JESSE CORNELISON

 

 

SURNAMES: CORNELISON, BRANDON, GARRETT, SAXON, FRANKS, NALLEY, WOOD, BROWN, JONES, HIGGINS, O’NEAL, GIBSON, EMERSON, SWINNEA, LOVELESS, JONES, HANCOCK, BEARD, GRALAPP, WOODLAND, BARCLAY, MENEFEE, DEES, BALDWIN, OUZTS,

 

     Jesse Cornelison, b October 24, 1836 in Barry County, Missouri, d June 13,1912 at San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas, and returned to be buried by his wife (and mother of his children) in the Blue Ridge Cemetery at Blue Ridge, Falls County, Texas - was the second child of Martin and Linea Frances (Brandon) Cornelison. Jesse came to Texas in the Fall of 1840 with his parents - stopping first at Bucksnort (extinct community site now in Falls County), and settling in the Spring of 1841 near Palestine in Houston County (the part which in 1846 became Anderson County). Here, in 1844, his father, Martin Cornelison, died - leaving his widow and five young children: Elizabeth Jane, Jesse, James Harrison, Miles, and Benjamin Franklin Cornelison. On December 25, 1845 in Houston County, Texas, Martin Cornelison's widow, Linea Frances (Brandon) Cornelison was married second to Thomas McKissick Garrett - himself a widower with two small children - two others having died in infancy. Thomas McKissick and Linea Frances (Brandon-Cornelison) Garrett had seven additional children of their own. All the family settled in late 1850 (after Thomas McKissick Garrett began in 1849 to build a new home) in the north Blue Ridge area of Falls County, Texas, and Jesse Cornelison resided in Falls County most of the rest of his life - dying in the of a son at the end of his life.

     On September 30, 1855 in Falls County, Jesse married Mary Elizabeth Saxon, b January 18,1839 in Laurens District, South Carolina, d June 18, 1878 at the age of 39 years, "of Diptheria" and buried in Blue Ridge Cemetery - a daughter of Pleasant and Ethelinda (Franks) Saxon, who relocated to Monroe County, Mississippi where they died, leaving Mary Elizabeth, Samuel Milton, Joshua Arnold, William McCall, John Wesley, and Thomas Lewis Saxon as orphans by July 1841. Although returned to relatives in South Carolina, they came or were brought to Texas prior to 1855, settling in Falls County.

     Jesse and Mary Elizabeth settled in the Lower Blue Ridge (later referred to at times as "Salt Branch", but now called simply "Blue Ridge") of Falls County, where Jesse engaged in farming and became an active citizen in the community. Having been reared in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, he and his family were members of the Methodist - Presbyterian Union Church in North Blue Ridge (now Stranger), until they started sending their children to the Blue Ridge Baptist Church. Jesse was a Master Mason, and in politics he was an "independent." Although Jesse was opposed to secession, and was one of the three in his precinct who voted the Union ticket, he supported his State when she became one of the Confederate States and enlisted in 1863 in the Confederate States Army as a member of Company K. Captain B. A. Nalley, of Cook's Heavy Artillery. To show his feelings and sentiments about the secession of Texas from the Union, he named a son - born during the Civil War - "Jesse Union Cornelison."

     Jesse and Mary Elizabeth (Saxon) Cornelison were the parents of thirteen children:

     Thomas Martin ("Mart") Cornelison, b August 16, 1856 in Falls County, Texas, d June 2, 1898 and buried in the Kosse Cemetery, Kosse,Texas - married March 8, 1891 in Limestone County to Ida Amanda Wood, b 1873, d 1964 - a daughter of J. H. Wood (1835 -1914) and his wife, Julia A. (1842 - 1912). Mart and Ida had three children - none reaching maturity: twin, Mary Cornelison, b May 9, 1892, d July 1897 and buried in Waco, Texas; twin, Wood Cornelison, b May 9, 1892, d December 22, 1902 and buried in Kosse Cemetery; and Thomas Conrad Cornelison, b June 8,1894, d January 28, 1898 and buried in Kosse Cemetery. Around 1908 - 1909, Ida Amanda (Wood) Cornelison married second to a Mr. Brown, and moved to Runnels County, Texas, where she died, again widowed, in a nursing in Winters, Texas. She was buried by her first husband in Kosse Cemetery, where her parents and two of her children were buried also. Thomas Martin Cornelison was a general merchant in Kosse, Texas.

