Guide to the Ezra Cornell Papers, 1746-1888

Family correspondence; family health; travel; Quaker Meeting; personal finances; news from friends and acquaintances (death of children, social events).

August 23, 1830. E.B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell from Manlius:

DeRuyter, N.Y.; Manlius, N.Y.; Ithaca, N.Y.

Cornell, Elijah; Cornell, E.B.; Eddy, Otis; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Family correspondence; birth of son Charles and daughter Elizabeth, death of Charles; finance and real estate speculation; mills and women mill workers; national politics and financial situation.

February 24, 1832. Ezra Cornell's response to expulsion from Quaker Church due to his marriage to Mary Ann Wood:

March 6, 1834. Ezra Cornell to Elijah Cornell:

January 13, 1836. Reference to "distressing conflagration" in New York City.

May 15, 1836. Ezra Cornell to Elijah Cornell discussing Ithaca's potential, mentioning the New York and Erie Railroad and the Sodus Canal.

Fall Creek (Ithaca); DeRuyter; Rochester, N.Y.; Michigan.

Merritt, Nehemiah; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Wood, M.B.; Wood, Benjamin; Wood, O. S.; Bristol, John S.; Bristol, Elmira; DeWitt family; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Management of Jeremiah Beebe's Ithaca affairs; textile mill; flour mill; women mill workers; tannery; water power.

Cornell, Elijah; Cornell, E.B.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Whyte, Thomas; Blunt, Joseph; Bristol, John S.; Bristol, Elmira; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Family correspondence; family relations; business and financial matters; pottery; Cornell & Wright grocery; water power; mill machinery; Beebe's directives for businesses; letters of recommendation for trip East to view improvements in water power and to promote Ithaca as a manufacturing site; national politics; Loco Focism; Whig party.

October 6, 1839. Elijah Cornell to Ezra Cornell, regarding the economy:

Ithaca; DeRuyter; Fall Creek; Michigan.

Cornell, Elijah; Macy, Anna; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Bristol, John S.; Bristol, Elmira; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Business and financial correspondence; plans for rental housing in Ithaca; cattle; New York State Agricultural Society; Barnaby and Mooers side hill plow, and correspondence to Maine pertaining to selling of plows and plow patent rights.

July 15, 1841. Letter to the Trustees of the village of Ithaca concerning complaints about Ezra Cornell's bull.

Dexter, S.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Blunt, Joseph; Flagg, J. P.; Mooers, Henry; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Family correspondence; rental properties; Ithaca fires; agriculture; cattle; plows; pottery; temperance.

1842. Ezra Cornell to the editor of the Maine Farmer regarding Maine's potential as an agricultural state.

August 27, 29, and September 29, 1842 concerning Cornell pottery.

January 23, 1843. Samuel F.B. Morse to Archibald L. Linn with sketch of his electromagnetic telegraph instrument. Morse alphabet added to letter by Ezra Cornell, February 18, 1873.

January 31, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing a four day journey from Ithaca to New York City via stage, railroad, and steamer, relating conditions of travel, type and cost of food, arrival in the city, and the purchase of a life insurance policy. Visits and describes the Croton Reservoir.

Maine; New York City.

Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Stuvins, E.S.; Cornell, Elijah; Wood, O. S.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Linn, Archibald L.; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Personal finances; life insurance; plow sales and patent arrangements in Maine and Georgia; travel conditions (first class travel versus second); hardships of the times; Bankruptcy Act; Philadelphia Mint and markets; steamer travel; account of a rough crossing of Chesapeake Bay; observations of Southern landscape and agricultural practices; business ventures; plans for trench digging and pipe laying machine.

February 10, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

March 11, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

April 2, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children giving instructions on family deportment, an account of a murder trial, and comment on Mesmerism, religion, personal faith versus organized religion, and the difficulties in selling plows.

April 9, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell providing extensive observations of slaves and slavery, race relations, and fatherly advice and concern.

April 18, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

May 16, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children concerning superiority of Northern farmers, praise of Southern land, Southern idleness, details of route walked, and gold mines.

Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Norfolk, Va.; North Carolina; Wilmington, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Augusta, Ga.

Lincoln, A.B.; Chandler, J.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Mooers, Henry; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Family correspondence; advice and admonition concerning the children, particularly regarding their education; descriptions of travel in Maine, including an account of a rough trip by steamer to New York; character of the Maine people; phrenology; business and finance; Ezra Cornell's "new enterprise"; a proposal including a description of manufacturing possibilities in the South, and an offer by Ezra Cornell to manage a company if $100,000 were invested; plows; wool factory in Ithaca; fires in Ithaca; the laying of the test telegraph pipe between Washington D.C. and Baltimore; rejection of Ezra Cornell's initial patent claim for trench cutter, the Patent Office suggesting amendments; description of sights in Washington D.C., including extensive discussion of the Capital.

September 3, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann and children:

October 28, 1843. Correspondence concerning trench digging and pipe laying machine.

October 29, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell describing telegraph pipe laying; Ezra Cornell's "flattering" business offers; settlement of Ithaca affairs; completion of plow business in Maine:

December 27, 1843. Authorization from Samuel F.B. Morse detailing plan of action for Ezra Cornell's role in the test laying at a salary of $1000 per year.

