Print Bookmark
Thomas Cornell

Thomas Cornell

Male Abt 1600 - Abt 1656  (~ 56 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Thomas Cornell  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] 
    Birth Abt 1600  Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12] 
    Gender Male 
    FSID LZV5-TH8  [1, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18] 
    Death Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 12, 19] 
    Burial Abt 1656  Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [11, 12] 

    • Thomas Cornell Lot
    Person ID I45219  footsteps
    Last Modified 1 Jul 2025 

    Family   
    Marriage Abt 1620  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Rebecca Cornell,   b. Abt 1620, Essex, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  [Father: unknown]
    Family ID F24925  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 1 Jul 2025 

  • Notes 


    • Thomas Cornell came to the Americas around 1636 with the 2nd Winthrop Expedition along with his wife, Rebecca and many of their children.

      Thomas Cornell was an innkeeper in Boston who was part of the Peripheral Group in the Antinomian Controversy, a religious and political conflict in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Cornell sold his inn in 1643 and left for Rhode Island, where others from the Antinomian Controversy had settled in 1638 after being ordered to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling in Rhode Island.

      Thomas Cornell was one of the earliest settlers of Rhode Island and the Bronx and a contemporary of Roger Williams and the family of Anne Hutchinson. He is the ancestor of a number of Americans prominent in business, politics, and education.

      Cornell became friends with Roger Williams and co-founded the village of Westchester north of New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1643. He returned to Rhode Island in 1644 and obtained a land grant for 100 acres in Portsmouth, RI on Aquidneck Island that became the Cornell homestead. His neighbor was Edward Hutchison, a son of Anne Hutchison from the Antinomian Controversy.

      In 1646, Cornell was granted a patent on an area of about four square miles that later became part of the Bronx. It was bounded by Westchester Creek, Bronx River, village of Westchester and East River and was called Cornell's Neck. The area is now known as Clason Point.

  • Sources 
    1. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 07 March 2025, 19:56), entry for John Smith V (PID https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4 ); contributed by various users.
      https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4

    2. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "Thomas Cornell" at Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy (https://websites.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/person/g5037.htm : accessed 2025-03-25).
      https://websites.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/person/g5037.htm

    3. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Cuyler Reynolds, editor, Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, vol. 2 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1999), p. 878; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/48324/images/HudsonMohawkII-002823-878 : accessed 2025-03-25), image 395 of 465.
      https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/48324/images/HudsonMohawkII-002823-878

    4. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Alabama Department of Archives and History; Montgomery, AL; Alabama Surname Files; Box or Film Number: M840640.
      https://search.ancestry.com/collections/61266/records/39131

    5. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "." . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sep. 2015. <http://ossianfestinastlucasfamilies.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/4/0/4340066/descendants_of_george_cornell.pdf>.
      This source was created for free with http://RecordSeek.com

    6. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, FamilySearch digital version of publication by Frederic Shonnard and W.W. Spooner (New York, New York : The New York History Company, 1900) N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jun. 2018. <https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/255732>.
      From History of Westchester County New York by Shonnard and Spooner (New York, 1900), pp. 93-94: "One of Throckmorton's compatriots was Thomas Cornell, who later settled and gave his name to Cornell's Neck, called by the Indians Snakapins. He emigrated to Massachusetts from Essex, England, about 1636; kept an inn in Boston for a time; went to Rhode Island in 1641; and from there came to the Vredeland of New Netherland. On the 26th of July, 1646, he was granted by the Dutch a patent to a 'certain piece of land lying on the East River, beginning from the kill of Bronck's land, east-southeast along the river, extending about half a Dutch mile from the river to a little creek over the valley (marsh) which runs back around this land.' This patent for Cornell's Neck was issued at about the same time that the grant to Adrian Van der Donck of what is now Yonkers was made. The Cornell and Van der Donck patents were the first ones of record to lands in Westchester County bestowed by Dutch authority subsequently to the Throckmorton grant of 1643. It is claimed for Thomas Cornell, of Cornell's Neck, that he was the earliest settler in Westchester County, whose descendants have been continuously identified with the county to the present day."
      [source citation created and attached using http://RecordSeek.com]

