Ringgold Roots
Ringgold County Genealogical Society
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County
Vol. III, Pp. 19-22.
July, 1982

In 1952 after years of research, Edna (ALCORN) BELZER wrote the life story of her great-grandmother, Emeline (LUCAS) CORNWALL, a remarkable pioneer woman of Ringgold County. Following is this story.

The covered wagons carrying the LUCAS family from Ohio to Iowa, arrived at the TUTTLE place in Mahaska County in August of 1855. It had been a long, hard trip, having started in the spring.

The head of the family was William LUCAS, 55 years of age, an energetic, forward-looking man, who had seen promise for his children in this new land. He and his red-haried wife, Margaret (CARSON) LUCAS, and with them their seven children, as well as two grown men, it must have taken a great deal of courage for William LUCAS to pull up stakes in Ohio where they had lived near Bucyrus [Crawford County], and start all over again in this new West.

He was born in Maryland in [July 13] 1800 and had gone to Ohio when a boy of eight, and had grown up there, doing well at farming and fruit raising. He had a great interest in growing things, an interest he kept all his life. Where there is a record of the seven children who came with him and his wife to Iowa, there is also mention on page 364 of the "History of Ringgold County" that they were parents of eleven children. Those of whom there is no record, must have died because there is mention of the memoirs of the time, of "two dead boys."

NOTE: Margaret Ann (CARSON) LUCAS was born in 1811, Pennsylvania. William and Margaret's eleven children have been noted as:
1) Elizabeth Ann "Libby" LUCAS, b. Dec 1831, OH; d. 1917; inter: Cornwall Cemetery
2) Emeline LUCAS, b. 25 Mar 1834, OH; d. 24 Jan 1917, Ellston IA
3) John H. LUCAS, b. 06 Jun 1836, OH; d. 21 May 1842, OH
4) Joseph Washington LUCAS, b. 27 Jan 1839, OH; d. 07 Oct 1846, OH
5) Sarah Jane LUCAS, b. 1841, OH
6) Margaret N. LUCAS, b. 1844, OH
7) William "Quigley" LUCAS, b. 1847, OH; d. 1942; inter: Oakland Cemetery
8) Mary "Elretta" LUCAS, b. 1849, OH
9) Martha LUCAS, b. 23 Sep 1851, OH; d. 30 Oct 1851, OH
10) Oscar LUCAS, b. 1854, OH
11) Byron LUCAS, b. 1857, Ringgold Co. IA

The second oldest of the LUCAS family was Emeline, who was 21-years-old, having been born in Ohio on March 25, 1834. She and her 25-year-old husband Elihue CORNWALL, had been married on New Year's Day of 1852 in Ohio, and they brought with them to Iowa their two small sons. The older one, Avery, was nearly three, and the other one, Herbert, born on November 27, 1854, was still a baby. While living near Mansfield, Ohio, Emeline had borne Avery exactly ten months [November 1, 1852] after her wedding day. When Herbert was born, they were planning this move to Iowa. It was arranged that Mother and Father LUCAS and the rest of their family would start from Ohio, and in Illinois, Elihue and Emeline would join them for the rest of the trip.

NOTE: Elihue CORNWALL was born December 10, 1828, Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio, the son of Francis CORNWALL and Martha (CARR) CORNWALL. Francis was born in Ontario, Canada, and died April 14, 1869, Ellston, Iowa, interment at Cornwall Cemetery, Union County, Iowa. Francis married May 30, 1822, Morristown, New Jersey, to Martha CARR, who was born February 6, 1802 in New Jersey, and died April 5, 1888, Noble County, Indiana. William "Tingley" CORNWALL, for whom the town of Tingley was named for, was Elihue's younger brother.

The oldest LUCAS daughter, Elizabeth, always called Libby, was twoyears older than Emeline. She had married Josiah WHITE when she was 18-years-old, and she carried extra burden on the trip because she was soon to become a mother. Both of these sons-in-law of William LUCAS were excellent carpenters, a most useful trade for the years ahead.

The three LUCAS girls, all unmarried, were Sarah, Margaret and Elretta, who were in their teens; and the boys were Quigley and Oscar, youngsters of about nine and eleven. Counting the CORNWALL babies, there were thirteen people in the covered wagon caravan on the road to Iowa.

The trip to Ringgold County was a hard one, and certainly a long one, in relation to the time it took. At one point, Emeline's baby, Herbert, had fallen out of the wagon, but had fortunately not been injured. Elihue CORNWALL was caught in a hail storm at one time on the way, had gotten thorougly wet, and had become ill, so much so that they all had to stay and wait for him to recover before going on. He never really regained all his strenth, although he worked, and long, getting his small family settled. The long trip was considered complete when the LUCAS wagons reached the TUTTLE place.

