Bios: JESSE S. CORNELIUS : Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
 
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  Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
  Lawrence County Pennsylvania
  Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
  
  An html version with search engine may be found at 
  
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/
  
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    JESSE S. CORNELIUS,
    
    [p. 467] constable and collector of the Sixth Ward of New Castle, Pa., was
  born in Neville township, Allegheny Co., Pa., Feb. 26, 1836, and is a son of
  Maxwell and Mary Ann (Anderson) Cornelius, and grandson of Maxwell Cornelius,
  who came from the eastern part of the State, supposedly Lancaster County, and
  settled in Allegheny County, near the city of Pittsburg, where he followed
  the pursuits of agriculture. Of the family of children, that he gathered
  about his fireside, the following grew up to maturity: Josiah; John; Dizart;
  Absalom; James; Betsey; Polly; and Maxwell.
    
    Our subject's father made his start in life as a gardener, cultivating his
  small farm on Nine Mile Island at first, and later gardening at McKee's
  Rocks. In 1845 he bought a farm at Mt. Jackson, this county, and cleared and
  improved it with so liberal and knowing a hand, that it easily took rank with
  the best in the county, with a set of farm buildings that for convenience and
  ampleness of room was perhaps without a rival. His last years were spent in
  Poland, Ohio, where he bought a small piece of land and house, and engaged in
  fruit and berry raising the remainder of his years, also paying considerable
  attention to the education of his children. He was taken to a better world at
  the age of seventy-six; his wife, eighty-eight years of age, is living at
  Poland, Ohio. Their children were: Margaret, deceased; Eliza, the wife of
  William Lemon; Jesse S., our subject; James, of Minier, Ill.; William of
  Youngstown, Ohio; Maxwell, deceased, who was a Presbyterian minister of
  Washington, D. C., pastor of the East End Presbyterian Church; Margaret
  (2nd), whose first husband was Alfred Swisher, her present husband is Henry
  Austin of Poland, Ohio; Jane, whose first husband was S. Glenn, deceased, and
  her second, B. Whistler; Mary Ann, the wife of D. Thompson; Martha, the wife
  of S. Fox; and Samuel, a Presbyterian minister of Oil city. Our subject's
  father was a Republican, politically, and a member of the Presbyterian Church.
    
    Jesse S. Cornelius finished his education at Westfield, and when he was
  eighteen years old followed gardening for two years as a means for securing a
  livelihood. Then for several years he boated coal down the Ohio River and
  beyond on the Father of Waters, making five trips to New Orleans, besides
  several shorter trips. In 1859 he came to Lawrence County, and on May 1st of
  that year married Miss Elizabeth Jane Martin, daughter of Samuel Martin, and
  granddaughter of Hugh Martin, who was a school teacher, surveyor, and farmer.
  Hugh Martin was a very well-educated man of his day, and many successful men
  were among his pupils in the old log school house. His wife Susan (nee)
  Bennage, and he both lived to be upwards of eighty years of age, and were the
  parents of the following children: Thomas, Samuel, Hugh, Seth, John, George,
  David, and Catherine. The last three are single and make their home together
  on the old homestead. Samuel Martin was born in Huntingdon Co., Pa., in 1811,
  and settled in Lawrence County, where he bought a 125-acre farm, and followed
  agriculture all his days, also doing a little carpentering, dying at the age
  of seventy-three. Their children were: Elizabeth; Jane; Hugh, deceased; Seth,
  deceased; John, deceased; James, deceased; Mary, deceased; Clark, a resident
  of Miller Co., Missouri; Albert R., a resident of Beaver Falls; Emma, the
  wife of William Welker of Mahoning Co., Ohio; Perry S. of New Castle; Samuel,
  deceased; and Wesley, who lives in Lawrence County. The following are our
  subject's children: Mary Lizzie, who married John Atkinson of New Castle;
  Emma J., who married Robert Atkinson, a farmer of this county, and has four
  childrenÑPearl, Jesse C., Elizabeth J., and Maud M.; Maud, the wife of John
  Marks, a railroader of Lawrence County; Maxwell, who married Eva Groves of
  New Castle, and has two childrenÑJessie C., and Earl Maxwell; Sadie W., who
  married George Dufford of New Castle, and has three childrenÑJessie C., John,
  deceased, and Ruth May; Samuel H., who married Lizzie Hamley of Youngstown,
  Ohio, and has one son, Harold Martin; and Daisy O., who lives at home, and
  teaches music.
    
    In 1888, Mr. Cornelius was elected constable and tax collector, and has
  been continued in office ever since, and has also served as supervisor two
  years. He enlisted in 1862, August of that year, in Co. D, 14th Reg. Pa. Vol.
  Cav., and in the following spring at Harper's Ferry, Va., he was thrown from
  his horse, and his left side sprained very badly, which accident left him in
  very poor health, and he has never been able to do very hard manual labor, or
  much of it at a time. He has a nice home at No. 15 Etna Street, and other
  property in other parts of the city. He has won the highest esteem of his
  fellow-citizens for the strict integrity of his life, and for the
  conscientious manner in which he has discharged the duties of the various
  offices which they have chosen him to fill. He is a member of the K. of P.
  Lodge, and has filled all of its chairs; he is also a member of the G. A. R.
  Post, and of the United Workmen, Protected Home Circle, and junior Order of
  American Mechanics. His wife is a member of the W. C. T. U., and of the Royal
  Templars. As a representative and well-known citizen of Lawrence County, the
  publishers of this biograpical work take pleasure in presenting Mr.
  Cornelius' portrait on a preceding page.