James Granville Cornett Store Photo Credit: Dan R Roberts (1980)
“This store sat at the corner of Comers Rock Rd. and Roberts Cove Rd. and was operated by Mr. And Mrs. Granville Cornett from 1918 to 1959. It is no longer standing.” (Dan R. Roberts)
In the above image, my great grand uncle, James Granville Cornett, who was born on March 1, 1880 and died December 17, 1959, operated the store for approximately 41 years. When he first operated the store he had to have been only 38 years of age, given the date calculations of his birth, death, and dates of operation. He was the brother of my great grandfather Stuart “Marvin” Monroe Cornett. I am not sure who may have operated the store after his death in 1959, or if it just closed down permanently. The above photo was taken about the year 1980 in Grayson County, Flat Ridge, Virginia.
What items did he sell inside this store? Was it anything like a convenience store similar to what we have today? Maybe he sold gas, because it looks like from the photo above there were some old gas pumps there at one time. Maybe even Pepsi-Cola? At least this is what it looks like from looking at the top of the building, it looks like bottle cap signs which may have been Pepsi’s brand.
I wish I had more photographs of the store when it was in it’s prime, but I’ll have to investigate this further to see if any even exist. First and foremost, I would have to find out what the name of the business was called as I don’t see any business name. It could have been on the white, washed out looking sign on the right hand, top side of the photo.
If anyone knows anything about James Granville Cornett and his store, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to know more!
These past 2 weeks of research has been all about sending emails out to family members and locating documents that could be used for becoming a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) through a patriot in our Cornett family ancestry. Still lots of work and documents to collect before this is made a reality.
On July 21, 2012, I received an email from a family member regarding an inquiry that was made regarding any possessions that may have belonged to my great-great grandmother Celia Ann Poole. I was sent some photos of some of the belongings that she owned at one time. When I inquired about Celia’s dress, a photo of her dress is all that I assumed I would receive. That’s what I get for making assumptions!
A little about Celia: she was born on March 17, 1856 and died on August 13, 1943. She is the daughter of Granville Harrison Poole and she married George Wesley Cornett who was born on March 10, 1858 and died on July 11, 1940. I don’t have a record of their marriage date in the papers I had received from my father over a decade ago; this is where that information comes from. (Note: the dates still need to be verified for integrity purposes to make it actual fact) If I am correct, Celia is my great great grandmother via Stuart “Marvin” Monroe Cornett, who was her son and also the father of my grandmother, Lucia Rose Cornett.
Below is a 1900 Federal Census Record for George Wesley Cornett and Celia Ann Poole and the household data.
1900 United States Federal Census (Celia Ann Poole)
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Wilson, Grayson, Virginia; Roll: 1711; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 43; FHL microfilm: 1241711.
Celia’s Belongings
Celia Ann Poole Dress (Image1)
Image Source: L. Kurtz Celia Ann Poole Coat
Photo Credit: L. Kurtz (Taken July 21, 2012) Celia Ann Poole Shoes
**The shoes had a note in them stating that they either belonged to Celia Ann Poole Cornett or Sessie Frances Cornett.
Photo Credit: L. Kurtz
I am not altogether sure if the shoes in the image above belonged to Celia Ann Poole or her daughter, Sessie (Sissie) Frances Cornett. Sissie would be my great grand aunt, but just to have these images is a treasure to behold no matter who they belonged to!
Phoebe Angeline Anderson Cornett With Younger Sibling PhotoCredit: Clinton G.
Flora Almeda Anderson Plummer (1869-1959) standing here with her sister, Phoebe Angeline Anderson Cornett (1858-1937). They were the daughters of Nelson and Rachel Anderson. Photo was taken at the home of Phoebe Angeline. Flora Almeda lived in Maryland and visited her sister until her death in 1937. (Clinton G)
Photo Credit: Kelly Cornett-Vial via kellyvial.wordpress.com (June 2012)
How do you plan on getting clues about your family’s history? What would you like to know? How about interviewing a family member? By asking the right questions, you may just get a lot more information than your originally thought. Getting people to share their stories isn’t the easiest thing to do but in reality, it needs to be done. What would happen if you procrastinated getting your questions together? Your relative may die with those memories and then you would never know. It would be lost forever!
