Who was she before she was Eugenia Cornell?

February 25, 2016February 25, 2016 / Brandy Heineman / 3 Comments

Our family trees don’t always yield their secrets readily, and I’m glad. There’s little as satisfying as ending a six-year-search—or rather, turning a corner for the next leg of the journey.

I’ve written about Hamilton Townsend Cornell on this blog plenty of times—how he never missed the opportunity to claim his nebulous connection to Cornell University founder Ezra Cornell, how he stayed in trouble’s way, how he chased the sunset from New York to California in search of his fortunes.

But he’s not the star of this post—not today. No, today I’m here to talk about his third wife, though I’d be hard pressed to tell her story independent of his. Finding Eugenia _____ Cornell has been one of my mother’s pet projects for years, and thanks to her research and tenacity, Eugenia’s day in the sun has finally arrived.

I’ve linked liberally in this post. Other researchers, go behind me and verify my conclusions to your own satisfaction.

Starting with the known…

There wasn’t much to work with at first. Eugenia is found on three censuses: 1870, 1875, 1880

And then she’s gone.

The census details tell us that her father was born in Connecticut and her mother in Vermont, and they construct a partial timeline of her life (shown in green). Newspaper mentions of both her and Hamilton (blue) and related records (purple) illustrate a turbulent life, particularly at the end of 1874.

1845 or 1846 – Eugenia was born in New York State.
1865 – Son, George, born in Minnesota.
15 November 1866 – Henriett Cornell (Hamilton’s second wife) published a summons against him in the Shawano County Journal, Shawano, Wisconsin.
1867 – Daughter, Emma, born in Minnesota.
September 1869 – Daughter, Maud, born in Minnesota.
1870 – Enumerated in Oakland, Freeborn county, Minnesota.
29 December 1870 – Hamilton had a suit against their neighbor, Adam Christie. (See it on Ancestry.)
November 1871 – Hamilton runs testimonial-style newspaper ads selling a patent medicine called “The Oil of the Tree of Life.” (See one on LOC’s Chronicling America.)
1873 – Son, Guy H., born in Minnesota.
September 1874 – Hamilton brings suit against the Asher Estate for $2000 in unpaid debts for wheat and Oil of the Tree of Life, though he has no proof the amounts are due. The Asher Estate answers that the claims fraudulent. (See it on Ancestry.)
26 October 1874 – Brayton (a son from Hamilton’s first marriage) died at age 26. (See it on FamilySearch.)
25 November 1874 – Son, George S., died at age 9. (See it on FamilySearch.)
3 December 1874 – A newspaper item regarding George’s burial speculates that he died of typhoid fever like his brother Brayton had. (See it on LOC’s Chronicling America.)
24 December 1874 – Public notice of mortgage default action against Hamilton and Eugenia. (See it on Ancestry.)
1875 – Enumerated in Freeborn county, Minnesota.
22 July 1875 – Eugenia’s name is listed (among many others) for taxes due on property in Oakland, Township 102, Range 19, Section 32. (See it on Ancestry.)
11 November 1875 – At least part of the same piece of property named in the mortgage default is mentioned in a real estate transfer, H Cornell to J K Strver for $500. (See it on Ancestry.)
25 May 1876 – Public notice of another mortgage default action against Hamilton and Eugenia. (See it on Ancestry.)
1880 – Enumerated in Spruce Gulch, Lawrence county, Dakota territory (now South Dakota). Their household includes boarder John Sailor.
9 February 1881 – “Saylor accuses him of assault and battery.” (Article mentions Hamilton; abstracted here.)
10 February 1881 – “Case of assault against Saylor continues.” (Article mentions Hamilton; abstracted here.)

Tragedy, conflict, and the precipice of financial ruin. The more details we gathered about Eugenia’s life, the more we wanted to know who she was, this third woman to be caught up in Hurricane Hamilton. For all the drama in their lives, no clues about Eugenia’s family or background emerged.

Moving from the known to the unknown…

Since the last sighting of Eugenia was the census record in Spruce Gulch, my mom searched hard for Cornell references in the area. She was one to find Hamilton connected to Deadwood, South Dakota.

