Mr. Cornwell was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., July 8, 1809. His father, Job Cornwell, was a native of the same county, and was a son of Jonathan Cornwell, also of that county, and a grandson of Lot Cornwell, who was a soldier in the Revolution. The father of Lot Cornwell came from England as an officer in the English army, but in the opening days of the struggle between the Americans and the mother country, he left the British service to join the Colonists and fought with them for their freedom. After the war he settled in Dutchess County among its pioneers as a tiller of the soil.

The father of our subject learned the trade of a blacksmith and carried it on in the town of Stanford in Dutchess County. He did a thriving business and employed three men to assist him. In 1830 he removed to Monroe County, and settled near Brockport, where he died in 1850 at the age of fifty-six years. He was a Democrat in politics and was very influential in the public councils and held various county offices. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Chloe Mayhue, and she was of Scotch descent and born in New York. She survived her husband several years, making her home with her daughter at Grand Rapids, till her death at the age of seventy-five years. She was a truly good woman and in her the Free Will Baptist Church found a consistent member. She was the mother of eight children, as follows: Lucinda, who died in New York; Fannie, who lives in Michigan; Smith, who died in Illinois; Morris, who died in California; Emeline, who died in New York; Ethan, a resident of Chicago, who was formerly Captain in the Railway Detective service, and Charlotte, who died in Rock Island.

Our subject was reared in Stanford, and in his younger days was a delicate, sickly lad. He obtained his education in the district school till he was seventeen years old when he was sent to the Nine Partners Quaker school at Mechanicsville, in his native county, and there completed an excellent course of study. After leaving school he adopted the profession of teaching and was engaged at it in Dutchess County some twelve years, and after that taught in Long Island and for three years was principal of the schools where he was stationed. In 1837 he went to Monroe County, N. Y., and eighteen months later in 1839, came to Illinois, traveling by boat to Cleveland, by canal to the Ohio river to take a boat, but as there were none going down the river at that time, he hired a skiff, but after proceeding two miles decided that he could make better progress on foot, so he walked to the next landing and waited there four days for a boat, and as one did not come tried to secure a seat on the stage to Indiana and at length was successful, and finally found his way to Springfield, this State. He then shouldered his bundle of clothes and made a pedestrian trip to the Mississippi river and back to Farmington in search of a school to teach. He was finally referred to Princeville, and here was engaged to teach in a log school with primitive furnishings. He engaged in teaching here for several years, and found it hard work as among his pupils were several large boys who could neither read nor write. He toiled faithfully and made a success of teaching, and was engaged at it some three years. He then went to Fairview, Fulton County, and was engaged in teaching in the academy as its principal, and occupied that position three years.

Mr. Cornwell had previously bought this place, in 1840, or a part of it, buying a patent of one hundred and sixty acres on section 21, and made all the improvements on that tract. He located on it in 1843, and built a frame house, drawing the lumber from Ellisville, Fulton county, a distance of forty miles with an ox team. He broke prairie with oxen and a wooden mold plow, and got well started in his efforts to develop a farm, and in the years that followed was more than ordinarily successful in his work, and at one time owned over eleven hundred and twenty acres of fine farming land. He still possesses eight hundred acres, all of which is improved land with the exception of three hundred and twenty acres devoted to pasture, and it is well fenced and watered by springs and sloughs, having a pure spring of ever flowing water on nearly every quarter section. He has two good dwellings and other substantial buildings, on his farm, and in 1871, built here the largest house in the township, and then retired from active business to pass his declining years in this coziest and most comfortable of homes. He used to operate the whole farm and had it well stocked. He raised full blooded Poland-china hogs very extensively, some years selling enough to bring in $3,700. He has other valuable property besides his farm. He built a house in Monica, and owns two buildings there. He rents his land, but retains the pasture and has one hundred head of cattle grazing upon it besides other stock.

May 24, 1842, Mr. Cornwell returned to Monroe County, N. Y., and was married to Miss Emily Munson, a native of Connecticut, and a daughter of Caleb Munson, a farmer of Monroe County. He was extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising and was well-to-do.

Our subject and his wife are the parents of four children. William H., Julia, (wife of W. E. Elliott of Princeville township) Charles, Adeline, (wife of H. W. Crawford an agent for the Rock Island Railroad at Monica). William is a farmer in Waldo Township, Livingston County, where he owns three hundred and twenty acres of land. He was a soldier in the late Civil War, enlisting in 1861, when he was but seventeen years old, in the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, mustered in at Peoria. He took part in all the battles in which his regiment fought, till he was taken prisoner first in Tennessee and was subsequently paroled and was a second time captured at Essex Station, he having been shot through the hip while on his horse, and taken by the enemy. His wounds were dressed by his fellow prisoners, and he was sent to Andersonville, and remained there several months until the close of the war, and then came home nearly dead from the sufferings and privations he had endured in that terrible experience of life in rebel prisons. Charles, an attorney at law, practicing in Peoria, was graduated from Cold Water Michigan College and later was graduated from the law department of the University at Ann Arbor.

Mr. Cornwell has a high reputation as a man of honor, truthfulness and unimpeachable integrity, who has acquired his large property by honest and fair methods and he is a credit to our citizenship. He is an ardent Republican in his political views and is one of the most intelligent and liberal supporters of his party, and has been active in its councils, and has been delegate to county conventions. He was Supervisor one year and has been Director of the graded schools, and a member of the Grand Jury several terms and the Petit Jury one term, and in each and every capacity showed marked ability as an intelligent and progressive official.