A Cornelius on Cherry Street

The house at the corner of South 10th Avenue and South Cherry Street in Cornelius was built in 1876. It was the home of John H. and Nancy Cornelius and their family, and it is still standing today.

That middle initial matters. The H stands for Henry, and it is worth noting because John H. Cornelius had a nephew, John W. Cornelius, living south of town in the Blooming district at the same time, only five years apart in age. Two John Corneliuses on the Tualatin Plains at once could cause a historian considerable grief without that H to guide them.

Crossing the Plains

John Henry Cornelius crossed the plains from Missouri at the age of three, arriving in Oregon in 1845 with his extended family by way of the infamous Meek Cutoff route. His parents were Benjamin and Elizabeth, known as Betsey, Cornelius, who had thirteen children together. John H. was the younger brother of Colonel T.R. Cornelius, namesake of the city of Cornelius, by sixteen years.

John met Nancy Freeman sometime after her family arrived in Oregon in 1852. They were married in 1866 at her parents’ farm near Glencoe, with the Rev. William Jolley officiating. Together they would have seven children at the Cornelius house: five daughters, Geneva, Mary, Elsie, Lela, and Grace, followed by two sons, Robert and Burr.

The Quiet Cornelius

John maintained a considerably lower profile than his famous older brother. He was described by those who knew him as quiet and unobtrusive, yet wedded to his ideals in no uncertain manner. Those ideals included his politics. John was a Democrat in a family and a county that leaned heavily Republican, a distinction that would matter more than once in his life.

Through the mid-1870s he farmed wheat on the north plains of the Tualatin Valley, working the donation land claim of his father. He sold a portion of that land in 1875 to Charles and Joseph Cawrse and moved his family into town, where he built the house on the corner of 10th Avenue and Cherry Street. A later census lists his occupation as carpenter, so it is reasonable to suppose he built it himself. He owned the entire block, bordered by what is now 10th Avenue on the east, Cherry Street on the north, 9th Avenue on the west, and Dogwood Street to the south. In those days the streets had different names: 10th Avenue was Pine Street, Cherry was 7th Street, 9th Avenue was Fir Street, and Dogwood was Forest Street.

Postmaster and Candidate

John served as Postmaster of Cornelius from 1895 to 1897, for which he was paid $226.97 yearly. The Hillsboro Argus noted that he made a good official and gave general satisfaction. His tenure ended when William McKinley won the presidency over William Jennings Bryan in 1897. John had aligned himself with the Silver Democrats who supported Bryan, and political patronage being what it was, his appointment did not survive the change in administration. The Argus speculated he was removed for cause due to his political affiliation. Later that year John ran for Washington County Sheriff on the Democratic ticket against Republican incumbent H.P. Ford of Hillsboro. He was unsuccessful.

The House and the Block

To travel south from John’s property toward the Blooming district in those days, one would have taken Tualatin Road, now 12th Avenue, south to County Road, now Golf Course Road. Pine Street ended at the south border of his property where it met Forest Street. The neighborhood was quiet and residential, a long way in character from the bustle of the depot and warehouse district a few blocks away.

Nancy Cornelius passed away at home in Cornelius on August 7, 1914, at the age of sixty-seven. After her death, daughter Mary, her husband William Schofield, and their son Harold moved in with John. He died on January 16, 1920, at the age of seventy-six. His obituary described him as a good neighbor, kindly and thoughtful of the interests of others, and said he would be missed.

John and Nancy were members of the Cornelius Methodist Church. Both are buried at the Cornelius Methodist Cemetery north of town, along with several of their children.

Still Standing

According to the current owner, Algia King Jr., the King family moved to Cornelius in the 1950s and his parents purchased the old house from a local preacher. The house that John Cornelius built in 1876, the quiet Democrat brother of the Colonel, is still standing on the corner of 10th and Cherry nearly 150 years later.

May it stand 150 more.