    7. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Recorded by Chester Clair Cornell; edited by Elisabeth Cornell, Cornell family history : from County Essex, England to Winneshiek County, Iowa, pg 1, 929.273 C815cc.
      "Thomas Cornell, the immigrant to America, was b. ca. 1595 in County Essex, England, d. ca. 1655 and m. Rebecca Briggs, Rebecca was b. Oct. 25, 1600, d. Feb. 8, 1673, the dau. of Henrie Briggs of Clerkenwell Parish, London, England. (Representative Men of Southeastern Massachusetts; Leonard Papers, New Bedford Free Public Library; Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island.) The first two of these authorities further state that Sarah Cornell, the sister of Thomas, was the wife of John Briggs, brother of Rebecca.
      Children of Thomas and Rebecca Cornell:
      2. Sarah, bap. 30 March 1623 at Saffron-Walden Parish, Essex, England.
      3. Ann, bap. 2 Aug. 1635 (2nd dau. Rebecca's will).
      4. William, bap. 4 Apr. 1625; bur. 7 Jan. 1627/8.
      5. Thomas, bap. 21 Oct. 1627; d. 23 May 1673.
      6. Richard, (2nd son will—not listed among baptisms at Saffron-Walden).
      7. Rebecca, bap. 13 Jan. 1629/30 (3rd. dau. will).
      8. Elizabeth, bap. 1 May 1631; d. prior to 1637.
      9. Kelame, or Kelume, bur. 18 Oct. 1632. (A very unlikely given name
      in either the Cornell or Briggs families—perhaps adopted.)
      10. William, bap. 9 Dec. 1632 (3rd son will).
      11. John, bap. 6 June 1634 (4th son will).
      12. Elizabeth, bap. 15 Jan. 1637 (4th dau. will).
      13. Samuel, b. America (5th son will).
      14. Joshua, b. America (6th son will).
      15. Mary, b. America (5th dau. will).

      The Saffron-Walden records of baptisms and burials were first discovered by Mr. Waldo C. Sprague in 1958. They were published in the American Genealogist under the byline of G. Andrews Moriarty (TAG 35:107). They have been confirmed by two American genealogists and one English researcher: Glazier, Maack and Peter C. Nutt."

    8. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Salt Lake City, Utah : Digitized by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2009.
      Digital images of original published: Salem, Mass. : Higginson Book Co., 1997. 468 p., [35] leaves of plates : ill., coats of arms, maps, ports. ; 28 cm.

      Reprint. Originally published: New York : T.A. Wright, 1902.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Compiled local and family histories from Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.

    9. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Annotation: In the years from 1925 to 1942, Frederick A. Virkus edited seven volumes with the title, The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy, published in Chicago by the Institute of American Genealogy. Each volume has a section in the main body of the work, coSource Bibliography: VIRKUS, FREDERICK A., editor. Immigrant Ancestors: A List of 2,500 Immigrants to America before 1750. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1964. 75p. Repr. 1986.Page: 23.
      Name: Thomas Cornell
      Year: 1636
      Place: Boston, Massachusetts
      Source Publication Code: 9448
      Primary Immigrant: Cornell, Thomas

    10. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 forStephen Cornell." U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 forStephen Cornell. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sep. 2015. <http://interactive.ancestry.com/3824/gpc_newenglandmarriages-0199>.
      This source was created for free with http://RecordSeek.com

    11. [S288] FamilySearch.org, Find a Grave Index, "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVKF-GFBP : Thu Apr 03 08:16:59 UTC 2025), Entry for Thomas Cornell.
      Find a Grave IS NOT considered by genealogists to be a factual record. Find A Grave listings are written by descendants or others who DO NOT have to provide any evidence that what they are writing is actually true.
      Find a Grave listings may contain good information but that CANNOT be taken as genealogical fact unless there are actual records provided.

    12. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Genealogy of the Cornell family: being an account of the descendants of Thomas Cornell of Portsmouth, RI, by John Cornell. T. A. Wright, 1902.
      https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcorne00corn

    13. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Howland, W. (n.d.). The Howlands in America. FamilySearch Digital Library. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/245769/?offset=3#page=12&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q= Found on Page 12.
      Personal group record contains incorrect information and omissions

      Compiled by J.W. Woosley in 1969 from past census records and family histories
      Personal family group record.

    14. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Genealogical Publishing Co.; Baltimore, MD, USA; Volume Title: New England Marriages Prior to 1700.
      https://search.ancestry.com/collections/3824/records/45374

    15. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Book Title: Thomas Stevenson of London, England and his descendants.
      https://search.ancestry.com/collections/61157/records/1341263

    16. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Prentiss Glazier, Thomas Cornell (or Cornwell), 1594-1655/6, of Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island : his English origin and his family in America (Onondaga County Public Library).
      Well researched genealogy of the Cornell family, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

    17. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "Hudson." Schenectadyhistory http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/cornell.html. Accessed 25 Jun. 2020.
      Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family MemoSource created by RecordSeek.com

    18. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, “TAG_V35_107.” https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/56049933/person/36005052253/media/9189623a-8da8-44bc-a467-9a5d93a023f6?indiv=try&h&db. Accessed 10 Mar. 2019.
      Source created by RecordSeek.com
      Additions and Corrections to Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island .- Saffron Walden, Essex. England , Parish Register

    19. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, John Osborne Austin, The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island: Comprising Three Generations of Settlers Who Came before 1690 ( Joel Munsels Sons; Albany, NY; 1887;), Page 54.
      Page 54


This site powered by The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding v. 15.0.2, written by Darrin Lythgoe © 2001-2025.

Maintained by Patrick Buckman.