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From: Tom Cornell <>
Subject: Re: (Cornell) Ezra Cornell - brief history
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:16:57 -0400
References: <36bd945f0710160212ua0ba669sdbc1759490aa30d3@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <36bd945f0710160212ua0ba669sdbc1759490aa30d3@mail.gmail.com>


Jeffrey and others. Those interested in reading a more complete
description of Ezra's life are urged to find one of his biographies.

Ezra's son Alonzo B. wrote of his father in "True and Firm" which
I've not seen. Perhaps copies can be found in larger libraries. By
now, it's probably a rare book.

More readily available is "The Builder" by Philip Dorf, Macmillan,
New York, 1952 which I found used from one of the on-line book
sellers for about $10 plus shipping, as I recall.

My advice is not to get these books expecting to find any particular
genealogical information about Cornells and Ezra, in particular, but
rather to read about a fascinating American who just happened to be a
Cornell.

Only with the consolidation which resulted in the founding of the
Western Union Telegraph Company did Ezra become certifiably wealthy.
Prior to that he stretched his funds, as did his wife, in the most
careful ways.

Interestingly, Dorf wrote that Ezra's hobby was genealogy, but the
accounts of his efforts to found Cornell University as well as his
earlier travels and work on the telegraph leave you wondering when he
had time for that.

Ezra did apparently encourage Cornells to send him information about
their respective families, and some of them asked him for money. He
was also asked for details of his own family, perhaps by some hoping
they were closely related to him, and that could be the reason he had
printed his "Notice to the Cornells" which you can find transcribed
at my web site: www.cornell-genealogy.com

Perhaps driving their interest in being related to Ezra was the story
that his relatives received free tuition to Cornell University. This
was only partly true. Those qualifying were, in fact, his
descendants, and that was ended with their fourth generation.
According to a CU librarian who said she used to investigate claims,
all of them are now dead. All or most of those descendants are
included in the large Thomas Cornell GEDCOM available at my web site
which has also been posted on RootsWeb.

All Cornells, regardless of any relationship to him, can feel proud
that we share his surname which he made very prominent.

Tom Cornell

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