January 19, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

Augusta, Me.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Ithaca.

Lincoln, A.B.; Cornell, E.B.; Bristol, Eliza; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Laying of the test cable; conversion to telegraph posts from trench pipe; government involvement in the project; F.O.J. Smith's view of Mr. Vail and the difficulties he causes the project, and Smith's account of other conflicts in the telegraph project; patents; manuscript patent application; description of Mount Vernon and the Princeton Steamship catastrophe; Ezra Cornell attends lecture by Daniel Webster; Ezra Cornell studies in the United States Patent Office Library; Ithaca affairs; Ithaca fire; family finances; instructions and advice on child rearing; family news; business matters; plow business.

February 16, 1844. Description of Franklin's printing press including a sketch, and a suggestion that it be displayed in the National Institute.

February 26, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing and providing sketches of items observed in the National Institute, including detailed description of implements of war from the Fiji Islands.

March 31, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell reflecting upon thirteen years of marriage:

Concerning the telegraph:

Cornell, E.B.; Slater, Justus; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Cornell, Elijah; Smith, F.O.J.; Beebe, A.; Vail, Alfred; Gale, Leonard; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Family correspondence; Mesmerism; plow business; Ithaca elections featuring Loco Foco and Abolitionist Parties; Whig Convention in Baltimore; telegraph; appropriations from Congress.

April 14, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

April 21, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

April 25, 1844. F.O.J. Smith to Ezra Cornell:

Ithaca; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore.

Cornell, E.B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Burbank, David; Cornell, Mary Ann; Vail, Alfred.

Family correspondence; telegraph business correspondence: completion of line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, conflicts between partners, removal of pipe from trench; hoop machine.

n.d. Morse's telegraphic alphabet and phrases written by Samuel F.B. Morse for use of Ezra Cornell on test line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.

July 28, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing in detail his journey by coach to Syracuse and train to Albany, his impressions of the State Geological collection, and discussing family businesses, finance, and poles for Benjamin Wood.

July 29, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing his trip by steamer "Portsmouth" down the Hudson as far as town of Hudson.

July 29, 1844. Samuel F.B. Morse to Ezra Cornell from New York:

August 9, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children concerning interest in the telegraph from companies in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York; potential employment with telegraph for family members; continued description of trip down the Hudson, including discussion of the raising of a sunken ship rumored to be that of Capt. Kidd.

Ithaca; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Albany, N.Y.

Morse, Samuel F.B.; Wood, Benjamin; Burbank, David; Vail, Alfred; Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Family correspondence; Ithaca politics; Whigs; Loco Focos; plows; telegraph business correspondence; telegraph exhibition.

August 18, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children reflecting on slavery and national politics:

September 2, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children discussing the bustle (women's fashion) and giving detailed directions to Mary Ann concerning her trip to Washington, D.C.

Baltimore; Ithaca; Washington, D.C.; Boston.

Burbank, David; Cornell, E.B.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Lincoln, A.B.; Slater, Justus; Wood, O.S.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Smith, F.O.J.

Family correspondence; business correspondence; telegraph exhibition in Boston; telegraph; elections; "lightning."

November 24, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell quoting "A World of Love at Home," a poem by J.J. Reynolds and giving instructions to his children on how to maintain this at home.

Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Wood, O.S.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Vail, Alfred.

Business correspondence; Family correspondence; telegraph; telegraph exhibition in Boston; electric conductors; alarm machine; chess games over the telegraph.

December 3, 1844. Samuel F.B. Morse to Ezra Cornell discussing the claims of Dr. Charles T. Jackson that Jackson was the inventor of the telegraph.

December 5, 1844. Orrin S. Wood to Ezra Cornell discussing use of telegraph to report proceedings of Congress.

December 15, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

Alarm machine, telegraph for the Postmaster.

December 22, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children sending New Years wishes and messages to Mary Ann, Alonzo, Frank, Elizabeth, and Oliver Perry to accompany books for each of them.

Boston; New York City.

Cornell, Mary Ann; Speed, J.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Wood, O.S.

Telegraph business correspondence: line from New York to Boston, materials and supplies, line damaged in storm, New York telegraph exhibition; discussion of possible duel between Congressmen Clingman and Yancey; conflict with Beebe.

January 15, 1845. E.B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell regarding E.B.'s financial difficulties and hopes for assistance from Ezra Cornell.

January 29, 1845. Jeremiah S. Beebe to Ezra Cornell:

New York City; Washington, D.C.

Wood, O.S.; Smith, F.O.J.; Nash, John; Burbank, David; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Cornell, Mary Ann.

Wool factory; alarm machine; telegraph business correspondence: New York telegraph exhibition, Congressional appropriation, plans for telegraphic enterprise; hoop machine; conflict with Beebe; fire at National Theater in Washington; Ithaca fire; E.B. proposes fresh water business in Chicago.

New York City; Ithaca; Washington, D.C.

Burbank, David; Avery, Thomas; Speed, J.J.; Wood, O.S.; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Cornell, E.B.

