Cornell, Alonzo Barton

Alonzo Barton Cornell was the son of a famous father, a staunch Republican, and a one term governor of New York. He was born in Ithaca, New York, the eldest son of Ezra and Mary Cornell. He was educated at Ithaca Academy and watched and helped as his father built a fortune collaborating with Samuel Morse in setting up telegraphy in the United States. He assisted his father in founding the Western Union Telegraph Company, serving as a director and vice-president. He married Ellen Covert in 1852 and the couple had four children, all boys. Cornell became active in politics, first with a losing run for the lieutenant governorship of New York and then as chairman of the New York Republican Party between 1870 and 1878. President Grant named him as Surveyor of the Port of New York in 1876 but the new president, Rutherford B. Hayes removed him two years later when he refused the order for office holders to refrain from politics. Cornell got his reward for his loyalty to his state party when he was elected the thirtieth Governor of New York in November, 1879, defeating the Democratic incumbent Lucius Robinson. He served only one three year term, however, and returned to his business interests. He also wrote an affectionate biography of his philanthropist father. Alonzo Cornell died in 1904 and was buried with his mother and father in the chapel of Cornell University, the institution they had founded. (By John Osborne)
Life Span
to
    Full name
    Alonzo Barton Cornell
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    4
    Family
    Ezra Cornell (father), Mary Ann Wood Cornell (mother), Ellen A. Covert (wife)
    Occupation
    Politician
    Businessman
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Church or Religious Denomination
    Quakers (Society of Friends)
    Political Parties
    Republican
    Government
    Grant Administration (1869-77)
    Governor
    How to Cite This Page: "Cornell, Alonzo Barton," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5481.