I was following her lead and looking for untapped Dakota Territory resources when I tried several general Google searches, including this one: “Hamilton Cornell” Deadwood

This search string brought up “An Interview With Millie Cornell: An Oral History produced by Robert D. McCracken.” This PDF file is a transcript of an interview with Millie Cornell and was a Nye County Nevada Town History Project. It is a lengthy file, but the relevant passages can be found on pages 32-33. I don’t want to take quotes directly from this work, but allow me to abstract the most germane points:

Millie Cornell was the wife of Bob Cornell, son of John Henry Cornell, who was born in Austin, Minnesota.
John Henry Cornell’s father was reportedly “John Hamilton Cornell.”
Family papers indicated a connection Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University.
John Henry Cornell’s mother died in Deadwood, South Dakota.
The family eventually relocated to Los Angeles and then Anaheim, California.
John Henry Cornell didn’t get on well with his father and left home young.

The interview also mentions a little boy who died of scarlet fever. Although the details are unclear, it may be a reference to George Cornell’s death in 1874.

I encourage researchers interested in Hamilton Cornell and Eugenia to take a closer look at this interview. The alignment of Millie Cornell’s knowledge with recorded facts about Hamilton (like his presence in Anaheim, where he was enumerated not once but twice in 1910) had the smell of a breakthrough—but not without first reconciling one impossible-to-overlook detail.

Moving from the unknown to the completely unexpected…

The name John Henry Cornell is not found in Hamilton and Eugenia’s family groups. I had to find out who he was and where—or really, if—he fit into the birth order timeline.

Happily, I found him rather quickly, and along with him, a few surprises about Eugenia. Ancestry’s U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, gives important details about John Henry Cornell:

Birth Date: 12 August 1876
Birth Place: Austin, Minnesota
Father’s Name: Hamilton Cornell
Mother’s Name: Elizabeth E. Goodrich

Goodrich.

Of course, since Elizabeth E. does not necessarily equal Eugenia, I couldn’t stop there. And if John Henry was born in 1876 and lived to adulthood, why wasn’t he listed on the 1880 census?

One question at a time… If she was out there, then first I had to find Eugenia Goodrich.

She was, and I did. In 1850, she’s in Edwards, St. Lawrence, New York, with a father born in Connecticut and a mother born in Vermont. In 1857 and 1860, she’s with her mother and siblings, first in “Town 106, Range 13” Olmstead county, Minnesota, and then in Otisca, Waseca county, Minnesota.

Next, I searched marriage records on FamilySearch, but I was unprepared to find that on 29 March 1862, at age 17 or 18, “Eugena Goodrich” married… Richard G. Eno.

What?! Her story had grown richer already. I thought her first husband must have died by the time Hamilton rode into town, but no. No, as it turns, Richard G. Eno was a horse thief (source, source), indicted for larceny by 5 December 1862. His case remanded for sentencing by 1 December 1863. I’ve not yet found what the actual sentence was, but according to one of the sources, the village of Otisca experienced an economic downturn not long after Eno’s arrest. Not that there’s ever a good time to be the teen bride of a horse thief, but much less so when a boom ends.

What was her frame of mind when she met smooth-talking and greener-grass-chasing Hamilton? Brokenhearted? Ashamed? Desperate?

Hamilton’s paper trail makes it too easy to infer that he was a cad, but I so dearly hope he was good to her. He didn’t run out on her, after all, or marry again after she died. Maybe, hopefully, he really loved her, and she him.

A closer look at the linchpin…

The question of John Henry Cornell’s absence from the 1880 census is one we can only speculate on for now, but Mom came up with a good theory.

According to some sources (here, here), John Henry Cornell was born in 1873, not 1876. His 1918 draft registration card, in particular, gives his birth date as 12 August 1873, and says that he was of medium height and stout build, with blue eyes and black and gray hair.

According to the 1900 Federal census, Guy H. Cornell was born in August 1873. His 1898 voter registration (in Inyo county, California) also puts his birth year at 1873, and further describes him as 5’9”, with fair complexion and blue eyes. (The hair color is illegible.) I don’t find a draft registration for Guy.

