Biographical Sketch of Robert Thompson CORNWELL (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris <jMcDmorris@comcast.net>. Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 614-6. "ROBERT THOMPSON CORNWELL, commonly known as Captain Cornwell, is a prominent lawyer of West Chester, residing on the northwest corner of Virginia avenue and Darlington street. "He was born in Orange county, New York, January 29, 1835. His father, Daniel Cornwell, died May 29, 1883, aged eighty years. His mother, Elizabeth (Thompson) Cornwell, is still living and resides at Port Jervis, Orange coun- ty, New York. He received his education at public and private schools, at the Monticello academy in Sullivan county, New York, and at 'The University of Northern Pennsylvania,' an academy situated at Bethany, Wayne county. "His early occupation was teaching. He was, in 1853 and 1854, an instructor in both the above mentioned academies. In April, 1855, he was called from the Monticello academy to Millersville, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, to teach grammar and mathematics in a three months' Normal institute, held under the auspices of the late Dr. James P. Wickersham, then superintendent of common schools in that county. This institute was so successful in its results as to lead to the establishment in the fall of that year of 'The Lancaster county Normal school,' in the same place; and Mr. Cornwell became a member of its faculty. He occupied this position until the fall of 1858, when he and J. Willis Westlake, A. M., from the same faculty, resigned to accept an invitation to open what proved to be a very useful and successful academy and normal school at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania. "In April, 1861, at the breaking out of the civil war, he raised a company, under the first call of President Lincoln for troops, many of his students joining it. But the company was not accepted, as a great many more troops were offered by Pennsylvania than were necessary to fill her quota of the call; and Mr. Cornwell disbanded his company and again resumed his school work. "In August, 1862, he raised another company, which joined the 67th Pennsyl- vania infantry. This regiment organized at Philadelphia in October, 1861. A part of his men joined company I, and the remainder company K of that regi- ment, filling both to a maximum; and Captain Cornwell was mustered as the commanding officer of the former. He shared the services of his company and regiment in 1862, guarding the navy yard and railroads at Annapolis, Mary- land; in 1863 as a part of the Eighth corps in West Virginia; and in 1864 as part of the Sixth corps in front of Petersburg, Virginia, at Monocacy, Mary- land, and with General Sheridan in his great campaign in the Shenandoah valley. On the 13th of June, 1864, at the time of General Milroy's disaster in the Valley, Captain Cornwell was captured while sick with typhoid fever in the hospital, and remained a prisoner of war (most of the time in Libby prison, at Richmond,) until May 2, 1864, when he was specially exchanged. Early in July, 1864, while in front of Petersburg, he was detailed as provost marshal of the Third division of the Sixth army corps, on the staff of Gen. James B. Rickets, commanding that division, where he served until the expira- tion of his company's term of service, October 25, 1864, when he was honor- ably discharged. "Upon quitting the service he came to West Chester, where his wife and child were, and at once entered upon the study of the law in the office of Hon. William B. Waddell, now president judge of the courts of Chester county. He was admitted to the practice on the 10th of December, 1866, since which time he has devoted himself continuously to his professional work. he was for ten years (1868-1878) associated in the practice of the law with the late Hon. William Darlington, under the firm name of Darlington & Cornwell. "Captain Cornwell for five years (1873-1878) held a commission in the Na- tional guard of this State, commanding the Wayne Fencibles of West Chester, an organization which always enjoyed a superior record. During the fierce railroad riots of 1877, he with his command guarded the engines and train which took Governor Hartranft and staff over the mountains to Pittsburg, and almost immediately upon arriving there, Captain Cornwell, in command of a battalion consisting of the Wayne Fencibles and Co. H, of Chester, Pennsyl- vania, was entrusted with the responsible duty of guarding one of the first two freight trains started east from Pittsburg on the Pennsylvania railroad. "Mr. Cornwell was married May 9, 1859, to Lydia Ann Jackson, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Jackson, and a granddaughter of the late Gibbons Gray, of the same place. They have five children: Gibbons Gray, Martha Jackson, Mary Elizabeth, Ada Westlake, and William Darlington Cornwell. Gibbons Gray, the eldest son, is a graduate of Yale university, class of 1886. He read law with his father, was admitted to the bar on the 10th of June, 1889, and since that date the father and son have been associ- ated in practice under the firm name of Cornwell & Cornwell. "In adopting the law as a profession Captain Cornwell did not lose his inter- est in educational work. He served as school director in West Chester about twenty-five years, during the greater portion of which time he was president of the board; and he has been one of the trustees of the West Chester Normal school almost continuously since its organization in 1871. He has moreover taken a leading part in other enterprises and charities of his vicinage. He has been president of the Electric Light Company of West Chester from the date of its organization in 1885; is president of the West Chester hospital; chairman of the executive committee of the Dime's Saving bank of Chester county; and is in the management of the Assembly association of West Chester, the West Chester Street railway and Oaklands cemetery. Of the latter he has been secretary and treasurer for twenty-five years. "He is a republican in politics. Attaining his majority with the birth of that party in 1856, he cast his first vote for its then candidate for presi- dent, John C. Fremont. He is a member of McCall Post, No. 31, Grand Army of the Republic, and also of the Union Veteran Legion."