Mrs. TUTTLE was Elihue's sister and must have had a family of a good size, for as the LUCAS wagons drove into sight, there seemed to be boys jumping out of every window of the TUTTLE homestead. The TUTTLES lived in Mahaska County but the three men, Father LUCAS, Elihue CORNWALL, and Josiah WHITE went on to Chariton [in Lucas County, Iowa] to get their patents and deeds for the land they had come to buy and settle on.

Elihue got 80 acres in Ringgold County and paid $1.25 an acre. Father LUCAS got land for all his children, 120 acres of land for each of them, and 20 acres of timber for which he paid in gold. Elihue had thought the land he bought was right next to the LUCAS land, but there was a mistake in numbers. It turned out to be six miles away, too far to settle and farm. The upshot of the mistake was that Emeline and Elihue CORNWALL settled on the land Father LUCAS had bought for Emeline, and nothing much was done with Elihue's land until the estate was settled in later years, when it was traded for land nearer.

That first winter, the men put the wagon boxes on the ground and the families lived in them while houses were being built. The first house Elihue built for Emeline was a log house, sixteen-feet square, with puncheon floors hewed from logs. It had two doors with wooden hinges, two windows, and a fireplace on one side, a stove in the corner. The chimney was made of sod, mud, and sticks. It wasn't luxurious, but to Emeline it meant home and a good start in their new life. This was the house where they would live the next twelve busy years.

There was so much to do, so much to get started. Emeline loved flowers and gardens and put one in as soon as possible. This was a joy shared with her sister Bibby and inherited from their father, William LUCAS. As soon as possible after shelter was built, Father LUCAS planted the first apple orchard in that part of the country. People told him apples could not be grown in Iowa because it was too cold. Being a man with a strong pioneering instinct and with plenty of spirit, he said he was going to find out if it was or not. He drove his team of big, black horses to St. Joseph, Missouri, and bought his apple trees. He came home and set ou twhat, and for that day, was a big orchard. he planted at least 100 apple trees which grew and bore. He had a good selection of fruit and had ripe apples from early June till lat winter. Years later, when an old man, he would go out with a stick and knock down some of his best specimens from the trees for his grandchildren.

Father LUCAS had a high regard for education, and he built his house with room for a school in mind. It was a story and a half frame house, with two large rooms below and two above. Then Elihue and Josiah, the builders, constructed a kitchen on the back. It was really a kitchen and living room combined, because it contained a large fireplace where Mother LUCAS cooked. It later years they bought a cook stove, but Mother LUCAS continued to cook on the fireplace. Father LUCAS gave the east room of his house for church and school room because the first school was not built until about 1864. Meanwhile, he had several children of school aged himself, and some of his granchildren were to grow to that age before the schoolhouse was built.

His family meant a great deal to him and everything he did was with his children in mind. He had chosen well in his selction of land because even before his apples and crops could grow and bear, there was plently of substenance furnished by the land. In the timber was wild fruit - plums, grapes, gooseberries and crab apples. Even on the prairie section, wild strawberries grew. As for meat, there was plenty of wild turkey, game, deer, rabbits, prairie chickens and quail.

It was a good thing to find the land so helpful because these first years were hard ones, full of toil and work. Elihue helped Father LUCAS and also got his own place started. He had to make almost everything to furnish their home, although probably Emeline had brought her spinning wheel from Ohio.

From the timber Elihue cut logs and made bedsteads, chairs, and tables. In those days a bed was made of bedpoles and frame with usually a rope spring and a tick full of corn husks for a mattress. Those who had them, used a feather tick on top of corn husks. Emeline was a good worker, interested in everything. She loved to sing and sang hyms happily as she went about her work. Her two little boys, Avery and Herbert, started life in Iowa with not much more than the meager necessities, but they had happy memories of their young mother at that time. She was quite a tall woman, in the days when most women were short, and she always stood tall, too. Her hair was brown with red highlights in it near her face and her eyes were hazel gray.

In spite of hardships of her life, she always had a lovely complexion, so much so that she is remembered for it by those who knew her even in old age. She was always "spare" and never put on much weight, even in her later years.

Her granddaughter, Bernice CORNWELL SHARP, described her as having a broad forehead, straight nose and a wide, rather humorous mouth and a rosy complexion.

From her pictures one sees that she was alert, lively. Every account that could be gathered from those who knew her and in some cases had lived with her, tells of her great kindness and generosity. Her life was lived day by day and in each day she found something of interest, even if it were merely discovering a wild herb as she walked across the field to her sister's house.

NOTE: During the Civil War Elihue served with Company C of the 3rd Batallion of the Southern Iowa Border Brigade.