Mom thinks Guy Hamilton is John Henry, and the two recorded physical descriptions don’t rule it out. Perhaps, when “John Henry” left home and the father he didn’t get along with so well, he also changed his name. It’s just a theory, but one that fully explains why John wasn’t listed on the census returns. He was—but as Guy.

That’s not to say he forgot where he came from, however. With a little more checking, I found that John Henry Cornell and his wife, Nellie Goldbach, named one of their sons Eugene Goodrich Cornell. (Sources: here, here.)

It’s fair to guess that he didn’t want his mother to be forgotten. Today, I’m glad to say that she hasn’t been. There’s undoubtedly more to her story, and with her name restored to her, we can finally begin to tell it.

REVIEW: Top Hat Photo Repair (and a story)

August 12, 2014January 28, 2016 / Brandy Heineman / 8 Comments

We’ve all got that one dogeared, tattered photo that needs repairing.

Time is a destructive force. You know this. And I’ll bet, whether you’re an amateur genealogist or a professional or a family historian of any stripe, you’ve got (at least) one old photo that needs repair. One in such terrible condition, you can’t even understand how it would have gotten damaged in the first place. Am I right? Got that photo in your mind? Okay, then. Hold that thought.

Meet John C. Smith

My mother and I thought this picture was a hoot. Nursing a pig with a baby bottle! On the dining room chairs! In a jacket and tie!

“That picture’s been wadded up and flattened out again,” Mom observed. “And look how angry he looks!”

There’s a story there, we figured. And really, isn’t there always?

The Smith family memorabilia came to us digitally, via CD filled with photos of old photos. If anything was known about the photo’s subject, it was in the file name. If not, then not.

John C. Smith was the son of Henry Smith and Sarepta Metzgar of Groton, Tompkins county, New York. They came to West Union, Steuben county, New York, between 1870 and 1875. In 1870, still in Groton, Henry Smith listed his “Personal Estate” at $2000, but had no real estate. By 1875, he had moved his family to West Union and earned a tick mark in the “Owner of Land” column. The siding you see behind John is part of the grand old farm house before it was very old–and which is still standing today.

John C. Smith married Nellie Cornell around 1912. There’s a complementary photo of Nellie with their first two children, Esther and Virgil, taken about 1915. The nice clothes and dining room chairs are present. Thankfully, the baby bottle isn’t.

If the picture of John C. Smith was also taken in 1915, then he would have been around 40. Looks about right to me.

It’s just kind of weird: a creased and tattered picture of Pa coddling a pig, and one perfectly intact of Ma clutching her babes without him.

Were we reading too much into it?

Part of the mystery was solved when Mom and I learned that it wasn’t such an unusual thing to bottle feed a pig. It didn’t mean the animal was a beloved pet–more likely, a runt needing a little extra attention before making it to the dinner table. (As my Grandma once told me, the only thing lost on a pig was the squeal.)

Maybe the damaged photo wasn’t the story at all. (Click to Tweet this.) Here was an almost-one-hundred year-old piece of our family’s history. Maybe we were seeing the wrong things.

Top Hat Photo Repair to the Rescue!

When Michael of Top Hat Photo Repair initially approached me about a review, I hesitated. I don’t really do reviews here on my blog, and if I did, I’d review books. I was going to say no.

Out of curiosity, I visited their website. Right there on the front page was a gallery of repaired and colorized images–historic photos brought to life. Faces teased out of obstructions like fading and creasing and given clarity once more.

And of course, then I wanted badly to see one of my pictures restored.

The Website: Simple and Stylish

The homepage immediately communicates what Top Hat Photo Repair is about: a side-by-side comparison of a Before photo and the After showing their work. The gallery puts image after image at your finger tips. I appreciated that the site does NOT include an annoying slideshow functionality to manage my rate of review. I could take all the time I wanted to look back and forth between images, studying the details before moving to the next.

The menu at the top of the page is straightforward, linking to the Order Form, Gallery, FAQ, and Contact pages. I wished there was an “About Us” page for that little extra boost of confidence of knowing a bit about who I am sending my treasured image to, even if it is “only” a digital version.

