ALTA EMILY CHAMBERS

Alta Emily Chambers was born Aug 4, 1893 near Winnebago, Thurston County, Nebraska and died on Jun 3, 1972 in Pender, Thurston County, Nebraska at the age of 78.

She married William Ulysses Cornwell on Mar 8, 1911 in the Presbyterian Church in Winnebago, Thurston County, Nebraska. He was the son of Ulysses Simpson Cornwell and Susan Thompson. He was born Nov 29, 1891 southwest of Pender, Thurston County, Nebraska and died Dec 11, 1963 in Pender at the age of 72.

Alta's delayed birth certificate, filed Feb 13, 1954, shows her father as Albert M. Chambers, white, born 1859 in Iowa, and her mother as Mary Grier, white, born in 1872 in Illinois. However, she showed her birth place as Pender, Thurston County, rather than "near Winnebago."

In an article appearing in the Omaha World Herald in 1961, just prior to their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Alta "remembers her family's pride when the first new spring wagon, with fringe on top, was purchased."

When the family attended their first Indian powwow at Winnebago, they were warned to leave before sundown. Mrs. Cornwell recalls seeing all the dancers in eagle feather headdresses, wearing women's scalps of long blond and brown hair in their belts.

One of the most humorous incidents recalled by the Cornwells is the day the Pender band decided to rehearse on their way by wagon to the July 4 celebration at Walthill. Large herds of cattle along the way began to gather, all bellowing loudly as they fell in behind the music-makers, joining the parade, and effectively muffling the band.

Alta also recalled at one powwow she was told to dig deep into the communal stew, for the puppy was on the bottom.

Alta and William donated the land for the Pender Assembly of God church, and later built their final home next to it. They were charter members of the church.

Her death certificate, state file number 72 07682, recorded her immediate cause of death as cardiac standstill, as a consequence of acute dilation of G.B. with acute cholecystitis and cholelithiasis.

She was buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery one mile southwest of Pender.

The child of Alta Emily Chambers and William Ulysses Cornwell is listed under William Ulysses Cornwell.
Fall 1911   March 1961

Larry Patrick Cornwell, May 26, 1999