Telegraph business correspondence: line maintenance, materials and supplies; plow business.

April 19, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Samuel F.B. Morse:

Telegraph conflicts, alarm machine.

May 29, 1845. Amos Kendall to Ezra Cornell:

New York City; Washington, D.C.

Morse, Samuel F.B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Burbank, David; Speed, J.J.; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Kendall, Amos; Lincoln, A.B.

Telegraph business correspondence: rights of way, construction, materials and supplies.

June 22, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing stage coach journey:

Health, possible routes out of the city for the telegraph, visit to old neighborhood (Bergen county), Staten Island.

June 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children concerning the approaching Fourth of July:

Kendall, Amos; Cornell, Mary Ann; Smith, F.O.J.; Burbank, David.

Telegraph business correspondence: routes in New York City and New Jersey, and New York to Philadelphia, materials and supplies, stock subscriptions.

July 11, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

On visiting the Old Stone School House where he had gone to school 27 years ago:

July 27, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children written to

New York City; Ithaca.

Cornell, Mary Ann; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Kendall, Amos; Cornell, E.B.; O'Reilly, Henry.

Telegraph business correspondence: Utica line, instruments, materials and supplies, river crossing, insulation for wires, magnets; Steamship Great Britain; Family correspondence.

August 10, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

August 17, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children discussing health and fruit, and improvements to telegraph instruments:

September 19, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann and children describing telegraph exhibit at State Fair in Utica:

New York City; Utica, N.Y.

Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Butterfield, John; Messenger, S.; Kendall, Amos; Cornell, E.B.; Vail, Alfred; Rogers, H.J.; Cornell, Alonzo B.

Telegraph business correspondence: technical issues, instruments, materials and supplies, routes; Family correspondence.

October 5, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

October 15, 1845. Ezra Cornell to C.G. Page, discussing improvements in instrumentand magnet designs:

Utica; New York City.

Faxton, Theodore; Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Wood, O.S.; Kendall, Amos; Butterfield, John; Page, C.G.

Telegraph business correspondence: patent rights, instruments, New York, Albany & Buffalo line, materials and supplies, construction of lines, finances; Ithaca schools.

October 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children:

Bible quotations (proverbs) concerning husbands and wives.

New York City; Ithaca.

Page, C.G.; Wells, Henry; Wood, O.S.; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Kendall, Amos.

Telegraph business correspondence: instruments, materials and supplies, technical issues, patent rights, Buffalo to Lockport line in operation; Family correspondence; Fall Creek tunnel.

November 6, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:

November 5, 1845. Ezra Cornell to E.B. Cornell:

November 12, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

New York City; Ithaca.

Wood, O.S.; Faxton, Theodore; Cornell, Mary Ann; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Monroe, C.

Telegraph business correspondence: electricity; new lines (Lockport and Buffalo, Washington and Philadelphia).

Ithaca; Lockport, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.

Renwick, James; Cornell, E.B.; Kendall, Amos; Wood, O.S.; Smith, F.O.J.; Sage, H.W.

Telegraph business correspondence; Family correspondence.

November 23, 1845. Ezra Cornell:

November 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:

Ithaca; Lockport; Washington, D.C.; New York City.

Cornell, Alonzo B.; Kendall, Amos; Smith, F.O.J.; Wells, Henry

Telegraph business correspondence: technical matters, establishment of new lines, patent rights.

December 7, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

O'Reilly, Henry; Faxton, Theodore; Kendall, Amos; Carter, Samuel P.; Goell, A.C.; Eddy, James; Smith, F.O.J.; Wood, O.S.

Telegraph business correspondence: technical matters, establishment of new lines, finances, materials and supplies; Family correspondence.

December 14, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell:

Kendall, Amos; Goell, A.C.; Wood, O.S.; Butterfield, J.; Smith, F.O.J.; Eddy, James; O'Reilly, Henry.

Telegraph business correspondence: technical matters, conflict with Vail and others, question of Ezra Cornell's employment, stock subscriptions offered to Ithaca businessmen.

December 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell:

New York City; Ithaca.

O'Reilly, Henry; Wood, O.S.; Vail, Alfred; Kendall, Amos; Faxton, Theodore.

