James Cornwall (1826 – 1888) and Agnes Stewart (1827 – 1911)

 I descend from Joseph Stewart (1844 – 1908) and Elizabeth Madine (1835 – 1901).  Joseph Stewart was the son of an older Joseph Stewart who farmed in Crossnacreevy, Moneyreagh, Co. Down, just south of Belfast.

Joseph Stewart and Elizabeth Madine - photo courtesy of James May

https://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-stewart-family-of-crossnacreevy.html

Joseph Stewart Junior’s sister was Agnes Stewart (1827 – 1911) who married James Cornwall in 1847 in Belfast, and whose descendant, James Cornwall May, provided invaluable information for this post.   James also kindly donated the photos of James Cornwall and Agnes Stewart.

James Cornwall (1826 - 1888), a servant and son of John Cornwall and Anne O'Neill of Tyrone, married Agnes Stewart (1827 - 1911) in the Belfast Registry Office on 15^th October 1847.  Both bride and groom were living in the Dundonald townland of Ballymiscaw at the time of the marriage and the wedding witnesses were the groom’s brother, Patrick Cornwall, and the bride’s sister Lucinda Stewart.

Lucinda Stewart, who witnessed her sister's marriage in 1847, was also the daughter of farmer Joseph Stewart – she would later marry James McCartney in 1852. 

https://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2023/01/lucinda-stewart-and-james-mccartney.html

James Cornwall's parents were John Cornwall and Anne O'Neill from Clonoe, Co. Tyrone.  One of their children - John Cornwall - later gave his birthplace as Derrytresk, a townland of Clonoe which was populated by a large proportion of O'Neills, possibly members of his mother's family.

John Cornwall and Anne (sometimes known as Jane) O'Neill had six known children:

• James Cornwall (1822 - 1888) who married our Agnes Stewart in 1847 and who remained in Belfast. On the 1871 UK census he gave his place of birth as Clonoe, Co. Tyrone.
• Patrick Cornwall (1825 - 1880) who acted as witness to his brother's 1847 wedding to Agnes Stewart. The New York Irish Immigrant Arrival Records show a Patrick Cornwell arriving in NYC from Belfast in July 1848.  Patrick married the Irish-born Catherine Fitzgerald and settled in East Birmingham, Pennsylvania, where children were born - James Cornwall in 1854, John in 1856, Ellen/Nellie in 1858, Catherine/Kate in 1860, William in 1869 and Edward in 1869.  Daughter Ellen/Nellie M. Cornwall married Richard J. Carroll in Pennsylvania on 23rd April 1895 and had a daughter, Eugenia J. Carroll in 1896 - Eugenia was living with her grandmother, Catherine Cornwall, in 1910.  Patrick Cornwall, son of John Cornwall and Anne O'Neill, died in Pittsburgh in 1880.
• Ellen Cornwall (1835 - 1912).  Ellen Cornwall died on 17th March 1912 in Roanoke, Virginia, and was buried in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Latrobe, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
• Elizabeth Cornwall (1838 - 1910) who married John Ambrose McKinney by whom she had nine children.  She died in West Virginia in 1910.
• John Cornwall (1840 - 1920).  A John Cornwall was baptised on 11th December 1832 in Clonoe, Co. Tyrone by John Cornwall and Jane O'Neill - this might be an earlier John, who didn't survive, or perhaps John Cornwall was unaware of his own year of birth later. The New York emigrant savings bank records note him as having been born in 1837 in Derrytresk, Tyrone, to John Cornwall and Jane O'Neill.  He was noted as a wood carver of 119 Atlantic Street.
• Ann Jane Cornwall (1842 - 1925). She was baptised by her parents in St. Patrick's, Belfast, on 24th November 1838.  She married Augustine Charles Zerbee (1842 - 1931) in St. John's Church, Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, on 19th October 1869.  This couple had six children.  Ann Jane Zerbee died on 20th May 1925 in Roanoke, Virginia and her burial records there name four of her children as Joseph A. Zerbee, Frederick John Zerbee, Mary V. Toland and Ellen A. Sheehan

James Cornwall 1826 - 1888

James Cornwall worked in domestic service, first as a groom and then as a butler.  He was known to accompany his master abroad - his descendants own his passport which had been issued by the British Embassy in Paris in 1857.  James was captured by the UK census of 1861 as a groom lodging with other domestic servants in a house in Picadilly.  Ten years later in 1871, he was working as a butler in Marylebone, London, in the home of Julia E.Rogers of Dorchester, Dorsetshire.  At some stage James Cornwall must have been joined by his wife in England, since a son, James Cornwall Jnr, was born in Manchester in about 1858.

James Cornwall (1826 – 1888) died aged 62 at 2 Haypark Terrace in Belfast on 11^th April 1888 and was buried in Milltown Cemetery.

James Cornwall's widow, Agnes Stewart (1827 – 1911), would die aged 84 at 66 Southwell Road, Bangor on 7^th May 1911.