The Order Form designates the pricing for each level of service: Minor Repair, Major Repair, Minor Repair and Colorize, Major Repair and Colorize, and Colorize Only. Realizing the kind of time and skill that goes into each image, I would say the prices are quite fair.

The Gallery, similar to the home page, is my favorite part of the site. I’m the sort who rescues cabinet cards from flea markets to blog about them. Of course I love seeing photos–some that I would have guessed were beyond repair–made to look new.

The FAQ page covers ordering and payment policies and offers technical advice on scanning and uploading. The least you need to know: you pay (via PayPal) when you’re satisfied with the work, and pictures scanned at 600 dpi will yield the best results.

The Contact page is a simple email form, but for those who prefer to retain a sent copy of their messages, the contact email address is given as well. (I liked this. Contact forms are not my favorite thing in the world.)

The site is minimalistic and clean, and as such I didn’t see any social media links or icons. However, a quick search led me to their Facebook page and even more restored photos. So fun.

The Service: a quality service experience

Of course I had to ask a few questions beyond what was covered on the FAQ. Most pressing:

Q1. If 600 dpi is recommended, does that mean my unfortunate collection of 72 dpi photos can’t be saved?

A1. While 72 dpi photos “should be okay” to work with, the pictures can’t be blown up for large copies without looking grainy. As with all digital graphics, no one can manipulate pixels that don’t exist. Scan quality copies of your historic photos, particularly if you only have one chance to do so, ever (she said ruefully. Sigh.)

Q2. Would they be willing to supply an image release allowing me to use the repaired photo in whatever capacity I choose, uncredited if necessary?

A2. Top Hat Photo Repair doesn’t claim any rights to the finished and restored pictures. Though Michael said no one had ever asked for such a document, he indicated he would be willing to provide one, should a customer require it.

Once I sent over the photo, Michael turned it around for me in about a day. At this point I had overcome my skepticism and was pretty excited about it. I had no expectations that it would be so fast, so it was quite a pleasant surprise to get the picture back so quickly.

As for the results–what can I say? Another thousand words, when a picture would do?

The Results: Drumroll, please!

As I looked back and forth from Before to After, just as I had with the anonymous pictures in the Gallery, I realized Michael had actually repaired damages I hadn’t even noticed! The yellow stain in the lower left corner. The heavy shadows on John C. Smith’s face. The chunk of photo paper that’s evidently missing from the pig’s ear.

I was so pleased. I could hardly wait to show my Mom the finished product!

I did kind of want to find something to nitpick, knowing that I was going to do a review, after all. The one and only thing I found was the stains on John C. Smith’s clothes were completely gone from the repaired image.

I grinned and called Mom. “I’m guessing it’s tough to stay clean when you’re nursing a pig in your lap. Should I ask him to put the stains back?”

“Yes,” she said. No hesitation.

I emailed Michael with my belief that the stains were on the clothing rather than the photo, and within hours, he sent me the revision (shown above). Again, I was very impressed not only with the quality of the work, but the quick turn-around. For me, the whole experience truly put the company’s words into action:

Started by Michael McCarty in 2012, Top Hat Photo Repair is dedicated to the historically accurate restoration of photographs. They take pride in the careful way they work with the owner of each photo to bring back what time has damaged.

Now, back to YOU and your photo that needs repair

Remember I told you to hold that thought about the dinged-up, dogeared, faded, torn and stained photos in your collection? Well, I’m all thrilled, because I get to make a special offer: use the promo code “brandy” to receive 20% off any order through the end of August. There is a space for the promo code on the Order Form.

(Side note: this is the very first time my name has been a promo code, and I can’t help thinking that’s sort of awesome.)

I received a free photo repair in exchange for an honest review of Top Hat Photo Repair’s website and service. My opinions are my own.

Applying Literary Archetypes to Ancestors, and Why You Shouldn’t Do It

September 24, 2013February 6, 2015 / Brandy Heineman / 8 Comments

Are you assuming too much
about the people in your family tree?
(Image courtesy of Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

If family history is about storytelling, then our ancestors are the characters. Each and every one is a blank, a mystery. Sometimes one small scrap of information forms the basis of my entire understanding of who that ancestor was as a person. My fiction-writer’s mind makes the call: protagonist or antagonist? Hero or villain? Major or minor player?

