Woman of the Century/Ellen Frances Cornell

ELLEN FRANCES CORNELL. CORNELL, Mrs. Ellen Frances, born in Middleboro. Mass., 20th July, 1835. She is the daughter of George and Marcia Thompson Atwood, and the youngest of a family of nine children. She is a descendant in the seventh generation from John Atwood, Gentleman, of London, Eng., who came to Plymouth soon after the landing of the Pilgrims. The first mention of him in the old Colonial Records is made in 1633. Her maternal ancestor, John Thompson, from the north of England, came to Plymouth in May, 1622, in the third embarkation from England. In the troubles with the Indians, die people in the vicinity of his home chose him as their commander, and the Governor and Council of Plymouth gave him a general commission as lieutenant-commandant of the field and garrison and all posts of danger. Ellen attended the district school near her home and public and private schools in New Bedford, and later the academy in Middleboro. She became a teacher, and to that work she gave six years of her life. She became the wife, in Ecbruary, 1850, of Mark Hollingsworth Cornell, of Rridgewater, Mass. Since then they have resided in their pleasant home on the bank of the Taunton river, in one of the most beautiful spots in that region. For many years Mrs. Cornell was an invalid, confined to her home, and for seven years of that time unable to leave her bed. Her interest in the world about her, from which she was isolated, never wearied. The influence of her patient life was felt far beyond the confines of her own room. Her poems have been printed in various papers and magazines. Mrs Cornell is a member of the New Church Her summers are now passed in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, where she employs many hours of her time in adding to her already large collection of marine shells, which she has carefully classified.