Thomas Cornell Sr. (abt. 1595 - 1655)

Born about 1595 in Essex, England

Husband of Rebecca (Briggs) Cornell — married about 1622 in Essex, England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 7 May 1655 at about age 60 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Richard Draper [send private message], Orinda Spence [send private message], Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message], and Kevin Gerald Ryan [send private message]

Thomas Cornell Sr. migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 79) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

This profile is part of the Cornell Name Study.

Thomas Cornell Sr. was born in Essex, England.

Thomas Cornell Sr. was a New Netherland settler.

Thomas Cornell was born in Essex, England in the 1590s; this was confirmed in his daughter Sarah's marriage contract ^[1].

He emigrated to Massachusetts Bay with his large family about 1638 and was one of the earliest settlers of Rhode Island and then of the Bronx, New Netherland. He was a contemporary of Roger Williams and the family of Anne Hutchinson. He is the ancestor of a number of Americans prominent in business, politics, and education.

Marriage

Thomas Cornell married Rebecca (thought to be Briggs) about 1622 in Essex, England. The place of marriage may have been Saffron-on-Weldon or at Ipswich, in England.^[2]

Note: That the marriage to a Rebecca occurred is certain, in view of their large family they sired and birthed. Her last name at birth is not so certain. If Rebecca Cornell was, indeed, the Rebecca Briggs baptized in 1600 at S. James, then the John Briggs baptized there in 1618, is about 10 years too young to have been the Portsmouth settler, since his age was given when he testified in 1673, showing that he was born in 1608 or 1609. Therefore, if Rebecca Cornell was really a Briggs, then she was not the one baptized in Clerkenwell." ^[3]

Immigration and Boston Residence

Thomas Cornell came to America about 1638, with his wife, Rebecca, and most, if not all, of his 16 children^[4].

Thomas is first found in the New World in Boston, where by a vote of the Town Meeting on August 20, 1638, he was granted a license to buy ‘William Baulstone’s house, yard, and garden, backside of Mr. William Coddington, and to become an inhabitant,’ This property was situated in Washington Street, between Summer and Milk Streets in what is now the heart of Boston's shopping district^[4].

Location of Thomas Cornell's House in Boston 1638-43

Illegal Bar Keeping

Less than three weeks later, on 6 September 1638, Thomas Cornhill was licensed upon tryal to keep an inn till the next General Court^[4]. It did not work out well for on 4 June 1639, he ‘was fined £30 for several offences selling wine without license and beare at 2d. a quart.’ The court had previously decreed: “It shall not be lawful for any person that shall keepe any such inn, or common vicyualling house, to sell or have in their house any wine or strong waters, nor any beare or other drinke other than such as may be souled for I d. the quart at the most.” Thomas explained that 'in the winter time he had much loss by his small beer which he was at cost to preserve from frost by fire,' which was the reason presumably why he put more alcohol in it and sold it at double the lawful price. He also pleaded ignorance of the law, said he was sorry for his offences, and asked for a remission of the fine. He was, two days later, abated £10 of his fine and given a month to close up his business and 'cease from keeping entertainment.’ ^[4]

Religious Controversy Leading to Removal to Rhode Island

Thomas’ neighbor, William Coddington, a distinguished and highly respected leader in the earlier days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had the year before been one of the central figures of the Antinomian Controversy. William Baulstone, Thomas Cornell's brother-in-law John Briggs, and the deeply charismatic Anne Hutchinson were also involved in the affair and frowned upon by the Orthodox Church. Their concept of a Covenant of Grace with God rather than a Covenant of Work was similar to the Quaker beliefs that would later rock the colony. Anne Hutchinson was indicted, solemnly tried, excommunicated and exiled. She and her followers had applied to the Plymouth authorities for a place of refuge, but were refused. It was Roger Williams who suggested that they come to Rhode Island. Mr.William Coddington and other prominent members of the Antinomians fearing their expulsion, had purchased in 1637 from Canonicus and Miantonomi, Indian chiefs, the island of Aquidneck. The consideration paid was forty fathoms of white peag (wampum) and ten coats and twenty hoes. On this island was started the settlement called Portsmouth ... The compact which served as a basis of their future government was signed 7 March 1638, probably in Boston.