Think about the questions you would ask them if you were ever given the chance. Do you live too far away to do a one on one, personal interview? That isn’t always a bad thing as you can always create a list of questions for your relatives to answer by email, a phone conversation, or even snail mail. With all the social networking that is done by men and women of all ages, there is no reason for you to delay contacting them. Another idea would be to create a “note” in Facebook, list all of your questions and share it! Why not? It’s worth a shot!
If you do have the chance to interview one on one, be prepared to have a notepad and several pens. If you plan on recording the interview, which I would advise, I would have a voice recorder, extra tapes and also extra batteries. Give yourself at least two hours in which to complete the interview.
Below are some questions I will be asking my relatives by the time the day is out. I am currently in the process of creating this interview in a Word document and I will copy and paste the text in an email for those members that do not have the program. There is always the option of a PDF document too! There are so many questions I have to ask, and I think this is the perfect way to get those questions answered.
Questions You Could Ask
Before you get started, write or record the name of the person being interviewed, who interviewed the person (you), the date, time and location of said interview. Try not to ask questions that will give you a simple yes or no. That doesn’t really get you anywhere. Try and think of open ended questions you might ask to give you more details in which you can work with. Good luck!
What is your full name? Why did your parents select this name for you? Did you have any nicknames growing up? When and where were you born?
How did you and your family come to live where you are? Is there a reason behind why they chose this town over another city or county?
What are your parent’s names? Do you know when they were born and where?
What were your (4)grandparents names, birth dates, wedding dates, death dates, and place of burial?
What were your (8) great grandparents names , birth dates, wedding dates, death dates and place of burial?Did any of your grandparents ever mention if they emigrated from another country? If so, where did they come from?
Are any family members war veterans? If so, what war and in what year? Do you have any documents showing their terms of service?
Do you have other family that lives in this area? Who were (are) they?
Did your family have a house or a farm? What was that like?
Can you describe the house or property in which you grew up?
Were there any special items in the house that you remember?
What is your earliest childhood memory? Any siblings? If so, what are their names?
What was your family like? Did they have different personalities? What were their personality traits?
What was your favorite thing to do as a child? Did you have a favorite toy or game? What was it?
What school did you go to as a child? What was it like? Did you excel in a particular subject?
Did you ever participate in school clubs or activities? If so, what were they?
Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper article? If so, what was it about? Which newspaper?
What was your family life like?
What Church did you and your family go to?
Who did you look up to as a child?
What was your favorite color? Is it the same one that is your favorite, today?
Did you ever own any pets or farm animals that you considered a pet? What were their names?
Do you have any old pictures that you would be willing to share? Who are they of?
What types of events took place while you were growing up? Did you grow up in a recession or experience the affects of war?
What family traditions did your family have? What were holidays such as Christmas, like for you as a child?
What family heirlooms do you own?
These types of questions should get you started and you can alter or delete the ones you don’t think you would need to ask. You can also add more than the above questions I listed to better suit your needs. I hope this article helps you in some way. Now I have to get started writing my own!
Standing Under A Tree, June 2012, Personal Collection
What do we really know about our ancestors and their past lives? After researching this past week, I became so overwhelmed with all this new knowledge of the many different Cornett ancestors in my direct line. This is where I became confused; I recently posted two separate blog articles, one in regards to a Partition and the other was just written up this morning, a Last Will and Testament, where I transcribed the text within. I get a multitude of emails on a daily basis, so I try to keep up with all of those and as I read through them, I learn something new. In the articles I recently wrote about, the confusion began with two separate men in my line who are both grandfathers of mine, with the same first name.
