Thomas Clapp Cornell (1819 - 1894)

Born 7 Jan 1819 in Flushing, Queens, New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 29 Dec 1894 at age 75 in Yonkers, Westchester, New York, United States

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Biography

Thomas was born in 1819, the son of Silas Cornell and Sarah Mott. He married Jane E. Bashford in New York City on 2 May 1850. He passed away in 1894.

He was the author of Adam and Anne Mott: Their Ancestors and Their Descendants, a work of genealogy focused on the family of his maternal grandparents.

"He went with his father from Flushing to Rochester, and assisted him for a time in the surveyor's office there. But in 1840, he left home and began his career in the engineering department of the Erie Canal, with headquarters at Lockport. In 1843-4, he was employed under the chief engineer of the Lachine Canal at Montreal, then the Capital of Canada. In 1846, he spent a year in Europe, and on his return was engaged in the construction of the Hudson River Railroad, under the chief engineer, John B. Jarvis. This brought him to Yonkers, where he subsequently settled down as a civil engineer. In 1854, he was one of the founders of the Yonkers Gaslight Company, of which he became President. The family were originally Quakers, but Thomas C. went directly from Quakerism to Romanism."^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Genealogy of the Cornell Family, p. 324.

• Cornell, John. Genealogy of the Cornell Family: Being an Account of the Descendants of Thomas Cornell of Boston, Mass., Portsmouth, R. I., and Cornell's Neck, N.Y. New York: Press of T.A. Wright, 1902. Pages 304, 324.
• Cornell, Thomas C. Adam and Anne Mott: Their Ancestors and Their Descendants. Poughkeepsie N.Y.: A. V. Haight, Printer, 1890.
• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCT9-55D : 23 December 2020), Thomas C Cornell in household of Horatio S Gates, Yonkers, Westchester, New York, United States.
• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCQB-ZWQ : 18 February 2021), F Cornell, Yonkers, Westchester, New York, United States.
• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M824-R4F : 3 January 2021), Thomas Cornell in entry for E A Bashford, Yonkers, Westchester, New York, United States.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZNJ-R3Q : 19 February 2021), T C Cornell, Yonkers, Westchester, New York, United States.
• Obituary, The Yonkers Herald (Yonkers, New York), 29 Dec 1894, page 1.
• Obituary, The New York Times (New York, New York), 30 Dec 1894, page 5.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #193860505 for Thomas Clapp Cornell (7 Jan 1819–29 Dec 1894), citing Oakland Cemetery, Yonkers, Westchester County, New York, USA.