The trouble is, genealogy ain’t fiction, and while an ancestor might be “a real character” as the saying goes, the truth is that s/he was a real person, with idiosyncrasies, conflicts and quirks. Just like me and you, they lived contradictions and didn’t always stand on their convictions. Their lives were complex, and most likely they did not choose the detail for which they are most remembered.

It’s possible that the typecasting fact is the one thing they most wished would stay buried.

Learn From My Mistakes

In view of this, let me share a few examples of how literary archetypes have colored my view of certain ancestors. (There are many lists of literary archetypes on the web. I’m using Tami Cowden’s with gratitude.)

The Chief — N. W. Heinemann built an empire in Colegrove, PA through hard work and honest dealings. That’s why it threw me for a loop when a rumor surfaced that he had cheated my great-grandmother out of his brother’s share of the fortune. Upon careful examination of the facts, this story does not appear to be true, but something fueled the rumor, suggesting unknowns that may not ever be uncovered.

The Swashbuckler — Hamilton Cornell spent 40 years making his way west from Troupsburg NY to Anaheim CA. Whether driven by the thrill of adventure or a touch of gold-fever, I have to guess by his three wives that he was a Charmer, as well. A fun character–until you contemplate the seventeen (or so) children he fathered, many of whom predeceased him. At least a few of his surviving kids never knew him at all.

The Matriarch — Sophia Tremaine Loop was a former schoolteacher when she became Dr. A. M. Loop‘s second wife. Her own sons–both of them–went on to become doctors, but her stepson (and my g-g-g-grandfather) William Loop couldn’t even read as an adult. Then again, maybe it’s wrong to accuse her of favoritism. Will had a few run-ins with the law as a young man, so it’s possible he wasn’t an apt pupil.

The Free Spirit — In one census, my g-g-g-grandaunt Irena Smith indicated “Capitalist” as her occupation. Can you imagine how quirky and fun she had to have been to say such a thing?! Never mind that she was an elderly spinster living with (probably) charitable relatives. My impulse to laugh at her occupation glossed over a life that was, at the very least, outside of societal norms, which couldn’t have been easy for her.

The Nurturer — Close birth dates suggest that one or both of Fanny Short Cornell‘s youngest sons were adopted. Perhaps she took in an illegitimate grandchild as her own? She’d already stewarded a large family for many years by then. She also died the same year as her husband, which immediately puts me in the mind of those sadly romantic stories of couples who can’t live without each other. While I’ve found nothing that suggests Fanny wasn’t a devoted wife and mother, I’ve still sketched her whole personality from dates etched into gravestones.

Question for You

Is there a relative you’ve typecast as a hero or villain? I want to hear your stories in the comments!

P. S. — Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing, liking, linking, or subscribing.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Nellie

July 16, 2013January 28, 2016 / Brandy Heineman / Leave a comment

Now and then, I’ll come across a find that brings a little love to my heart for these people I’ve never met. Here’s one:

From fultonhistory.com.

My great-great grandmother, Nellie Cornell Smith, was born July 16, 1885, and lived to the age of 83. You can see a picture of her and her parents and siblings at Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice.

Update (9/27/2013): Sometimes you don’t know how much you don’t know! When I originally posted this clipping, I thought “Hello Girl” was a nickname Gramma Nellie picked up, maybe by having a smile and a greeting for everyone she met, but this Fold3 spotlight shows that “Hello Girls” were switchboard operators (who later became invaluable during WW1.) Turns out Gramma Nellie was a modern workin’ woman! Thanks Finding Forgotten Stories for the tip via Twitter!

The Company They Kept: Discovering Ancestors Through Societies & Memberships

May 21, 2013May 11, 2015 / Brandy Heineman / 14 Comments

By BPL (Buffalo Baseball Team, 1882 Uploaded by Fæ) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ], via Wikimedia Commons

The members of one particular family group I’ve studied, the Laughlins of Bradford PA, all share one interesting non-genetic trait. They were, all six of them, joiners.