Removal to Portsmouth, Rhode Island

After his brief stint as an innkeeper in Boston, Thomas removed to Portsmouth following the other religious exiles. It is likely that his experience in being practically driven from his home was similar to that of his friend Mr.William Coddington, who left his 'brick house,' the first brick house ever built in Boston, and went into the wilderness. Coddington wrote to John Winthrop 'what myself and wife and family did endure in that removal I wish neither you nor yours may ever be put unto.'"

On 6 August 1640, "Thomas Cornil" was made a freeman in Rhode Island and on 4 February 1641, he was granted a piece of meadow to be fenced at his cost^[4]. He was made constable in 1641 and Ensign in 1642^[4]. He was doubtless one of those who were visited by a delegation of the Boston Church to require them to explain 'their unwarrantable practice in communicating with excommunicated persons,' meaning Anne Hutchinson.

Removal to New Netherland

Thomas was still in Portsmouth in the Spring of 1642 when the settlers, scared of what the Massachusetts settlers might do, decided that Roger Williams should sail to England to petition the Crown for the right to become a separate colony. Thomas is in the records at this time^[5].

The more fearful among the settlers decided to move to New Amsterdam until the new colony was granted. There can be no question that Thomas was loyal to Anne Hutchinson, since after the death of Anne's husband William Hutchinson in 1642 he and his family went with her to Manhattan and there again attempted to start a settlement^[4]. It was in the autumn of 1642 that Anne Hutchinson, Thomas Cornell, John Throckmorton, and others with their families, removed to Manhattan 'neare a place called by seamen Hell Gate'. Massachusetts Governor Winthrop was evidently interested in following their fortunes since in 1642 he notes, 'Mr. Throckmorton and Mr. Cornell, established with buildings, etc., in neighboring plantations under the Dutch.'^[4]

On July 6, 1642 Gov. Kieft of the Dutch colony granted permission for Throckmorton and about 35 English families to settle about 11 miles from New Amsterdam. The area became known as Throgg’s Neck, an abbreviation of Throckmorton’s name and later became Westchester, New York.^[4]

Eight months later, Governor Kieft's unwise attack upon two neighboring camps of Indians on the night between 25 and 26 February 1643 precipitated a war with the Lenape Indians. More than a hundred Indians, men, women, and children were slain. This caused the Mohegan Indians to retaliate against the white settlers outside New Amsterdam. Governor Winthrop’s Journal records in June 1643: 'The Indians set upon the English who dwelt under the Dutch. They came to Mrs. Hutchinson in a way of friendly neighborhood as they had been accustomed, and taking their opportunity, killed her and Mr. Collins, her son in law, and all of her family and such of Mr. Throckmorton's and Mr. Cornell's families as were at home, in all sixteen, and put their cattle into their barns and burned them.

The terrible experience of this Indian massacre, and the death of Mrs. Hutchinson very naturally caused some of her co-settlers to return to Rhode Island. Thomas Cornell was one of these. He went back to Portsmouth.

Return to Portsmouth

Upon his return to Rhode Island he sold his original property in Boston to Edward Tyng^[4]. In November of 1643 he was granted a further 10 acres in Portsmouth^[6].

In 1644, he secured a grant of land from the town 'butting on Mr. Porter's round meadow'^[7]. In 1646, he received a grant of one hundred acres on the Narragansett Bay side of the island^[8]. This became the Cornell Homestead.

Location of the Cornell Grant in Portsmouth

And Back to New Netherland

Notwithstanding this grant of a hundred acres in Portsmouth, in 1646 Thomas Cornell returned to New Amsterdam (he had a number of sons approaching their majority for whom he needed to provide). He did not attempt to rebuild his property on Throgg's Neck, near Hell Gate, which the Indians had burned, but procured a grant near his friend Throckmorton, at a place which has since been called Cornell's Neck. Here he settled, and several of his descendants 'sat down' at Rockaway and other places in Long Island and in Westchester County, and were the ancestors of the many Cornells who have helped in the building of the state of New York, among whom is Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University^[4].

Location of Cornell's Neck in New York.