Agnes Stewart Cornwall 1827 - 1911

Although she came from a Protestant Unitarian family, Agnes Stewart converted to Catholicism – the registers of St. Malachy’s, Belfast, record her baptism aged 45 on 14^th December 1875.  A talented milliner, while her husband was working away, she was known to support the family by making hats.

The children of James Cornwall and Agnes Stewart were mostly baptised in St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Belfast:

a) Jane Cornwall was baptised on 4^th March 1849 – the witnesses were Pat Bruakan and Ellen Cornwall.  Jane would die of influenza on 2^nd May 1908 and was buried in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast.

b) Mary Ellen Cornwall – the later census states her year of birth as about 1855 but I can find no baptism record.  The census states she was born in Co. Down.  

Mary Ellen Cornwall May - photo courtesy of James May

Mary Ellen Cornwall, the daughter of the butler James Cornwall, married a corkcutter, James May the son of sea captain James Henry May.  The marriage took place on 21^st May 1870 in Berry Street Presbyterian church, and the witnesses were a William G. Harper and the bride’s sister Jane Cornwall.  They had a son, James Cornwall May, on 12^th June 1872 at 3 Lyle Street but the baby’s father, corkcutter James May, died of typhoid in hospital on 28^th July 1872 - James May was buried in Belfast city cemetery in the family plot of Lucinda McCartney - Lucinda McCartney was the sister of James May's mother-in-law Agnes Cornwall, née Stewart.

The widowed Mary Ellen May moved back with her mother and her siblings and was recorded on the census with them in 1901 at 272 Ravenhill Road.

The daughter of teacher James May and of Mary Ellen Cornwall was Agnes May who married a draper’s buyer, Patrick John Burns in St. Brigid’s, Belfast, on 23^rd September 1895.  He had been born in Killough, Downpatrick, on 22^nd June 1866 to the sea captain Hugh Burns and his wife Isabella Fitzsimons.

James Cornwall May, son of James May and Mary Ellen Cornwall, married Mary Corr on 12^th August 1907 in the Chapel of the Holy Rosary in Belfast.  Mary Corr was the daughter of rent agent James Corr, while the witnesses were named as Patrick Miller and Eleanor A. Corr.

b) John Cornwall was baptised on 29^th September 1855 in St. Patrick’s, Belfast.

c) James Cornwall was born circa 1858 in Manchester, England.  See below.

c) Joseph Cornwall was baptised in St. Patrick’s, Belfast, on 3^rd April 1860.  A note in the church register noted his later marriage to Margaret Elizabeth Cawley in Bangor, Co. Down.  This marriage occurred on 2^nd October 1916 – Joseph was living at 66 Southwall Road in Bangor and was working as a warehouse manager while Margaret was the daughter of bedding manufacturer James Cawley. The witnesses were Catherine Teresa Cawley and John Cornwall.

Agnes Stewart Cornwall surrounded by her family, with James Cornwall May to the right

James Cornwall, the son of James Cornwall and Agnes Stewart, who had been born in Manchester in about 1858, moved to Hull where he worked for the Hull Oil Manufacturing Company.  His death was noted in both the Yorkshire and the Belfast papers when he died on 10^th January 1921.   His address in 1921 was 37 Ashgrove, Beverly Road, Hull.   His widow, Mary Alice Cornwall, née Newton, died in Hull in 1929.

James Cornwall of Belfast and Yorkshire married Mary Alice Newton in Lancashire in the last quarter of 1884.

The family were recorded on the 1911 UK Census:

James Norton Cornwall, aged 53, born Manchester - he would marry Clarice Irene Tesseyman, the daughter of leather manufacturer John Tesseyman, in Hull in 1916.  This couple had a daughter, Margaret Mary Cornwall, who married Dr. Vallence Paul Squire in 1939 – the ceremony was carried out by the bride's uncle Rev. Leonard Cornwall.  James Norton Cornwall and Clarice Irene Tesseyman also had a son on 1st May 1921, James Bernard Cornwall, later a lieutenant in the 23rd Hussars, Royal Armoured Corps, who was killed on active duty in Normandy on 22nd August 1944.  He was buried in the military cemetery in Lisieux.

Mary Alice Cornwall, aged 48, born Warrington.

Winifred Agnes Cornwall, aged 25, born Widnes.

Florence Mary Cornwall, aged 19, born Hull.

Sydney John Cornwall, aged 17, born Hull.

Gertrude Jane Cornwall, aged 14, born Hull.

Leonard Joseph Cornwall, aged 12, born Hull – later Rev. Leonard J. Cornwall. He would travel annually to Ireland, generally accompanied by his sisters, Florrie and Winnie, where he would act as summer relief in the church in Kilkeel. 

Marie Elizabeth Cornwall, aged 10, born Hull.

Joseph Patrick Cornwall, aged 8, born Hull.

Frances Vincent Cornwall, aged 6, born Hull.

The ‘Irish News and Belfast Morning News’ of 23^rd March 1894 noted the birth at Alexander Road in Hull of a son to the wife of James Cornwall of Belfast.