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Alonzo B. Cornell

Alonzo B. Cornell

Male 1832 - 1904  (72 years)    Has 18 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Alonzo B. Cornell 
    Birth 22 Jan 1832 
    Gender Male 
    Death 15 Oct 1904 
    Person ID I679597  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 27 Jul 2010 

    Father Ezra Cornell,   b. 11 Jan 1807, Westchester County, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 09 Dec 1874 (Age 67 years) 
    Mother Mary Ann Wood 
    Marriage 19 Mar 1831  Dryden, New York, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F125352  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Ellen A. Covert 
    Family ID F299487  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 27 Jul 2010 

  • Notes 
    • eldest son
      governor of New York

      He was educated at the Ithaca Academy, and at the age of fifteen began a career in the field of telegraphy, later serving as a manager in telegraph office in Cleveland, Ohio. Afterwards, he owned steamboats on Cayuga Lake from 1862 to 1863. From 1864 to 1869 he was a bank official with the First National Bank of Ithaca.

      He was a director of the Western Union Telegraph Company, which had been co-founded by his father, from 1868 to 1876 and was its Vice President from 1870 to 1876. He was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1868, but was defeated by Democrat Allen C. Beach. He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Surveyor of the Port of New York.

      From 1870 to 1878 he was chairman of the state Republican Party. He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1873 and was elected Speaker, one of the very few times a first-term member was chosen. He was influential at the 1876 Republican National Convention which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes, upon becoming president, sought to oust Cornell from his position at the Custom House, but was initially frustrated by the Tenure of Office Act. He was eventually successful with Democratic help.

      Cornell was Governor of New York from 1880 to 1882, elected in 1879. He established the state board of health and the state railroad commission. He also made women eligible to be school-officers. The division of his party by the conflict between the Stalwarts and the Half Breeds prevented his re-election. He wrote a biography of his father in 1884.
      Cartoon depicting the battle between Cornell and the Tammany Hall machine

      Although he lived in New York City during his latter years, Cornell died in Ithaca, New York,[citation needed] aged 72, and was interred with his father and mother in Sage Chapel on the Cornell University campus. His papers are held in Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.



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