Finally, back to Rhode Island

Thomas Cornell, when he came back to Portsmouth the second time, took up the life of a public spirited citizen, "his name appearing upon the records of Portsmouth as serving in various capacities. In Portsmouth, Rhode Island, he received a grant of 160 acres of land on February 14, 1647^[9]. This may be an extension to the original Homestead of the Cornell family. Previous grants were made to him in company with other parties and as we will see the grant of Cornell’s Neck was later. This land or the part on which the house and burial plot are situated has never been out of the family."

In September, 1894, Rev. John Cornell (the writer of the passage quoted above), purchased from Mrs. Ellen Grinnell (Cornell) Smith and others about 80 acres of this grant, and in 1900, 45 acres more; a house has been erected in colonial style on the site of the one that was destroyed by fire, December 21, 1889, and somewhat on its old plan, that is, the plan which it is understood to have had before it was modernized about 50 years before its destruction.

About 1654 his house near New Amsterdam was again attacked by Indians; his house burned and-the cattle destroyed^[4].

Death, Burial & Legacy

Thomas probably died about 1655, possibly 1656, at the age of approximately sixty, and probably on the Cornell Homestead. He was likely buried there in what is now called the Old Cornell Cemetery^[10]. Quaker records state that Rebecca was later buried beside her husband’s remains. Find A Grave: Memorial #44277078 Thomas Cornell

His large property holdings at Portsmouth, New York and Dartmouth, Massachusetts, were left to his widow Rebecca, by a will dated December 5, 1651^[4]. This will is now lost and only later reports of it exist.

The Cornell Grant in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, was on the west side of Portsmouth, about a half mile north of the town of Middletown. It’s approximately the area between what’s now the Lawton Valley Reservoir on the east and the bay on the west. It’s primarily a residential area now.

Cornell’s Neck in the Bronx is between the Bronx River and Pugsley Creek (Wilkins Creek) on the Long Island Sound. Soundview Avenue (once called The Neck Road) runs down the middle of it. It is across the Bronx River from Hunt's Point. It is mostly residential (at the start of the 21st Century) and includes the neighborhoods of Clason Point and Shore Haven, also the Sound View Park and Pugsley Creek Park.

Children

Two sourced listings of Thomas Cornell's children are presented:

1) These children were all baptized at the church of St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden, Essex, England, ^[11]

1. 1623 March 30th “Sara the daughter of Thomas Cornell and of Rebecca his wife” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
2. 1625 “Aprill, "William the soon of Thomas Cornell and of Rebecca his wife the 4” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
3. 1627 October “Thomas the sonn of Thomas Cornell and of Rebeca his wife ye 21” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
4. 1627/28 January “William the sonn of Thomas Cornell and of Rebecca his wife the 7” was buried at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
5. 1629/30 January “Rebecca the daughter of Thomas Cornell and of Rebecca his wife the 31” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England. Died 5 February 1713 at Jamaica, Queens County, New York. Married George Woolsey (1610-1698)
6. 1631 May “Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas Cornell and of Rebecca his wife the 1” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
7. 1632 “Kelume (Kolume?) the sonne of Mr Thomas Cornell & of Rebecca his wife the 19” was buried in Saffron Waldon, Essex, England on October 19.
8. 1632 December “William the sonn of Thomas Cornell and of Rebecca his wife the 9” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
9. 1634 June “John the sonne of Thomas Cornell & of Rebecka his wife the 6th” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.
10. 1636/7 January “Elizabeth the daughter of Mr Thomas Cornell & of Rebeck his wif the 15th” was baptized at Saffron Walden, Essex, England.

There may have been other children born after Thomas and Rebecca's removal from Saffron Walden.

