Biography of Percy B. Cornell, pages 247 / 248.  History of Northeast 
Indiana; LaGrange, Steuben, Noble, and DeKalb Counties, Vol. II, under the 
editorial supervision of Ira Ford, Orville Stevens, William H. McEwen, and 
William H. McIntosh.  The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York, 
1920. 

   Percy B. Cornell is one of the highly thought of citizens of Butler 
Township, DeKalb County, has lived there all his life and has achieved 
prosperity as a farmer, and is still active in the cultivation and 
management of his place five and a half miles south of Auburn.
   He represents and old and honored family of DeKalb County.  His 
grandfather, William Cornell, was born in Carroll County, Maryland, January 
14, 1813, son of Smith and Mary Cornell.  He grew up and married in his 
native state, and in 1850 brought his wife and five children to Indiana, 
making the journey overland with wagons. He bought eighty acres in Butler 
Township, and afterward acquired more land and developed a good farm, on 
which he lived until his death, February 16, 1882.  It is said that he 
brought with him to Indiana only $300.00 in money besides his team, wagon 
and household goods.  He was a member of the Lutheran Church.  Two of his 
sons served a Union soldiers.
   William H.H. Cornell, father of Percy B., was born in Maryland in 1840 
and grew up from the age of ten years on his father’s place in Butler 
Township.  In 1861 he enlisted in Company K of the Forty-Fourth Indiana 
Infantry, and participated in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, 
Stone River and other campaigns.  He was out three year and received a 
honorable discharge.  
After the war he began farming and in 1870 married Eliza Timberlain, a 
daughter of Isaac Timberlain of Butler Township.  He was a republican and 
served as assessor of Butler Township six years.  He was also a member of 
the Grand Army of the Republic and the Methodist Church. There were four 
children in the family: Percy B.; Jesse O., who is a farmer four miles 
west of Garrett; Charles, a farmer in Michigan; and Pearl I., who died a 
the age of sixteen.
   Percy B. Cornell was born in Butler Township, May 12, 1871, was reared 
on his father’s farm and had a common school education. At the age of 
nineteen he left home and went to Williams County, Ohio, where he worked 
in a basket factory seven months and on a farm six months. After returning 
to DeKalb County he married, March 10, 1894, Sarah C. Schopf. She was 
reared in Keyser Township of DeKalb County.  After their marriage they 
took up their residence at their present location, beginning with fifty 
acres and since then Mr. Cornell had added eighty acres.  He devoted his 
time to general farming and stock raising.  He is a member and chief of 
the Ancient Order of Gleaners, has been active in the Grange and is a 
republican in politics.  He has served as a trustee of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church.  He and his wife have four children: Ethel M., born June 
9, 1895; Esther, born October 1, 1896; Ernest, born April 18, 1898, and 
Myrtle, born July 7, 1905.  All the children were educated in the common 
schools and are still at home.

Submitted by:
Arlene Goodwin
Auburn, Indiana
Agoodwin@ctlnet.com