     Elizabeth Cornelison (called "Eliza"), b January 1, 1858 in Falls County, Texas, d May 5, 1895 in San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas - married August 6, 873 in Falls County to Alexander L. Jones (called “Zan"), b March 11,1853 in Bradley County, Arkanas, date of death unknown. "Zan" and Eliza had nine children: Infant son, died young, Bertha, Hastings, Jesse Jay, Wilma - died in 1904, unmarried at age 19 years, Genevieve, William Mortimer, and Burlington Nesley Jones. After her death, Eliza's younger children were reared by her sister, Mary Lydia ("Mamie") who had married a brother of Eliza's husband. The majority of descendants of Alexander L. and Elizabeth (Cornelison) Jones reside in Texas, Kansas, and California, although others have not been located.

     Benjamin Franklin Cornelison, b April 24, 1859 in Falls County, Texas, married October 2, 1879 in Falls County to Virginia Ann Higgins (called "Ginny"), who died April 24, 1942 in San Angelo, Texas - a daughter of Robert S. Higgins, b April 30, 1811 in Tennessee, d January 6, 1883 in Falls County, Texas and buried in Blue Ridge Cemetery, and his wife, Anna Elizabeth (O'Neal) Higgins, b September 27, 1828 in Tennessee, d November 19, 1873 in Falls County, Texas and buried in Blue Ridge Cemetery. In 1889, Benjamin Franklin and Virginia Ann moved to Sherwood, Irion County, Texas, and in 1898 removed to Knickerbocker, Tom Green County - a neighboring county, where some of his relatives lived. They had ten children: Alonzo, died in 1898 at age 13 years, of a ruptured appendix; Ritchie May, Valjean Franklin, Boyd, Emily b and d 1889, Floyd Shovington, Rubie Myrtle, William Day, Jesse Ions, and Roy Francis. Benjamin Franklin Cornelison was a dirt contractor, a county weigher, a game warden, and a U.S. Marshall at Knickerbocker, Texas. Both Ben and "Ginny" were buried in the Fairmont Cemetery at San Angelo, Most of their descendants have remained in Texas - primarily in the vicinity of San Angelo and San Antonio.

     Ada Adelaide Cornelison, b January 24, 1861 in Falls County, Texas, d February 20, 1932 at Bakersfield, Kern County, California - married September 8, 1883 in Falls County to Sylvester Boardman Gibson of Charleston, South Carolina who died at the age of 87 on April 25, 1942 at Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California. Very little is known about " Board" and “Ada" during their marriage - which ended in divorce; however, it is known that they had four children; Clinton who died young, prior to the 1900 Census; Mary “Essie", "Mary" Elizabeth, and Novia who died young - prior to 1900. Ada Adelaide married second to William Emerson, about whom we have no information. When Ada died, she was buried in the Union Cemetery at Bakersfield, California. Her first husband, Sylvester Boardman Gibson was buried in the Sunnyside Memorial Park at Long Beach, California. The majority of Ada's descendants reside in California.

     Samuel Milton Cornelison, b September 16, 1862 in Falls County, Texas, d March 12, 1912 - married Mildred Ellen Swinnea, b March 1, 1888 in Falls County, and had eight children.

     Jesse Union Cornelison, b May 22, 1864 in Falls County, Texas, d June 27, 1948 at Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida and buried in Woodlawn Park Cemetery in Miami, Florida. On December 26, 1897 in Clyde, Callahan County, Texas (near Abilene, Texas), he married Elmyra Josephine Loveless of Falls County, d February 10, 1947 at Miami, Dade County, Florida. Jesse Union studied mining engineering at the University of Texas prior to his marriage; and prospected mines in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and many places in Mexico - including the Yucatan Peninsula. He was a farmer, a trader, a miner, and at one point, owned an oil well. "Jess" and "Myra" settled first at Eula, Callahan County, Texas unti1-1910 when they moved to San Angelo. In 1913, they settled in the small town of Gibson, near Mansfield, Texas in Tarrant County - moving to Forest Hill in the same county in 1916. "Jess" has been described as "truly one of Coronado's children - always searching for gold." His adventures eventually took him to Florida. Jesse Union and Elmyra Josephine (Loveless) Cornelison had seven children: An infant who was stillborn - unnamed, Zenobia Ann, Fleta Maria, Hilda Myrla, Jesse Clifton, Audre Lee, and Geraldine Myra. There is no further information about the family, except that their descendants live primarily in Texas and Florida.