Description	Box /	Folder
June 17, 1828 - September 22, 1830 : [35 digital images]	1	1
TOPICS: Family correspondence; family health; travel; Quaker Meeting; personal finances; news from friends and acquaintances (death of children, social events).
HIGHLIGHTS: August 23, 1830. E.B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell from Manlius: "It's very sickly about here now, there is about 2 hundred patients under the phisician's care."
PLACES: DeRuyter, N.Y.; Manlius, N.Y.; Ithaca, N.Y.
PEOPLE: Cornell, Elijah; Cornell, E.B.; Eddy, Otis; Cornell, Mary Ann.
May 19, 1831 - June 12, 1837 : [57 digital images]	1	2
TOPICS: Family correspondence; birth of son Charles and daughter Elizabeth, death of Charles; finance and real estate speculation; mills and women mill workers; national politics and financial situation.
HIGHLIGHTS: February 24, 1832. Ezra Cornell's response to expulsion from Quaker Church due to his marriage to Mary Ann Wood: "I have always considered that choosing a companion for life was a very important affair and that my happyness or misery in this life depended on the choice…" March 6, 1834. Ezra Cornell to Elijah Cornell: "I informed thee when thee was out that I had got out of debt and a little to spare but not being able to enjoy sound sleap while I remained in that situation (that some would call happy) I have remedied the evil by running in debt for the large house and lot…" January 13, 1836. Reference to "distressing conflagration" in New York City. May 15, 1836. Ezra Cornell to Elijah Cornell discussing Ithaca's potential, mentioning the New York and Erie Railroad and the Sodus Canal.
PLACES: Fall Creek (Ithaca); DeRuyter; Rochester, N.Y.; Michigan.
PEOPLE: Merritt, Nehemiah; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Wood, M.B.; Wood, Benjamin; Wood, O. S.; Bristol, John S.; Bristol, Elmira; DeWitt family; Cornell, Mary Ann.
June 18, 1837 - September 11, 1838 : [67 digital images]	1	3
TOPICS: Management of Jeremiah Beebe's Ithaca affairs; textile mill; flour mill; women mill workers; tannery; water power.
PLACES: Ithaca.
PEOPLE: Cornell, Elijah; Cornell, E.B.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Whyte, Thomas; Blunt, Joseph; Bristol, John S.; Bristol, Elmira; Cornell, Mary Ann.
October 27, 1838 - July 15, 1841 : [54 digital images]	1	4
TOPICS: Family correspondence; family relations; business and financial matters; pottery; Cornell & Wright grocery; water power; mill machinery; Beebe's directives for businesses; letters of recommendation for trip East to view improvements in water power and to promote Ithaca as a manufacturing site; national politics; Loco Focism; Whig party.
HIGHLIGHTS: October 6, 1839. Elijah Cornell to Ezra Cornell, regarding the economy: "But in observing the signs of the times I think it is time for people to sing small songs…"
PLACES: Ithaca; DeRuyter; Fall Creek; Michigan.
PEOPLE: Cornell, Elijah; Macy, Anna; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Bristol, John S.; Bristol, Elmira; Cornell, Mary Ann.
July 15, 1841 - August 13, 1842 : [78 digital images]	1	5
TOPICS: Business and financial correspondence; plans for rental housing in Ithaca; cattle; New York State Agricultural Society; Barnaby and Mooers side hill plow, and correspondence to Maine pertaining to selling of plows and plow patent rights.
HIGHLIGHTS: July 15, 1841. Letter to the Trustees of the village of Ithaca concerning complaints about Ezra Cornell's bull.
PLACES: Ithaca; Maine.
PEOPLE: Dexter, S.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Blunt, Joseph; Flagg, J. P.; Mooers, Henry; Cornell, Mary Ann.
August 18, 1842 - January 31, 1843 : [79 digital images]	1	6
TOPICS: Family correspondence; rental properties; Ithaca fires; agriculture; cattle; plows; pottery; temperance.
HIGHLIGHTS: 1842. Ezra Cornell to the editor of the Maine Farmer regarding Maine's potential as an agricultural state. August 27, 29, and September 29, 1842 concerning Cornell pottery. January 23, 1843. Samuel F.B. Morse to Archibald L. Linn with sketch of his electromagnetic telegraph instrument. Morse alphabet added to letter by Ezra Cornell, February 18, 1873. January 31, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing a four day journey from Ithaca to New York City via stage, railroad, and steamer, relating conditions of travel, type and cost of food, arrival in the city, and the purchase of a life insurance policy. Visits and describes the Croton Reservoir.
PLACES: Maine; New York City.
PEOPLE: Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Stuvins, E.S.; Cornell, Elijah; Wood, O. S.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Linn, Archibald L.; Cornell, Mary Ann.
February 2, 1843 - August 17, 1843 : [68 digital images]	1	7
TOPICS: Personal finances; life insurance; plow sales and patent arrangements in Maine and Georgia; travel conditions (first class travel versus second); hardships of the times; Bankruptcy Act; Philadelphia Mint and markets; steamer travel; account of a rough crossing of Chesapeake Bay; observations of Southern landscape and agricultural practices; business ventures; plans for trench digging and pipe laying machine.
HIGHLIGHTS: February 10, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "…I have got 57 cents left but there is always a way when there is a will and I will get along somehow. I shall have to let you pay the postage on letters…" March 11, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "I arrived at this place last evening very much fatigued with a walk of 150 miles from Charleston through snow and rain…" April 2, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children giving instructions on family deportment, an account of a murder trial, and comment on Mesmerism, religion, personal faith versus organized religion, and the difficulties in selling plows. April 9, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell providing extensive observations of slaves and slavery, race relations, and fatherly advice and concern. April 18, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "My dear, the duty that devolved wholly on you in my absence of guiding and expanding the minds of our dear children is a laborious one and a responsible one… "I find that a well-formed, healthy negrow can get as many wives as he wants if it is 3 or 4 at a time but a decrepid fellow can't get the first one by the consent of (her) master or mistress. why is it sow. plain enough 'like begets like' they wish to improve their stock. "…but the American slaves are all illegitimate. I don't know as it can be different were people are bred as stock and sold in the market a cattel." May 16, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children concerning superiority of Northern farmers, praise of Southern land, Southern idleness, details of route walked, and gold mines.
