Craig Cornell
History of the State of Montana, by Joaquim Miller, 1894 

Craig Cornell, a Montana pioneer of 1864 and one of the 
enterprising and successful farmers of the Beaver 
Head Valley, is a native of Indiana, born in Porter County, 
January 8, 1839. Mr. Cornell is of Scotch descent, 
his great-grandfather Cornell having emigrated from that 
country to Long Island previous to the Revolution. 
Some members of the family participated in the struggle for 
independence. Mr. Cornell's father, Isaac Cornell,
was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, April 17, 1792. 
He was married in 1818 to Miss Priscilla Morgan, 
a native of Virginia, born in 1800. They moved to Ohio and 
settled in Wayne County, where they resided until 
1835, at which time they removed to Indiana, where he cleared 
up several farms, being among the pioneers of 
that state also. 

He died in Indiana, January 22, 1874, in the eighty-first year 
of his age. His good wife had passed away 
November 25, 1859 in her fifty-ninth year. They were honest, 
upright and industrious and were the parents 
of eleven children of whom five are living. 

The subject of this sketch was their tenth child. He as reared 
on the farm in Indiana on which he was born, 
and remained at home until he was twenty-five years of age, his 
education being received in the district schools. 
In 1864 he crossed the plains to Montana, came with a mule team 
and was sixty days on the journey. He came 
direct to Bannack and worked at mining, receiving $6.00 a day. 
In 1865 he was engaged in prospecting in Helena 
and in other parts of the Territory and in 1866 he located the 
ranch on the south side of Dillon where he now 
resides. Here he owns 1,000 acres of land and his wife is the 
owner of 115 acres. His chief farming products 
are wheat, oats, timothy and alfalfa hay. He has also been 
largely interested in the stock business, raising
horses, sheep and cattle, he being the pioneer dairyman of 
his section of the country. His cattle are Holstein 
and Shorthorn; his horses are Norman-Percheron, and his sheep 
Shropshire and Merino. His stock and premises 
are indicative of the intelligent and prosperous farmer. 

Mr. Cornell had "bached" in Montana until November 16, 1871 
when he was married in Indiana to Eliza Keller.
She was born in Ohio, June 30, 1845, daughter of John Keller, 
a native of Maryland; moved with her parents 
to Indiana and there she and Mr. Cornell were schoolmates. They 
have four children, Isaac Rosco, Estella, 
Mary Viola and Miron C. At this writing their son, Isaac R is 
attending college.
 
Mr. Cornell is a consistent Democrat all his life. He is a Master 
Mason and a citizen of the highest integrity.
During his long residence in Montana he has made a most 
satisfactory record. 

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