2) Records found in the parish registers of Saffron Walden, Essex, England (page 54) and published in Glazier^[12], below:

1. Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized 30 March 1623
2. William (1), son of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized 4 April 1625; buried 7 January 1627/8
3. Thomas, son of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized 21 October 1627
4. Rebecca, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized 31 January 1629/30
5. Elizabeth (1), daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized 1 May 1631. Died young.
6. Kelame, son of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized and buried 19 October 1632
7. William (2), son of Mr. Thomas and Rebecca Cornell, baptized 9 December 1632
8. John, son of Thomas and Rebecca, baptized 6 June 1634
9. Elizabeth (2), daughter of Thomas & Rebecca , baptized 16 January 1636/7

Children not found in Saffron parish records, but must have been born in England:

1. Ann, living in 1664; born about 1635
2. Richard, alive in 1664, born between July 1628 and April 1629

Children presumably born in America:

1. Samuel
2. Joshua
3. Mary (See Research Notes section; no evidence for their relationship)

Research Notes

Disputed Origins

Thomas was the commonest given name in Elizabethan England and Cornell is clearly not uncommon in Essex. Between 1580 and 1600 more than ten boys with the name Thomas Cornell were baptized in Essex. Identifying his specific origins has been challenging.

There have been two possible sets of parents proposed for Thomas Cornell:

1) George Cornwell via his third wife Susan (Casse) Cornwell (who married on 25 September 1574 at Terling, Essex)^[13]. George as currently listed lived to be 97 years old and his youngest and eldest child are separated by seventy years.

2) Richard Cornell via his wife Mary (Terry) Cornell. Richard Cornell was a carpenter presumably born about 1570. He died at Bumstead at the Tower, Essex on 22 June 1631 and his will refers to a son named Thomas^[14]. Currently Richard is also listed as a son of George above.

Until further evidence appears, we have detached any parents from Thomas' profile. Please use G2G to discuss.

We are struck by the fact that Thomas named no son George in an era where it was common to pass down parental names through one's children.

Disputed Emigration Claims

At least two undocumented sources state that Thomas Cornell arrived in New England with the second Winthrop expedition. We have been unable to confirm this passage. Indeed, since the passage was in 1636 and there are entries at Saffron Walden on January 15, 1637, and June 1, 1637, this seems unlikely, unless Thomas took passage alone and his family followed in 1637 or 1638.

Find A Grave

Thomas Cornell has two memorial pages on Find A Grave Index. First shows his Find A Grave memorial - Sponsored, ^[15] Second lists Find A Grave Index Cemeteries page showing Rhode Island Historical Cemetery which lists 17 memorials. ^[16]

Disputed Child

No reliable sources have been found to show that Mary Cornell (abt.1644-aft.1664) was a daughter of Thomas Cornell Sr. (abt.1595-1655) and Rebecca (Briggs) Cornell (abt.1600-1673); they have been detached as her parents pending reliable sources showing their relationship.

I have some old notes from the Prentiss-Glazier book suggesting that there was a Richard Cornell family Bible with a grandchild Mary in it. see Richard

