This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cornelius, Davis, Deppen Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.buchanan/4304.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Nancy this is what I found on Ancestry.com: Portrait and biographical record of Buchanan and Clinton Counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketches of prominent and Date of Publication: 1893 Page 616.........William A. Cornelius is a prosperous farmer on sec. 1, twp 57, range 34, Buchanan co Our subject is a veteran of the late war, having enlisted in the Paw Paw militia under Gov. Gamble, and was First Lieutenant of Co. H, Eighty-first Regiment, Missouri Militia He served for two years, seeing considerable hard service and being usually in command of the company. He was regularly discharged but never received any pay. He now owns 810 acres of land, mostly improved, and that, too, by the owner. Mr. Cornelius is the eldest son of Benjamin and Mary (Davis) Cornelius. The mother was a daughter of William Davis, who came to Missouri at the same time as did the Cornelius family. William A. was born September 29, 1829, and was a lad of eight years when his father settled here, there then being plenty of Indians in the neighborhood. The father often hauled goods for old Joseph Robidoux, and frequently had considerable trouble with the Indians. Our subject was reared on! the old home farm on section 15, having but slim chances for obtaining an education as he had much hard work to do on his father's timber claim. He remained at home until his 25th year, but had supported himself for seven years, and was of more assistance to his father than any of his other sons. It was in 1855 that our subject was married to Miss Mary J. Wilson, a daughter of Edward and Catherine (Deppen) Wilson, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and of English descent. The mother was born in 1813 in the Keystone State, removed to Franklin Co., Ohio, and came to Missouri in 1842 settling in this county, where her grandfather, Peter Deppen, located the same year. Mrs Cornelius was born February 22, 1837, in Ohio. After his marriage our subject rented the Peter Deppen farm for 5 years, and in 1860 settled on this place, where he lived in a log cabin until after the war. His substantial dwelling-house was erected in 1866 at a cost of $2,000. For a short time, about1865, he was engaged in freighting across the plains to Denver with mule trains. Mr. and Mrs Cornelius are the parents of 9 children and have 12 grandchildren. Lorena is the wife of James Bermond; Amanda is the wife of George W. Castle; Eleanora became the wife of Edward Carpenter; Edward wedded Rosa Clark; William B. maried Miss Mary Courtney; and the four younger, John C., alice, Effie and Eva, live at home. The eldest daughter taught school for sometime successfully and all the children were given good educations. Both our subject and his amiable wife are charter members of there Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Harmony, in which the former is an elder. A Democrat in politics, mr. Cornelius is also a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and is Treasurer of the Anti-Horse Thief Association. He has often served as a delegate to political conventions, and takes great interest in the success of his party. Benjamin Cornelius, our subject's father, was reared in Christian County, KY., his birth having occurred in North Carolina on April 37, 1793. His wife a native of Tennessee, was born August 10, 1803. Benjamin Cornelius was reared to manhood in KY, lived for a short time in Tenn, and came to Missouri in 1815, settling in Clay Co., near Liberty, where he was married soon after, and at once settled on a farm, which he cleared and improved. In 1837 he became a resident of Buchanan Co., his farm being four miles from the nearest neighbor. He built a substantial double-log cabin, and at the time of his death owned too hundred and eighty acres of land. His family were the oldest settlers in the township, and St. Joseph was then known as Robidoux' Store. In order to buy breadstuffs and necessary provisions, the early pioneer of this immediate region had to go 50 miles through the almost trackless wilderness, there then being no roads and the savage foe adding to the terrors of the j! ourney. Benjamin Cornelius was called from this life in March, 1860, his wife having died about 5 years prvious. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and, though a Democrat, was a Union man in sentiment. His wife, who was the mother of 12 children, four of whom still survive, was a member of the Free-will Baptist Church. Hope this helps Nancy....was no bio I found in History of Buchanan co., Mo. Pat Shaw