PLACES: Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Norfolk, Va.; North Carolina; Wilmington, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Augusta, Ga.
PEOPLE: Lincoln, A.B.; Chandler, J.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Mooers, Henry; Cornell, Mary Ann.
August 24, 1843 - February 5, 1844 : [62 digital images]	1	8
TOPICS: Family correspondence; advice and admonition concerning the children, particularly regarding their education; descriptions of travel in Maine, including an account of a rough trip by steamer to New York; character of the Maine people; phrenology; business and finance; Ezra Cornell's "new enterprise"; a proposal including a description of manufacturing possibilities in the South, and an offer by Ezra Cornell to manage a company if $100,000 were invested; plows; wool factory in Ithaca; fires in Ithaca; the laying of the test telegraph pipe between Washington D.C. and Baltimore; rejection of Ezra Cornell's initial patent claim for trench cutter, the Patent Office suggesting amendments; description of sights in Washington D.C., including extensive discussion of the Capital.
HIGHLIGHTS: September 3, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann and children: "Idleness is to the human mind like rust to iron." October 28, 1843. Correspondence concerning trench digging and pipe laying machine. October 29, 1843. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell describing telegraph pipe laying; Ezra Cornell's "flattering" business offers; settlement of Ithaca affairs; completion of plow business in Maine: "I can assure you my Dear that I breathe freer and deeper than I have done for some time past. I feel as though Old Dame Fortune was bestirring herself to make amends as far as may be for her past neglect, but I am cool." December 27, 1843. Authorization from Samuel F.B. Morse detailing plan of action for Ezra Cornell's role in the test laying at a salary of $1000 per year. January 19, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "…I have an invention in Embrio that my opperations here has suggested that will open the Eyes of the world, it will be far in advance of anything of the day, and it astonishes me that it should have been overlooked so long."
PLACES: Augusta, Me.; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Ithaca.
PEOPLE: Lincoln, A.B.; Cornell, E.B.; Bristol, Eliza; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Cornell, Mary Ann.
February 16, 1844 - March 31, 1844 : [60 digital images]	1	9
TOPICS: Laying of the test cable; conversion to telegraph posts from trench pipe; government involvement in the project; F.O.J. Smith's view of Mr. Vail and the difficulties he causes the project, and Smith's account of other conflicts in the telegraph project; patents; manuscript patent application; description of Mount Vernon and the Princeton Steamship catastrophe; Ezra Cornell attends lecture by Daniel Webster; Ezra Cornell studies in the United States Patent Office Library; Ithaca affairs; Ithaca fire; family finances; instructions and advice on child rearing; family news; business matters; plow business.
HIGHLIGHTS: February 16, 1844. Description of Franklin's printing press including a sketch, and a suggestion that it be displayed in the National Institute. February 26, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing and providing sketches of items observed in the National Institute, including detailed description of implements of war from the Fiji Islands. March 31, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell reflecting upon thirteen years of marriage: "We have avoided the quicksands of jealousy, the whirlpools of dissipation, the rocks of passion, and the many other impediments to a safe and happy voige. I don't believe that a preparation consists in a belief in Millerism, Jo Smithism, or any of the popular isms of the day, but in doing right…" Concerning the telegraph: "…the thirteen miles will be sufficient to test the phylosophical principal and then if it works well we are in hopes that congress will make appropriations for its continuance to Philadelphia."
PLACES: Washington, D.C.
PEOPLE: Cornell, E.B.; Slater, Justus; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Cornell, Elijah; Smith, F.O.J.; Beebe, A.; Vail, Alfred; Gale, Leonard; Cornell, Mary Ann.
April 1, 1844 - May 8, 1844 : [51 digital images]	1	10
TOPICS: Family correspondence; Mesmerism; plow business; Ithaca elections featuring Loco Foco and Abolitionist Parties; Whig Convention in Baltimore; telegraph; appropriations from Congress.
HIGHLIGHTS: April 14, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "…for if I could get [Alonzo] a place at a dollar a day it would be better than some men could do, at any rate it would be better than loafing about fall Creek." April 21, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "We are getting along with the telegraph to a good advantage, and it works well, we have got out 14.5 miles from Washington, and at that distance I can converce with Professor Morse as readily as though I was within two feet of him." April 25, 1844. F.O.J. Smith to Ezra Cornell: "In practical matters I do not think there ever was yoked into one team a pair of more decidedly unteachable asses than the Professor and [Vail] without your good common sense to temper their follies, the whole concern would have before this become a laughing stock to the country."
PLACES: Ithaca; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore.
