Ezra Cornell
| Ezra Cornell | |
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| 1st Chairman of Cornell Board of Trustees | |
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In office 1866–1874 |
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| Succeeded by | Henry W. Sage |
| Member of the New York Senate from the 24th district |
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In office January 1, 1864 – December 31, 1867 |
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| Preceded by | Lyman Truman |
| Succeeded by | Orlow W. Chapman |
| Member of the New York State Assembly from the Tompkins County district |
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In office January 1, 1862 – December 31, 1863 |
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| Preceded by | Jeremiah W. Dwight |
| Succeeded by | Henry B. Lord |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 11, 1807 Westchester Landing, The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 9, 1874 (aged 67) Ithaca, New York, U.S. |
| Signature |  |
Ezra Cornell (January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was an American businessman, politician, philanthropist and educational administrator. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as President of the New York Agriculture Society and as a New York state Senator.
He was born in Westchester Landing, in what would become the Bronx, New York, the son of Eunice (Barnard), and a potter, Elijah Cornell, and was raised near DeRuyter, New York. He was a cousin of Paul Cornell, the founder of Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Cornell was also a distant relative of William Cornell, who was an early settler of Scarborough, Ontario whose name was used for the planned community of Cornell, Ontario. Having traveled extensively as a carpenter in New York State, Ezra, upon first setting eyes on Cayuga Lake and Ithaca, decided Ithaca would be his future home.
Ezra Cornell's earliest American patrilineal ancestor, Thomas Cornell (1595–1673), was probably Puritan at first then a follower of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson drifting into Quakerism which seems to have been the religion of Thomas Cornell's descendants. Portsmouth, RI is noteworthy in American history for the 1638 Portsmouth Compact declaring for a separation of church and state rivaling the Flushing Remonstrance of 1657 declaring for religious tolerance in New Amsterdam, Quakers in particular. Ezekiel Cornell, a Revolutionary War general, represented Rhode Island in the U.S. Continental Congress from 1780 to 1782.
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