     Mary Lydia Cornelison, b April 1, 1866 in Falls County, Texas, d November 10, 1957 in Marlin, Falls County, Texas, and buried by her husband in Calvary Cemetery at Marlin - was always called "Mamie." On December 1,1884 in Falls County, she married Alonzo Pennington Jones (called "Lon"), who died November 7, 1944 in Marlin, at the age of 87 years - a brother of "Mamie's" brother-in-law, Alexander L. Jones. "Lon" was a farmer and gin-wright. It is reported that Lon and Mamie had eight children, with only four living to maturity: Two unnamed infants, Lelia who died young, Magnolia who died young, Dovie Dagmar, Itasca, Boyd Cornelison, and Verna Elsie. Lon and Mamie settled in Reagan in Falls County, and it was in their that the children of two of her sister's were reared after the deaths of Elizabeth ("Eliza" Cornelison Jones) and her sister, Zenobia (Zenobia Cornelison Garrett). In later years, Mamie cared for her invalid husband who had been injured in an accident, and after his death, she ran a boarding house in Marlin. The descendants of Alonzo Pennington and Mary Lydia (Cornelison) Jones reside primarily in Texas and Colorado.

     Alonzo Cornelison, b November 18, 1867 in Falls County, Texas, d March 18, 1868, and buried in Blue Ridge Cemetery.

     Leonora Emma, b February 5, 1871 in Falls County, Texas, d May 12, 1872 and buried in Blue Ridge Cemetery.

     Zenobia Ann Cornelison, b April 18, 1873 in Falls County, Texas, d December 9, 1901 of pneumonia in Knickerbocker, Tom Green County, Texas - married October 14, 1891 in Falls County to James Thomas Garrett, b November 25, 1869 in Falls County, Texas, d January 24,1931 in Tubac, Santa Cruz County, Arizona - a son of Robert Jasper Garrett who was a step - brother to her father, Jesse Cornelison. James Thomas Garrett was a twin to Gertrude Eliza Garrett who married Holman Kendal Hancock at Stranger in Falls County. Jim and Zenobia settled at Knickerbocker in Tom Green County, Texas, where he was a rancher and cattleman. They had five daughters: Beatrice Mary, Gladys Zenobia who died of diphtheria on December 7, 1906, Zelma, Pauline Evadna, and Jessie - who was only five weeks old when her mother died. In 1904, James Thomas Garrett married second to Miss Harriet Jeanette Beard, b August 29, 1874, and they had three children: Hattye Marcella, James Thomas, Jr., and Keith Stanford. In 1912, James Thomas, his second wife, and children of both marriages settled in Arizona. The descendants of Zenobia Ann are scattered throughout Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and Texas. After the death of James Thomas Garrett, Harriet remarried August 27,1937 to Colonel John G. Gralapp of LeMars, Iowa, who died November 1, 1953. Harriet died June 6,1966, and was buried by James Thomas Garrett in the Masonic Cemetery in Nogales, Arizona. William Houston Cornelison, b October 15, 1874 in Falls County, Texas, d January 24, 1967 in Loma Linda, San Bernardino County, California and buried in the Pioneer Cemetery there - married first on October 10, 1894 in Falls County, Texas to Pearl Woodland, b 1877, d 1927 - a daughter of Henry and Lucinda (Barclay - Menefee) Woodland. They had eight children: Roy Winfred, Charles Barclay who died March 11, 1898, William Herbert who died April 17, 1904, Jarrett Menefee, Jesse Mart, Elma, Richard Edward, and Pearl Will Cornelison.

     William Houston Cornelison (affectionately known as "Tex") and his family first settled in the Reagan community of Falls County, and about 1902, moved to Haskell, Texas. About 1904, they settled in San Bernardino County, California, and later located in the desert community of Holtville, Imperial County, California, where Will served several years as Chief of Police. After Pearl's death, Will married second on November 1, 1928 in Yuma, Arizona, to Mrs. Flodie Ethel (Dees) Baldwin. At his death, he was buried by his first wife, Pearl (Woodland) Cornelison, in the Pioneer Cemetery in San Bernardino, California. Flodie Ethel (Dees) Baldwin Cornelison died July 2, 1982 in Loma Linda, California, and was buried with her family in Evergreen Cemetery in EI Centro, California. The descendants of William Houston and Pearl (Woodland) Cornelison reside throughout California.

     Pearl Cornelison, b July 19, 1876 in Falls County, Texas, d April 2, 1947 in Dallas, Texas and buried in Kosse Cemetery, Limestone County, Texas - married September 6, 1895 in Limestone County to Thomas Ingram Ouzts of Kosse. Thomas was an oil driller by profession, and they had four children: Pearl, Rita, Mamie, and Thomas Ouzts. Pearl and Tom were divorced, and he remarried. When he died, he also was buried in the Kosse Cemetery. No further information.

     Lillie Cornelison, band d in 1878 in Falls County, Texas (some report she was b and d June 18, 1878 - the same day her mother died), and buried in Blue Ridge Cemetery in Falls County, Texas.

 

 

 

Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.  "Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County Historical Commission, page 93 column 1 and 2, page 94 column 1 and 2, and page 95 column 1 and 2.

Member of Falls County Historical Commission.