PEOPLE: Cornell, E.B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Burbank, David; Cornell, Mary Ann; Vail, Alfred.
May 13, 1844 - August 9, 1844 : [50 digital images]	2	1
TOPICS: Family correspondence; telegraph business correspondence: completion of line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, conflicts between partners, removal of pipe from trench; hoop machine.
HIGHLIGHTS: n.d. Morse's telegraphic alphabet and phrases written by Samuel F.B. Morse for use of Ezra Cornell on test line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. July 28, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing in detail his journey by coach to Syracuse and train to Albany, his impressions of the State Geological collection, and discussing family businesses, finance, and poles for Benjamin Wood. July 29, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing his trip by steamer "Portsmouth" down the Hudson as far as town of Hudson. July 29, 1844. Samuel F.B. Morse to Ezra Cornell from New York: "Things in relation to the Telegraph look well, and if our plans succeed here, you will not want for ample employment." August 9, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children concerning interest in the telegraph from companies in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York; potential employment with telegraph for family members; continued description of trip down the Hudson, including discussion of the raising of a sunken ship rumored to be that of Capt. Kidd.
PLACES: Ithaca; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Albany, N.Y.
PEOPLE: Morse, Samuel F.B.; Wood, Benjamin; Burbank, David; Vail, Alfred; Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann.
August 10, 1844 - September 25, 1844 : [37 digital images]	2	2
TOPICS: Family correspondence; Ithaca politics; Whigs; Loco Focos; plows; telegraph business correspondence; telegraph exhibition.
HIGHLIGHTS: August 18, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children reflecting on slavery and national politics: "My dear, I am convinced that our 'humble cot' is the dwelling place of more happiness in one day than falls to the lot of many a human being in this portion of our boasted 'land of Liberty' during a long life. "Slavery as it is garenteed in the states by the Constitution is bad enough and must be indured until it is removed by the fource of enlightened publick opinion acting upon the slaveholder, but for the sake of humanity let it not be extended." September 2, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children discussing the bustle (women's fashion) and giving detailed directions to Mary Ann concerning her trip to Washington, D.C.
PLACES: Baltimore; Ithaca; Washington, D.C.; Boston.
PEOPLE: Burbank, David; Cornell, E.B.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Lincoln, A.B.; Slater, Justus; Wood, O.S.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Smith, F.O.J.
October 7, 1844 - November 22, 1844 : [43 digital images]	2	3
TOPICS: Family correspondence; business correspondence; telegraph exhibition in Boston; telegraph; elections; "lightning."
HIGHLIGHTS: November 24, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell quoting "A World of Love at Home," a poem by J.J. Reynolds and giving instructions to his children on how to maintain this at home.
PLACES: Boston; Ithaca.
PEOPLE: Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Wood, O.S.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Vail, Alfred.
December 1, 1844 - December 29, 1844 : [43 digital images]	2	4
TOPICS: Business correspondence; Family correspondence; telegraph; telegraph exhibition in Boston; electric conductors; alarm machine; chess games over the telegraph.
HIGHLIGHTS: December 3, 1844. Samuel F.B. Morse to Ezra Cornell discussing the claims of Dr. Charles T. Jackson that Jackson was the inventor of the telegraph. December 5, 1844. Orrin S. Wood to Ezra Cornell discussing use of telegraph to report proceedings of Congress. December 15, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "I had heard while at Providence last Thursday that Mary had recd. proposals from Robert Macy but had decided not to accept them, I was glad to hear of that determination as I detest the practice of cousins marrying or any marriage between persons in which there can be traced the most distant relationship. I go for the improvement instead of the deterioration of our race…" Alarm machine, telegraph for the Postmaster. December 22, 1844. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children sending New Years wishes and messages to Mary Ann, Alonzo, Frank, Elizabeth, and Oliver Perry to accompany books for each of them.
PLACES: Boston; New York City.
PEOPLE: Cornell, Mary Ann; Speed, J.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Wood, O.S.
January 2, 1845 - January 31, 1845 : [50 digital images]	2	5
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: line from New York to Boston, materials and supplies, line damaged in storm, New York telegraph exhibition; discussion of possible duel between Congressmen Clingman and Yancey; conflict with Beebe.
HIGHLIGHTS: January 15, 1845. E.B. Cornell to Ezra Cornell regarding E.B.'s financial difficulties and hopes for assistance from Ezra Cornell. January 29, 1845. Jeremiah S. Beebe to Ezra Cornell: "I think it was 1829 or 30 that I applied to Otis Eddy for a man to mend my plaster mill, and he recommended you. At that time I was worth $40.000 and you perhaps 40/, soon after I employed you to take charge of my affair at Fall Creek. From that time forward for at least 8 or 9 years you was in my employment at a good salary. You had my means to live on and my […] to try your crazy experiments upon, and what is the result. I am now obliged to wear the old clothes about that I had 7 years ago and you are moving upon lightening. You have been brought forward to the world's notice…"
PLACES: New York City; Washington, D.C.
PEOPLE: Wood, O.S.; Smith, F.O.J.; Nash, John; Burbank, David; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Cornell, Mary Ann.
February 1, 1845 - March 23, 1845 : [52 digital images]	2	6
