John Jacob Cornwell
| John J. Cornwell | |
|---|---|
Portrait of John J. Cornwell
|
|
| 15th Governor of West Virginia | |
|
In office March 5, 1917 – March 4, 1921 |
|
| Preceded by | Henry D. Hatfield |
| Succeeded by | Ephraim F. Morgan |
| Member of the West Virginia Senate | |
|
In office 1899–1905 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 11, 1867 Pennsboro, West Virginia |
| Died | September 8, 1953 (aged 86) Cumberland, Maryland |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Edna Brady Cornwell |
| Profession | Politician |
John Jacob Cornwell (July 11, 1867 – September 8, 1953) was a Democratic politician from Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia. Cornwell served as the 15th Governor of the US state of West Virginia. Cornwell also served in the West Virginia Senate as a state senator (1899–1905).
John Jacob Cornwell was born on a farm near the community of Pennsboro in Ritchie County into a family of Welsh origin whose ancestor Peter Cornwell, born in Wales in 1634 [1], settled in the Virginia Colony. When John J. Cornwell was three years old in 1870, his family moved to Hampshire County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. Cornwell attended Shepherd University in Shepherdstown at the age of sixteen and became a school teacher upon graduating in Hampshire County.
In 1890, Cornwell and his brother, William B. Cornwell, acquired the Romney Hampshire Review and assumed the roles of publishers and editors of the newspaper. In 1892, he married Edna Brady. In 1897, Cornwell and his brother bought out the competing paper, the South Branch Intelligencer, adding its name and 1829 founding date to the Review's masthead. Cornwell was admitted to the bar in 1898 and served as a state senator from 1899 to 1905. Cornwell was defeated in his first gubernatorial bid by William Mercer Owens Dawson in 1904, but was elected governor in 1916, took office in March 1917, and served until 1921. In 1917, Cornwell became the only Democrat to serve as governor in a thirty-six year span between 1897 and 1933. In fact, Cornwell was the only Democrat elected to a statewide office in 1916.
...
Wikipedia