Carolyn’s Online Magazine
WHY SPEND A SATURDAY DOING GENEALOGY?
The WordPress prompt for February 28, 2015, was Me Time: What’s your ideal Saturday morning? Are you doing those things this morning? Why not?
My ideal Saturday morning starts with a cup of coffee, a plate of breakfast snacks—sliced bananas, nuts, dried cranberries, cheese cubes, etc.—, the morning newspapers, and a cat-covered blanket on my lap.
Beyond that, my idea of an “ideal” Saturday morning varies. My next ideal Saturday morning will involve rereading my post KILLED STRANGELY: A NEW ENGLAND MURDER STORY reviewing the origins of my paternal genealogy—the Cornell family of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
The Cornell house
I want to do this because I recently received an email from the in-Sweden Swedish genealogist in my family, Ann Aberg. She forwarded me an email from Conni, an ancestryfriend, she was in Cornell family.
Connie noted that she and Ann have a common ancestor: William Staples Cornell. William is my grandfather. He was married to Ida Victoria Berg, a Swedish immigrant. Therein lies the Swedish connection.
Conni mentioned that another Cornell descendent (from the Cornell line which founded Cornell University) and that, in a phone conversation, he confirmed a connection between the Cornell family and Lizzy Borden, and the connection between the Cornell and the Cornwell/Cornwall genealogy (which I have yet to run into).
I decided to call Conni. We had a delightful conversation after which I felt I found a friend. During the conversation I was able to explain about Ida’s name (how did Thor fit in?) and about the death of William and Ida’s 2-year old son. I would like to continue this conversation on my ideal Saturday morning—she seems to have a wealth of information I don’t have, and I know my files will benefit her research.
The Cornell (historical) Cemetery
We exchanged book titles. She was unfamiliar with Killed Strangely: the Story of Rebecca Cornell, and I referred her to my post, KILLED STRANGELY: A NEW ENGLAND MURDER STORY (which she read and retruned an interesting email). I’m unfamiliar with the book Freedom Road: An American Family Saga from Jamestown to World War, written by her cousin Ric Murphy, who lived in Massachusetts and found the records that are not on the internet.
Although I cannot delve into my genealogy materials until after Easter, I did send her a copy of the Coheeset Cemetery record that included information on the Cornell family.
Unfortunately, I’m not following through on this particular ideal Saturday morning at this time because I have committed the first three months of 2015—January 15-March 15— to completing a first draft of my historic (romance) novel. I’ve already had to extend the time by 6 days due to life happenings I couldn’t avoid.
It’s unlikely that Conni and I will ever meet in person. She lives in Missouri and I live in Pennsylvania. Perhaps, however, she will sometime travel to Massachusets and we can meet there.
Perhaps then we could have another ideal Saturday morning.
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Carolyn's Online Magazine 
Interesting picture of you in the cemetery – could you read any of the inscriptions on the tombstones ?
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Very few—some go back to the 1600s.
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