TOPICS: Wool factory; alarm machine; telegraph business correspondence: New York telegraph exhibition, Congressional appropriation, plans for telegraphic enterprise; hoop machine; conflict with Beebe; fire at National Theater in Washington; Ithaca fire; E.B. proposes fresh water business in Chicago.
PLACES: New York City; Ithaca; Washington, D.C.
PEOPLE: Burbank, David; Avery, Thomas; Speed, J.J.; Wood, O.S.; Smith, F.O.J.; Morse, Samuel F.B.; Beebe, Jeremiah S.; Cornell, E.B.
April 10, 1845 - May 29, 1845 : [34 digital images]	2	7
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: line maintenance, materials and supplies; plow business.
HIGHLIGHTS: April 19, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Samuel F.B. Morse: "…my object was to aid in carrying through, what I regarded as a magnificent experiment, and laying a foundation for future profitable employment." Telegraph conflicts, alarm machine. May 29, 1845. Amos Kendall to Ezra Cornell: "…we are willing to arrange for your employment and services in behalf of the Magnetic Telegraph Company of which you are already a member with this understanding…"
PLACES: New York City; Washington, D.C.
PEOPLE: Morse, Samuel F.B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Burbank, David; Speed, J.J.; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Kendall, Amos; Lincoln, A.B.
June 15, 1845 - June 28, 1845 : [28 digital images]	2	8
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: rights of way, construction, materials and supplies.
HIGHLIGHTS: June 22, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children describing stage coach journey: "The night got rather cool and a great coat would have been comfortable but I did not suffer at all for the want of one and I'm inclined to the opinion that the absence of the warmth from an overcoat was all that saved me from stage sickness if so the circumstance may be given as another evidence that 'poverty is a blessing.' "The children must not be idle, they must study some, work some, and play some, they must be at something all the time." Health, possible routes out of the city for the telegraph, visit to old neighborhood (Bergen county), Staten Island. June 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children concerning the approaching Fourth of July: "…the only guarantee the present generation has that our free and hapy form of government will be handed down unimpaired as it came from the hands of our Patriot Fathers, to our children and our children's children is in universal education…Then let Universal Education be the Patriot's wachword…"
PLACES: New York City.
PEOPLE: Kendall, Amos; Cornell, Mary Ann; Smith, F.O.J.; Burbank, David.
July 6, 1845 - July 31, 1845 : [59 digital images]	2	9
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: routes in New York City and New Jersey, and New York to Philadelphia, materials and supplies, stock subscriptions.
HIGHLIGHTS: July 11, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "I think Elizabeth is quite romantic to call her Father's letters novels'…but she will find this difference between the two, novels are the coinage of missguided brains, making no instructions to truth or reality, but dealing largely in 'the fancies' while her Father's letters contain truth, plain unvarnished truth, and I hope that is the quality that induces E. to admire them." On visiting the Old Stone School House where he had gone to school 27 years ago: "Not being satisfied that I got the worth of the money that my good Father paid for my larning there, I sought to indemnify myself by obtaining some relic of the house itself so I knocked some pieces out of it's 'time honoured walls' which I shall deposit properly labilled in my museum of curiosities." July 27, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children written to "appear like a Novel to my little Rosebud."
PLACES: New York City; Ithaca.
PEOPLE: Cornell, Mary Ann; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Smith, F.O.J.; Kendall, Amos; Cornell, E.B.; O'Reilly, Henry.
August 2, 1845 - September 30, 1845 : [84 digital images]	2	10
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: Utica line, instruments, materials and supplies, river crossing, insulation for wires, magnets; Steamship Great Britain; Family correspondence.
HIGHLIGHTS: August 10, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "…I must pay you the compliment of being quite a financier…you must keep a keen eye on your tenants and make them 'Pony up' -- does not Potter trade in something that you want if so try to get something out of him, take candy if you can get nothing else, Perry would soon learn to eat candy if he dont already know how…" August 17, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children discussing health and fruit, and improvements to telegraph instruments: "I am making other improvements that I have full confidence will be successful by business superintending my work getting materials, planning and draughting for new improvements writing my letters and accts. keeps me fully employed I don't get half the time to read that I should like to devote to it, things look well and will come out right in the end." September 19, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann and children describing telegraph exhibit at State Fair in Utica: "I had about 2000 visiters a room 30 by 40 crowded from morning till night. The wonder with all was how I stood it, to talk so much and so long as I did in explaining the telegraph to such a multitude."
PLACES: New York City; Utica, N.Y.
PEOPLE: Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Butterfield, John; Messenger, S.; Kendall, Amos; Cornell, E.B.; Vail, Alfred; Rogers, H.J.; Cornell, Alonzo B.
October 1, 1845 - October 16, 1845 : [40 digital images]	2	11
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: technical issues, instruments, materials and supplies, routes; Family correspondence.