Sources

1. ↑ Genealogy of the Cornell family : being an account of the descendants of Thomas Cornell; by Cornell, John, 1839-1926; Publication Date 1902; Page 28; https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcorne00corn/page/28/mode/2up
2. ↑ Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages prior to 1700, p. 198: "Cornell, Thomas (?1595-1655+/-) & Rebecca [Briggs] 1600-1673) . . . Boston/Portsmouth. RI"
3. ↑ George E. Mc Cracken Ph.D.F.A.S.G.VD. Drake University Des Moines, Iowa. "Who was Rebecca Cornell?", in The American Genealogist Vol 36 pp.16-18.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12} Genealogy of the Cornell family : being an account of the descendants of Thomas Cornell; by Cornell, John, 1839-1926; Publication Date 1902; Pages 17 - 22; https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcorne00corn/page/n45/mode/2up
5. ↑ The early records of the town of Portsmouth; by Portsmouth (Rhode Island); Perry, Amos, 1812-1899, ed; Brigham, Clarence S. (Clarence Saunders), 1877-1963, edition; Publication Date 1901; Page 12; https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofto02port/page/12/mode/2up/search/Cornell
6. ↑ The early records of the town of Portsmouth; by Portsmouth (Rhode Island); Perry, Amos, 1812-1899, ed; Brigham, Clarence S. (Clarence Saunders), 1877-1963, edition; Publication Date 1901; Page 23; https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofto02port/page/22/mode/2up/search/Cornell
7. ↑ The early records of the town of Portsmouth; by Portsmouth (Rhode Island); Perry, Amos, 1812-1899, edition; Brigham, Clarence S. (Clarence Saunders), 1877-1963, edition; Publication Date 1901; Page 31; https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofto02port/page/30/mode/2up/search/Cornell
8. ↑ The early records of the town of Portsmouth; by Portsmouth (R.I.); Perry, Amos, 1812-1899, ed; Brigham, Clarence S. (Clarence Saunders), 1877-1963, edition; Publication Date 1901; Page 33; https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofto02port/page/32/mode/2up/search/Cornell
9. ↑ The early records of the town of Portsmouth; by Portsmouth (R.I.); Perry, Amos, 1812-1899, edition; Brigham, Clarence S. (Clarence Saunders), 1877-1963, edition; Publication Date 1901; Page 44; https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofto02port/page/44/mode/2up/search/Cornell
10. ↑ Historical Cemetery #P0036 Thomas Cornell Lot, Portsmouth https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2268087
11. ↑ St Mary the Virgin, Register of Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1558-1630
12. ↑ Prentiss Glazier, "The English Origin of The Cornwell/Cornell Family," in TAG 51 (January 1875):115
13. ↑ Prentiss Glazier, Thomas Cornell (or Cornwell), 1594-1655/6, of Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, his English origin and his family in America : a condensed revision of the Cornell genealogy (Sarasota: 1975: the author), Earlier comment: Why Glazier believes George of the 1593 marriage to Casse was also he who was christening two children in the 1560s (including William Cornwell chr Faistred 4 October 1562 is not explained by Glazier (or it is in his unpublished manuscript). Seems like the George who married in 1593 was just as likely to be brother to William who was born 1562. Glazier does admit (in his later 1975 unpublished manuscript) that the emigrant Thomas Cornell could have been the son of William (he born 1562 or some other?). Recent note: book not yet examined, trying to obtain a copy.
14. ↑ The will of Richard Cornell dated 22 June 1631, proved 5 September 1631, cited in John Ross Delafield, Delafield: the family history [1945] https://archive.org/details/newenglandhistorv53wate/page/n903/mode/2up/search/Cornell
15. ↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 16 February 2020), memorial page for Thomas Cornell (24 Mar 1593–7 Feb 1655), Find A Grave: Memorial #44277078, citing Thomas Cornell Lot, Portsmouth, Newport County, Rhode Island; Maintained by George Cornwell (contributor 47202050).
16. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2268087/thomas-cornell-lot

• John Cornell, Genealogy of the Cornell family: being an account of the descendants of Thomas Cornell of Portsmouth, R.I., (New York: Press of T.A. Wright, 1902.)
• G. Andrews Moriarty, "Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island," in The American Genealogist, volume 35(Jan 1959):107
• Prentiss Glazier, Thomas Cornell (or Cornwell), 1594-1655/6, of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, his English origin and his family in America: a condensed revision of the Cornell genealogy (Sarasota: 1975: the author), Reference pages 2+ via FamilySearch
• Battis, Emery (1962). Saints and Sectaries: Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomian Controversy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-0863-4.
• Austin, John Osborne, The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island: comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690, published 1887. Reference pages 54-5 via InternetArchive
• Moriarty, G. Andrews, "Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island" The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Reference Volume 35 (1959), page 107 via American Ancestors by subscription
• Munsell, Joel (sons), American Ancestry: Giving Name and Descent, in the Male Line, of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled in the United States Previous to the Declaration of Independence, A. D. 1776, Volume 4. Published 1889. Reference Volume 4, page 33 via GoogleBooks NOTE: No sources shown; accuracy may be questionable
• Weeks, Lyman, Horace, Prominent families of New York; being an account in biographical form of individuals and families distinguished as representatives of the social, professional and civic life of New York City, published 1897. John Cornell page 138 via HathiTrust NOTE: No sources shown; accuracy may be questionable
• O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York (Weed, Parsons, Albany, 1881) Vol. 13 , page 20. Google Books [Fort Amsterdam 26 June 1646, a patent to Thomas Coornel a piece of land on the East River beginning at the Kil of Bronke land]

Acknowledgements

• Halsey Bullen
• Matt Caddy
• Richard Draper
• Deborah King
• Kevin Ryan
• Lawrence Schliessmann
• Patricia Short
• Jillaine Smith
• Kelly S
• Jack Templeton
• Mary T
• Stephen Trueblood