur. I presume that these names may be the children of William Cornell and the grandchildren of Agnys. James Todd is supposed to have been the attorney general of Pennsylvania.
The deed records in Fayette County contain several instruments involving James Todd. One of these instruments confirms that in 1836 James Todd was the attorney general of Pennsylvania. In 1838 James Todd of Philadelphia with wife Jane executes a deed selling land in Fayette Co. In 1797 James Todd was a resident of Philadelphia. In 1816 he bought land in Fayette Co., where he apparently moved and maintained an office.
On 5 April 1835, William Cowell and wife Rachel (formerly Rachel Gate sic), daughter and heir of Robert Tate, late of Fayette Co., PA, deceased) gave James Todd, esquire a power of attorney to sell land formerly in possession of Robert Tate. You can view a copy of this power of attorney as recorded. William Cowell and Rachel were then residents of St. Claire Co., IL. The Family History Library Catalog has very few St. Claire Co. records, and I have found no other indication of their presence in St. Claire Co. The P/A is indexed as Cowell and Cowell looks like the best reading of the name, but it does not take too much imagination to read the name as Cornell. Why would a septuagenarian man with a wife move from Pennsylvania where he had lived for almost 50 years to Illinois in the 1830s?
Miller Cornell. Born 1796 in Fayette Co., PA, died 1879 in Steubenville, Jefferson Co., OH, where he moved about 1850. Probably the same person as named in the Hunterdon Co., NJ, power of attorney, mentioned above.
Questions:
Is William H. Cornell (b 1806, married 1826 in Coshocton Co., OH) the son of the William Cornell of Fayette Co., PA? Wha is the likelihood that William H. Cornell is the grandson of William Cornell or a nephew of William Cornell of Fayette Co.?
Who is the William Cornell mentioned in the power of attorney in Hunterdon Co., NJ, to settle the estate of Agnys Miller? Is he the son-in-law of Agnys? Alternatively, is he the sibling of the other Cornells named in the power of attorney. Is he the same person baptized as the son of Tunis and Marrya?
My best guess is that Tunis Cornell is the progenitor of all these Cornells in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Now who is Tunis? There is a published genealogy of Thomas Cornell of Boston. This genealogy lists a William Cornell whom married ___ Smith but does not carry the line down further. A will in Hunterdon Co., NJ, lists a William Cornell with a son Smith Cornell. I have been unable to find and Tunis that could be his son or grandson or find any Williams or Peters that match with those in Fayette Co.
The Tunis name is Dutch or Germanic in origin. Tunis and Marrya had their son William baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church. There was an early New Amsterdam family, probably French Huguenots, Gelyan or Guilliame (William) Cornelise with sons William and Peter. Could this be the ancestral line for Tunis?
I will appreciate any thoughts or comments on solving the mystery of the Cornells.
Here is a Ahnentafel Chart of my ancestry.
I have compiled and published a genealogy of my Rhode Island progenitors, Ancestors and Descendants of William Browning Greene and Mary Hoxsie Lewis with Allied Families." The book contains chapters covering descendants of 42 families that inter-married.
| GENEALOGY | MODEL RAILROADING | JAMES BOOK | LINKS | HOME |
You are visitor #