William J. Cornwell (August 24, 1809 in

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later orga ...

– 1896) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

He was the son of Eden Burroughs Cornwall (1766–1833) and Thankful (Harrison) Cornwall (c. 1765–1847). He married Marietta Sheldon, and they had three children. He practiced law in

Weedsport, New York Weedsport is a village in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,815 at the 2010 census. The name is from Elihu and Edward Weed, merchants who helped found the village. Weedsport is in the town of Brutus, west of Syracuse. ...

. He was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(Cayuga Co.) in

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway' ...

and

1847 Events January–March * January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government. * January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends fighting in the Mexican–American War in California. * January 16 – John C. Frémont ...

. He was a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(24th D.) in

1848 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most failed in their immediate aims, they significantly altered the polit ...

and

1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, enters in th ...

. He was a Canal Appraiser from 1850 to 1855, and Auditor of the Canal Department from 1855 to 1856.

Sources

''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 43f, 136, 140, 231, 233 and 267; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) *''William Cornwall and His Descendants'' by Edward Everett Cornwall (1901; pg. 45) ives surname "Cornwall", but the ''Civil List'' and Legislature Journals always spell "Cornwell" {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwell, William J 1809 births 1896 deaths Members of the New York State Assembly New York (state) state senators New York (state) Whigs 19th-century American legislators People from Stanford, New York People from Weedsport, New York

Life

See also

Sources