CORNELL, Jesse Ancel - 1912 Bio (1871-1947)

CORNELL, GIBBS, HANNA, JACOBSON, EDMONDS, PETERSON, LUNDGREN, OLSON

Posted By: Debbie Nash - Volunteer (email)
Date: 3/11/2005 at 17:44:36

From the “History of Jefferson County, Iowa” – 1912, Volume II
Pages 119-121

JESSE A. CORNELL

“Jesse A. CORNELL is the owner of a fine farm of seventy acres located on section 11, Des Moines township, where he engages in general farming and stock-raising. He is the eldest child born to George Tyler and Elizabeth (GIBBS) CORNELL, and began his life record in Warren county, Ohio, on the 8th of May, 1871. The parents were born, reared and married in Warren county where the father engaged in farming until 1881, when the family removed to Iowa. They located in Jefferson county, Mr. CORNELL purchasing a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Des Moines township upon which he resided for twenty-three years. In 1904 he and his wife retired to Libertyville, where the mother still resides, but he passed away on the 9th of September, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. CORNELL had six children: Jesse A., our subject; Wilbur, who is deceased; Viola May, the wife of Grant CORNELL, a cousin, who is farming in Ohio; and Clarence, Ralph and Ernest Ray, all of whom are deceased. In the paternal line of Jesse A. CORNELL is of Welsh extraction, his grandfather, George CORNELL, having emigrated from Wales to the United States when a youth of sixteen years. He settled in Ohio during the pioneer days and there three years later, when he was nineteen years of age, he married a Miss HANNA, a native of New Jersey, who was thirteen years of age. Immediately following this event they located on the farm where they spent the remainder of their lives. He was very successful in his agricultural pursuits and acquired seven hundred acres of excellent land, that he improved and brought to a high state of cultivation. The family of Mr. and Mrs. George CORNELL numbered eighteen children of whom the son George Tyler was the youngest.

The school days of Jesse A. CORNELL began in his native state, the education therein acquired being supplemented by further study in the schools of district No. 1, Des Moines township, after the family located in Jefferson county. His boyhood was very similar to that of other lads who are reared in the country, his vacations and such time as he was not engaged with his lessons being devoted to the work about the farm, under the direction and supervision of his father. His services were rendered to his father until he had attained his majority, following which he worked for him on shares until he was twenty-six years of age. About this time he married and began to work for himself, renting a hundred and sixty acres from his father that he cultivated for seven years. In 1907 he purchased his homestead, and here he engages in general farming and also raises and feeds stock for the market. Mr. CORNELL is a man of progressive ideas and clear judgment and so capably directs his enterprises that he is meeting with more than a moderate degree of success, being numbered among the prosperous farmers of Des Moines township.

On Christmas eve, 1896, Mr. CORNELL was united in marriage to Miss Emma JACOBSON, a daughter of Gus F. and Hannah (EDMONDS) JACOBSON, both of whom were natives of Sweden. The father emigrated to the United States when a young man of twenty-one years, while the mother was a child of five when she accompanied her parents to this country. Mr. JACOBSON first located in New York, going from there to Illinois and subsequently settling on a farm east of Lockridge in this county. It was there that Mrs. CORNELL was born on the 7th of July, 1876. The father and mother continued to live on their farm until five years ago when they removed to Batavia, where they are now residing. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. JACOBSON, as follows: David, who is living in Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs. CORNELL; Wilbur, who died in childhood; and Etta, who passed away when she was eighteen years of age. Mrs. JACOBSON had been married twice before, her first union being with a Mr. PETERSON, by whom she had three children: William, who is deceased; John, who is living in Denver, Colorado; and Christina, the wife of T. LUNDGREN, of Centerville, Iowa. Her second husband was Mr. OLSON and she bore him one child, Anna Alice, who is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. CORNELL are the parents of four children: Ruth Hannah, who was born on the 9th of November, 1897; Grace Freeda, whose birth occurred on the 2d of December, 1899; Ernest Leo, the natal day of whom is the 9th of January, 1900; and Goldie Christina, whose advent occurred on the 17th of August, 1906. The three eldest children are attending school in district No. 1, Des Moines township.

Both Mr. and Mrs. CORNELL hold membership in the Presbyterian church of Libertyville, and he votes the republican ticket. He cares not to figure prominently in political activities, but he is a loyal and patriotic citizen, as were his forefathers, who offered their services to their country in time of need. His maternal grandfather, Jesse GIBBS and one uncle, Joseph GIBBS, were in the Civil war, and went with Sherman on his famous march.”

I am copying this for genealogy purposes and am not related to said individuals.