A little background first so you understand, my 4th great grandfather was David “Blue” Cornett who married Phoebe “Feby” Sutherland on February 22, 1826 in Climes Branch, Grayson County, Virginia. David “Blue” Cornett’s grandfather was also named David; the spelling of his last name changed in relation to David Blue, whereas David Blue was Cornett in the many documents that I have seen, but when it comes to his grandfather David Cornutt, the spelling was slightly different.
David Cornutt was my 6th great grandfather and I am still amazed to this day that I have his Will and Testament on my blog so I can always go back and look at it, to be able to read it, understand the wording and eventually transcribe his words. What else can a document like this tell me? It listed his children for starters, and told me who inherited his property and belongings when he passed away. It shows the date of when the Will was written and his presumed death date at the bottom. I also know what his signature looked like! How exciting to know this much and not really know him personally is truly amazing to me. I still, even after a few bouts of confusion, and an email that was hastily sent to Grayson County Heritage Foundation, (I remedied that situation by the way)and I still find myself fully engrossed in the history of my Cornett family.
So my question to you, how would you compile all the information you have on any one given person in your family tree so as not to cause any confusion like I had, in the future? How do you keep this information separate from others in your tree? Software programs maybe? Please enlighten me and tell me how you like to keep your research more organized. Who knows, you might have the perfect solution to my current headache!
Remember those times you spent with your grandmother or even your great grandmother? What do you remember most about her? Was it her grandmotherly smile? Maybe it was a stern look. Her baby soft skin? Maybe she smelled of roses or baby powder or maybe even the strong odor of Ben-Gay! Whatever it was, have you ever been reminded of those long forgotten memories or memories you thought you had forgotten? Does something trigger your memory so that you think of her? For me, it was a simple photograph! A photograph that reminded me of what I thought was her birthday party, but was in actuality a Cornett Family Reunion that took place in Havre De Grace, Maryland at Aunt Pearl’s house. I remember bits and pieces of that day, not every little detail as that was over thirty years ago. But I do remember being there.
I remember her “Little House on the Prairie” style dress. Baggy, long sleeves and the skirt that fell nearly to her ankles, the too large, pointy collar that was popular back in the 1970’s, the lavender color of her dress which reminded me of her birthday cake. All white with lavender colored roses on the top and a lavender zigzag pattern on the sides of the cake with little lavender pearls. I think the cake had three tiers as I remember it being the tallest cake I had ever seen.
Meet My Great Grandmother, Gincy.
I am the little girl in the photo.
My Gincy ~ A Social Butterfly 🙂
My dad, Bill is in the background in the cream colored shirt with Uncle Don standing next to him.
Another memory I have of Gincy is when I was about the same age I use to sit in her lap and she would rock me in her rocking chair on the front porch. I believe she even had a white rocking chair at her birthday celebration. I used to have a picture of the two of us, but I don’t know what happened to it. I can picture it in my mind what it looks like, but that is about all. I would love to have another copy of it.
The memories I have of Gincy are few, so here I am typing my last memory of her and smiling because I know what this memory means to me. I used to have this old brown two tone colored teddy bear. I took him with me almost everywhere I went and he would be the first toy I would grab to play with. I never picked a baby doll, but picked up old teddy instead. On my grandmothers front porch I would sit down and dress teddy and pretend he was my baby. I had cloth diapers for him and those diaper pins with the hard plastic covers on them so I wouldn’t poke him and end up making him cry! Gincy never liked for me to undress “teddy” for fear that he might catch a cold. She would always make me put his diaper back on! It’s kind of cute now that I look back on this memory and see her point of view. I think this was her way of playing with me, because she wasn’t able to get down from the rocking chair she was rocking in and play on the porch with me. At that time in my life, I thought she was just scolding me for taking his diaper cloth off!
Grandma Gincy was born on July 1, 1886 and died on September 24, 1978 when I was only six years old. Not understanding death at the ripe old age of 6, I always thought she would live forever and just be my Grandma Gincy. I miss brushing your hair and I am just so very glad to have these memories of you. I love you my Gincy!