How do I mean?

Pa belonged to The Protected Home Circle and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers.
Ma belonged to the Confraternity of the Rosary.
Older sis was part of the Catholic Girls Club and both sisters belonged to the Ladies Club of Bradford.
Older bro joined the Lion’s Club of Bradford and American Legion of Bradford, and both brothers were members of the Knights of Columbus. (The younger brother was Edward Laughlin, a likely suspect for my Grampa’s natural father.)

I do believe we can call that a pattern.

These tidbits came to me through newspaper mentions, primarily obituaries. I could dismiss these memberships as filler or note them as facts and leave it at that, but why not dig deeper?

Explore Every Avenue

The new family historian quickly learns the value of cluster genealogy, studying family groups instead of individuals and using extended family lines to break through brick walls, but why stop there? You can’t pick your family, as the saying goes, but you can pick your friends and associates. I’ve gleaned some fascinating insights about my ancestors by examining the societies and memberships they chose for themselves.

Lodges

The first mention of a lodge I encountered was in one of those great old county histories, Landmarks of Steuben County, New York by Lewis Cass Aldrich. Levi S. Cornell (photo here) was a member of “McClellan Lodge, No. 649, F. & A. M.” (1). Sounds interesting—except I had no idea what it meant.

Some of you may be way ahead of me. F. & A. M. stands for Free and Accepted Masons, and as Wikipedia suggests, that could mean a lot of things. Time to dig in and learn more about freemasonry.

Churches

Church affiliations often show up in obituaries (though for accuracy, note the difference whether your relative “was a member” or simply “attended” the church). If you find your ancestor numbered in a congregation, find out what that church taught. What did they believe? Also, consider looking into the specific church’s history and clues into your ancestor’s world.

My 3rd g-grandparents Martha Ellen Forsythe and Stephen Wertz were married July 12, 1863 at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (2). Their marriage record along with the attendance/communion (3) and confirmation (4) records show that this was Martha’s church between 1856-1863. Tucked inside the record book is a handwritten historical sketch of the church, showing that the church was not unaffected by “the excitement and political rancor of the War of the Rebellion,” but also that they were able to hire a full-time pastor for the first time and built a parsonage during those years (5), suggesting local prosperity. This matters to me because Martha Forsythe was working as a servant in Lewisburg in 1860, in the household of Phineas Man, who was an Old School Presbyterian clergyman (6)! Was it a source of tension that she did not attend her employer’s church? What did Old School Presbyterian mean? More research for me, I suppose, because this example is running long!

Political Parties

If you learn of a political affiliation, run with it. Discover what that meant in the context of the day. What were the national debates going on during your ancestors’ lifetime? What does their political affiliation tell you about their opinions on the matter?

For example: several years ago, I found History of Tioga County Pennsylvania, with Illustrations, Portraits and Sketches of Prominent Families and Individuals, transcribed online at the incomparable Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice. The book included a short blurb on my 4th great-grandfather, Dr. Albert Mortimer Loop. What made it special? Only that Dr. Loop actually wrote the section!

Therefore, when he wrote of himself, “He is a staunch Democrat in politics, having voted that ticket for 42 years,” he summarized his political leanings from 1841-1883. He would have voted for Lewis Cass (1848) and Stephen A. Douglas (1860), both of whom supported popular sovereignty on the question of slavery. Perhaps he wrote impassioned op-ed pieces for the Wellsboro Agitator when Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote in 1876, but lost the election to Rutherford B. Hayes.

Clubs and Service Organizations

As we already saw with the Laughlins of Bradford, interest groups and and service organizations are a superb way to know what mattered to our ancestors. Clara Wertz Heineman, daughter of Stephen and Martha, was a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union [Source: Mrs. Clara Heineman obituary clipping, presumably from the Olean Times Herald, Oct 16, 1953]. What did she think when her son married a girl whose grandfather had been arrested for bootlegging!? When Malita Clemons Witter co-chaired a send-off for draftees in September 1942 (7), was her heart in her throat for her oldest son Leroy, who would be stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia within three months (8)?