HIGHLIGHTS: October 5, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "…my old hat crown was most out, and a hole in my pants and some buttons off and my shoes riped down the side, but that is nothing my heart is sound and my head clear…" October 15, 1845. Ezra Cornell to C.G. Page, discussing improvements in instrumentand magnet designs: "I am unconcious of having done anything wrong in the matter, and am very sorry if you have the impression that I would wrong you in the slightest degree, even were it in my power, I have done nothing and would do nothing that I should not be willing that you should do by me, I act from principle founded upon justice to all men."
PLACES: Utica; New York City.
PEOPLE: Faxton, Theodore; Smith, F.O.J.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Wood, O.S.; Kendall, Amos; Butterfield, John; Page, C.G.
October 18, 1845 - October 31, 1845 : [42 digital images]	2	12
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: patent rights, instruments, New York, Albany & Buffalo line, materials and supplies, construction of lines, finances; Ithaca schools.
HIGHLIGHTS: October 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell and children: "Your going to church I approve as I do your doings in general, I think however the churches are not as usefull as they would be if they would teach their diciples…to practice upon the precepts laid down by Christ. Do unto others, as you would that should do unto you, Love your neighbour as your self, Let him who is free from sin cast the first stone, &c &c &c." Bible quotations (proverbs) concerning husbands and wives.
PLACES: New York City; Ithaca.
PEOPLE: Page, C.G.; Wells, Henry; Wood, O.S.; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Cornell, Mary Ann; Kendall, Amos.
November 1, 1845 - November 9, 1845 : [43 digital images]	2	13
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: instruments, materials and supplies, technical issues, patent rights, Buffalo to Lockport line in operation; Family correspondence; Fall Creek tunnel.
HIGHLIGHTS: November 6, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell: "If you go to Dryden, you and Otis and Norman and perhaps one or two other young philosophers might get up a Philosophical Club, and spend your winter evenings profitably… …the serenade at Unkle Js must have been interesting. Dryden is a great place for musick, but such musicians make poor phylosiphers. I had rather you would study phylosiphy than musick in that school." November 5, 1845. Ezra Cornell to E.B. Cornell: "I can't at the present time tell when I shall be at home, nor where I shall spend the winter. The Phil. Co. wants me to stay and keep the charge of working their line. The New York, Albany & Buffalo Co. want me, and offer $2000 for me to take charge of their line and the N.Y. and Boston Co. want me to take theirs, and will do as well by me as either, and I don't know yet which will get me. I want to go where I can be of the most service to the general enterprise." November 12, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "…I am not shure but I shall contrive some way by which I could kiss you by telegraph. How would you like to be bussed by lightning? It would seem odd no doubt, but there is no telling what will be done yet, these are the times of strange and marvelous things…"
PLACES: New York City; Ithaca.
PEOPLE: Wood, O.S.; Faxton, Theodore; Cornell, Mary Ann; Cornell, Alonzo B.; Monroe, C.
November 10, 1845 - November 20, 1845 : [42 digital images]	3	1
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: electricity; new lines (Lockport and Buffalo, Washington and Philadelphia).
PLACES: Ithaca; Lockport, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.
PEOPLE: Renwick, James; Cornell, E.B.; Kendall, Amos; Wood, O.S.; Smith, F.O.J.; Sage, H.W.
November 22, 1845 - November 30, 1845 : [43 digital images]	3	2
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence; Family correspondence.
HIGHLIGHTS: November 23, 1845. Ezra Cornell: "My section of the Tel extends to Somerville New Jersey about 70 miles by the rout of the wires." November 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell: "I want you to be diligent in your studies, for you will soon be wanted for something else. I am going to have a telegraph from Ithaca to Auburn and you may be wanted to take one of the stations. So you see it is important that you should improve the time well, while you have a chance to go to school."
PLACES: Ithaca; Lockport; Washington, D.C.; New York City.
PEOPLE: Cornell, Alonzo B.; Kendall, Amos; Smith, F.O.J.; Wells, Henry
December 2, 1845 - December 13, 1845 : [58 digital images]	3	3
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: technical matters, establishment of new lines, patent rights.
HIGHLIGHTS: December 7, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "The duty of the mother outweigh the affections of the wife, that is a heavenly emplanted virtue in the breast of woman. I am bound to make a thousand dollars out of that operation [Ithaca to Auburn telegraph] but this I say to you in confidence and don't want it to go further at present."
PLACES: New York City.
PEOPLE: O'Reilly, Henry; Faxton, Theodore; Kendall, Amos; Carter, Samuel P.; Goell, A.C.; Eddy, James; Smith, F.O.J.; Wood, O.S.
December 14, 1845 - December 22, 1845 : [53 digital images]	3	4
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: technical matters, establishment of new lines, finances, materials and supplies; Family correspondence.
HIGHLIGHTS: December 14, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Mary Ann Cornell: "There is nothing I have to reflect on that gives me more satisfaction than the fact that my life is insured for the benefit of my Dear Wife and children."
PLACES: New York City.
PEOPLE: Kendall, Amos; Goell, A.C.; Wood, O.S.; Butterfield, J.; Smith, F.O.J.; Eddy, James; O'Reilly, Henry.
December 24, 1845 - December 31, 1845 : [46 digital images]	3	5
TOPICS: Telegraph business correspondence: technical matters, conflict with Vail and others, question of Ezra Cornell's employment, stock subscriptions offered to Ithaca businessmen.
HIGHLIGHTS: December 30, 1845. Ezra Cornell to Alonzo B. Cornell: "I thank you for your wish of a 'merry Christmas' and can inform you that I made it merry with work."
PLACES: New York City; Ithaca.
PEOPLE: O'Reilly, Henry; Wood, O.S.; Vail, Alfred; Kendall, Amos; Faxton, Theodore.