Yesterday, I received my genealogy package in the mail from my Aunt Evelyn! I was so excited to open it, that it was like opening a birthday gift except there wasn’t any frilly bows or paper to unwrap. In this package came two thick stacks of family history, stapled together, one for Lucia Cornett, (my grandmother’s side of the family) and another packet of information for Walter Cornett’s side of the family, (my grandfather).
One packet was labeled, “The Family of Stuart Marvin Cornett and Gincy Malinda Long Cornett” which contains names, birth and death dates, marriages and the children’s information, etc and there was even a few photos included in each of the documents, a couple of newspaper articles, one which was a 50th wedding anniversary article, another article titled, “Three Couples From Cornett Family Celebrate 50th Wedding Anniversaries” (Gazette, Galax, VA, Monday, December 9, 1991)How exciting to have three different couples, all in the Cornett family to celebrate such a momentous occasion at one time! The other packet was labeled as “The Descendants of David and Feby (Phoebe) Sutherland Cornett.
The package also included a death certificate for Walter and a birth certificate for Lucia, two different Honorable Discharge papers for Walter’s WW II military service, a press release regarding his service in the Army Air Forces and a story titled, “Roberts Cove” which was written by Pat Miles Burris and Anna J. Woods and included a photocopy of the George Parks homestead which is posted below.
George Parks Homestead
(Notice that there are three front doors)
In the above photo, the back side reads: George Parks and Vinnie Testerment- Izora’s Mom & Dad- (Walter’s grandparents on mother’s side) Date Unknown ‘ The Homestead Photo has writing also- “Old George Parks Homestead” Date Unknown
When you think of the word “heirloom”, do you think of the old doilies your grandmother hand crocheted so long ago, but now look yellow and dingy? I do. When I think of heirlooms, I think of useless objects that have seen better days. Old sienna photos in antique silver frames, handkerchiefs with flower embroidery that my grandmother used to carry around with her, family albums, quilts, baby blankets, family Bibles, and my own wedding dress, which I hope to one day hand down to a granddaughter or great granddaughter of my own. One day! Not anytime soon mind you. What heirloom object would you treasure if it were given to you, to pass on to your children, grandchildren or even great grandchildren? How would you preserve it?
You may already have a cedar chest full of potential heirlooms, or maybe even in the attic in boxes. I remember playing with my grandmother’s old clothes when I was probably 8 or 9 years old. She had vintage hats made of black velour with feathers and trim which covered the top half of my face. I remember they were in a box that my cousin and I used to go through to play dress up.
Isn’t it funny how certain memories resurface when you see an image, read, or even for me as I happen to be writing in my blog about something as simple as family heirlooms? The memory of my grandmothers old hats just popped into my head for some reason. I wish I had all of her old hats! That would be such a treasure! I don’t know whatever happened to them after she passed away, but it would be an heirloom I would treasure!
Family Heirloom Ideas
Family heirlooms should evoke special memories of a bygone era. You can even create your own if you wish. Here are a few ideas that have crossed my mind a time or two. It doesn’t have to be expensive to make it an heirloom of quality. For most, it is just tradition past on from generation to generation.
Wedding dresses or christening gowns
Create a family cookbook of family favorite recipes- include some that are handwritten and dated.
Jewelry~ If you wish, you can have a custom made ring, broach, or even a charm bracelet made.
Artwork or drawings that were created by an ancestor- have it professionally framed and matted for other generations to see.
Medals of Honor- maybe one of your ancestors fought in the Civil War or the American Revolution- creating a shadow box of these medals would be an idea!
Another popular idea is creating a scrapbook for each of your children, inside include items of times past i.e., a piece of lace fabric, pressed flowers, photos, or something else that may bring back fond memories.
You could even gather memorabilia from older generations, like maybe a childhood diary that may have been kept over the years, a favorite book that an ancestor may treasure. For example, it could be a signed baseball that was part of a collection in your grandfathers belongings, an old trophy, the list can get longer, believe me.
Use your imagination when it comes to collecting family heirlooms, the possibilities are endless.
Ancestral Roots & History 