John F. Cornell, of section 9 Liberty township, is one of the old settlers of Richardson county and has been prominent as an agriculturist and public man in county and state affairs for a number of years. When he came to the state as a boy of nine years, nearly fifty
years ago, Nebraska territory had been only recently organized and he has witnessed the entire growth and development of the country into one of the remarkably fertile states of the Union. The entire family has been indentified [sic] in many ways with Richardson county, and the first school taught in Liberty township was at th house of Mr. Cornell's father, who was also the teacher, and, for many years following, a director of the school district, which embraced four precincts, but had only fifteen scholars, Salem being the largest district. For many other reasons the name of Cornell is an honored one in Richardson county, and those who have borne the name have never failed in the discharge of their proper obligations to themselves, to the community and to all the institutions of church and state.
Mr. Cornell was born in Indiana, February 7, 1847. His grandfather, Smith Cornell, was born in North Carolina, where he was a farmer and also in Maryland, where he died in middle life, leaving six sons: Benjamin, who was a farmer in Ohio, where the family settled in 1836; William; John; Samuel, who settled in Indiana; Charles; and Nathaniel, an able minister of the Lutheran church, located in New York. The father of these sons was of Welsh descent, and during the war of 1812 was a captain in the American army.
John Cornell, father of John F., was born in Maryland in December, 1808, and died January 8, 1883, on his home farm on section 4, Liberty township, of this county. He married, in 1837, Levina Wilhite, who was born in Maryland in 1814, and died in this county in 1896. Her father came from Germany to Maryland at a very early day, and many relatives are to be found in that state at the present time. After his marriage, John Cornell moved to Indiana, settling in the woods, and taught school several years and also cleared up a farm. He began life very humbly, but was successful and a prominent per-
sonage in every locality where he made his home. From Indiana he went to Nebraska, and in 1856 took up his residence in Richardson county. He and his wife had the following family of sons and daughters: Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Alfred Hollingsworth, who is a large farmer in Idaho; Lydia Ann, who died in infancy; William Henry Harrison, who died in Verdon, Nebraska, in July 1903, at the age of sixty-two, leaving three daughters, and who had served in the ranks for one year during the Civil war and afterwards farmed; Mrs. Celestie Worley, a widow, in Boxbute [sic], Nebraska, the mother of two daughters and one son; John F.,; Jane, who is the wife of Allen Tingley, of Oklahoma, and has a large family of sons, one of whom is a teacher in the Philippines; George Wash, of Auburn, Nebraska, who has a large family; and Charles T., who died at the age of thirteen.
Mr. John F. Cornell was reared to manhood in Nebraska, and spent two years as a student in the State University at Lincoln, after which he was a teacher for some time. The fine farm of two hundred acres which he has been operating for some years is known as the John Patterson farm, and he is also owner of one hundred and ninety-two acres of land in Oklahoma. He has been very successful in his business ventures, and is one of the representative agriculturists of the southeastern part of the state. For some years he was a stanch adherent of Republican principles and policies, but voted for W. J. Bryan in 1892 for Congress and at both the presidential elections. He has been in public affairs for many years, and has become known for his ability and unswerving integrity in all public acts. He served as state auditor for two terms, and the press of the state gave him unequivocal commendation for his conduct and excellent accounting of the large
amounts of state funds. He was a member of the county board for five years. He is an active member of several fraternal orders, and in church affiliations is a Baptist, while his parents were both Presbyterians.
December 21, 1881, Mr. Cornell married Miss Bell Patterson. They have four children of their own, and have adopted a bright boy of eight years. Zelie May, their first child, is the wife of Robert Mickle, on the staff of the daily Star at Lincoln, Nebraska; she was educated in the Lincoln high school and one year in the State University, and taught for two years; she is an able pianiste [sic]. Neenah Vashti, the second daughter, is in the Peru normal. Ann Eunice W. is a girl of thirteen, and Helen is aged nine years. All the family are blessed with fine physiques and the best of health, and are happy, interesting people, with something worth while to say and with plenty of ability to act in the world about them.
Mrs. Cornell is the only daughter and only surviving child of John W. and Lucy (Girwell) Patterson. Her brother, Albert H. B. Patterson, died in his tenth year, November 25, 1871. John W. Patterson, now a retired farmer of Verdon, came to Richardson county in August, 1858, from Birmingham, Van Buren county, Iowa. He was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, close to Bedford, April 10, 1838. His grandfather, Gilbert Patterson, was born in North Carolina about 1770, became an early settler of Davis county, Indiana, and died there. By his wife, a Miss McBride, he had nine children: Rebecca Bynum; G. B.; Betsey Lytton; William; Gilbert; Kizzie, wife of William Baker; Dr. Mary Parsons, M.D.; Louis Patterson, the only one living, and Nancy.
G. B. Patterson, father of John W., was born in North Carolina in 1811, and died in Richardson county, Nebraska, in 1891. He mar-
ried Patsy Cavaness, of Indiana, and they had three children, Mary Ann, who died at the age of five years; John W.; and Sarah, who died in infancy.
John W. Patterson was taken to Illinois in 1848, and there reared to manhood, receiving his schooling in the subscription schools. February 11, 1858, he married Miss Lucy A. Girwell, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1834, a daughter of D. R. and Rachael (Speelman) Girwell. Mr. Patterson came out to Richardson county soon after his marriage, and for some years was engaged in freighting across the plains to Denver and other points, laying the foundation of his later prosperity in this enterprise. He has been prominent in farming and other lines of business in this state, but ten years ago sold his last farm, and has since lived in Verdon. While Mr. Cornell was state auditor he also resided in Lincoln. For several years he has written some fire and life insurance and attended to some collection business. For about ten years he did a large business in feeding and shipping live-stock. He has lived in this part of the state so many years that he has witnessed almost every detail of its progress. For many years he and his wife have been accustomed to making summer trips to the west; and from year to year the changes in the country through which he traveled have been most startling in the rapidity, resulting in a complete transformation of the region in a few years.
Mr. Patterson is a Democrat in politics and fraternally is a Master Mason. His wife is a member of the Evangelical church. They are particularly proud and happy in their grandchildren, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Cornell, and find a renewing of years and delightful solace in their youthful companionship.