The CORNWALLS lived in the log house, and in 1864, a new frame house was begun. This project required three years of part-time work. Dimension lumber, mostly native black walnut, was cut and sawed in early saw mills of the area. Finishing lumber was hauled many miles by ox-team in lumber wagons. Lime was burned in kilns in the neighborhood for plaster. Lath for the house was split by hand rather than sawed. Pin and mortise construction was used in the frame.

Shortly after the new house was completed, Elihue died on August 11, 1867. He was interred at Cornwall Cemetery located in Union County, Iowa. At the time of his death, Elihue was 37-years-old.

Emeline continued to live in the new house where she raised her family of five childred and completed the conquest of the wilderness farm that her husband had started. Emeline died in 1917 and was buried beside her husband. The house was occupied by various other families, including Elihue and Emeline's granddaughter, Addie CORNWALL EDDY and her husband Ernest.

NOTE: William LUCAS died at the age of 75 years on February 2, 1876. Margaret Ann (CARSON) LUCAS died at the age of 83 years 5 months and 18 days on March 24, 1894. They were interred at Cornwall Cemtery, Union County, Iowa.

Children of Elihue & Emeline (LUCAS) CORNWALL:
1) Avery William CORNWELL, b. 01 Nov 1852, Mansfield OH; d. 26 Sep 1937, Ellston IA; inter: Ellston Cemetery
    married 1874 Arthalinda "Linda" COSNER (1854-1936)
    Children:
      1) Infant Son CORNWALL, d. 17 Mar 1875; inter: Cornwall Cemetery
      2) Earl Elihue CORNWALL, b. 31 Aug 1876, IA; d. 28 Dec 1963; inter: Ellston Cemetery
      3) Infant Daughter CORNWALL, d. 08 Mar 1879, aged 2 weeks; inter Cornwall Cemetery
      4) Harry Herbert CORNWALL, b. 08 Sep 1880, IA; d. 1955, inter: Ellston Cemetery
      5) Florence Ruth (CORNWALL) FOUSER, b. 13 Dec 1885, IA; d. 04 Jul 1935
      6) Arthur Allison "Jack" CORNWALL, b. 23 Nov 1889, Ellston IA; d. 23 May 1945, CA
2) Herbert F. CORNWELL, b. 27 Nov 1855, OH
3) Lasalle CORNWELL, b. 18 Sep 1857, Ellston IA; d. 18 Feb 1931
    married 1884 Eva HOOVER (1860-?)
      Child: Addie Emeline (CORNWELL) EDDY
4) Arthur L. CORNWALL, b. 15 Jun 1860, Ellston IA; d. 1929
    married Jennie CARTER (1868-?)
    Child: Wallace Leroy CORNWALL, b. 13 May 1895, OR; d. 27 Jun 1949, CA
5) Lois E. CORNWALL, b. 07 Oct 1862, Ellston iA; d. 02 Dec 1862; inter: Cornwall Cemetery
6) Celesta Alice CORNWALL, b. 06 Apr 1864, Ellston IA; d. 07 Jan 1945, Mount Ayr IA
    married James Hugh DOLSON (1854-1938)
    Children:
      1) Infant Daughter DOLSON, d. 13 Jul 1883, aged 9 days; inter: Cornwall Cemetery
      2) Ada Gertrude (DOLSON) REASONER, b. Oct 1888, Ellston IA; d. California
      3) Mollie (DOLSON) SHELDON, b. Dec 1890, Ellston IA; d. Des Moines IA
      4) Alice (DOLSON) TWOMBLEY
      5) Hugh James DOLSON
      6) Delbert Avery DOLSON
      7) Elbert Arthur DOLSON, b. 10 May 1901, Ellston IA; d. Ellston IA

In 1965, Cecil CORNWALL [born in 1910], great-grandson of Elihue and Emeline, hearing that the old home was to be razed, purchased it and moved it next to his home east of Ellston where he restored and refurnished it with loving care. In 1970, Cecil CORNWALL died and the house was presented to the Ringgold County Historical Society, the CORNWALL family requesting that the building be maintained in Ellston as a memorial to the pioneers of southern Iowa who, by their courage, hard work and devotion, conquered the wilderness of the prairie and wood and gave us a heritage we must never forget.

The Elihue and Emeline CORNWALL home on Main Street in Ellston has been converted into a pioneer museum. Housed inside the museum are articles relating to pioneer life, some history and genealogical materials, and the Holland FOSTER diorama of Caledonia, now a Ringgold County ghost town. Also on the grounds are the Hazel Glen School and the Pioneer Museum and National Old Thresherman's Hall of Fame, housed in the former Ellston Telephone Manufacturing building.

Ringgold County Pioneer and Rural Life Museum is open on Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. from June through August. It is also open by appointment. Phone: (641) 783-2155  Fax: (641) 464-2568. There is an admission fee.

Cornwall and Dolson family photographs courtesy of Gene Dolson, April of 2010

Transcription, notes & 2009 photographs by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2010