Fess Cornelius 1895-1975

Grandfather - Paternal Side

How do you write about someone that was larger than life? There is no possible way to convey everything that he did, so I am attempting to at least get my point of view on this blog. I have no doubt that I will leave off a good portion but these are my memories and the facts that I have been able to gather.

Fess Cornelius was born April 22, 1895 in Ferris, Ellis County, Texas to William Cargill and Mary Elizabeth Patrick Cornelius. He was the fifth child out of six and the first one born in Texas after William and Mary moved from Alabama. On the 1900 U.S. Census he is listed as Professor. Family lore states that his name was Professor Dove or Professor Love after a neighbor or family friend but I have been unable to find facts to substantiate this. On all subsequent documentation he is listed as Fess. According to Census records, he only attended school until the 5th Grade.

Draft Papers

Fess lost his father early in life. He was raised by his mother and brothers on a series of rented farms across Oklahoma. According to his 1917 Draft Registration Card he was living in Reagan, Oklahoma as a farmer. He served in the Army as a Private, Quartermaster Corps, 325th ARD from September 3, 1918 until April 21, 1919 in Houston at Camp Logan located in what is now known as Memorial Park.

Fess - Bottom Row, 4th from right. Photo taken 1918 possibly at Camp Logan

On his enlistment record Fess is listed as "Character: Very Good". It also states that he was in the base hospital from January 4, 1919 until his discharge and was in "Poor Physical Condition".

Fess Cornelius Enlistment Record

In 1919 Fess was working in a carnival back in Oklahoma where he met Dartha Esther Hembree.

They married on August 20, 1919 in LeFlore County, Oklahoma. Together they had the following children:

1. W.C. Cornelius (1920-1975); married 1st Lois ??; married 2nd Billie Jean Mize
2. Everett Cornelius (1923- 2009); married Eola Floralene Hutsen
3. Marshall Aaron Cornelius (1926-2001); married Wanda Faye Jones
4. Billy Jean Cornelius (1928- ); married Virginia Ray Rawls

Top Row: Everett, Marshall, Billy; Bottom Row: W.C., Fess, Dorothy

From the 1920's until around the mid 1930's, Fess and his family resided on farms in Oklahoma. His brother, James Emanuel "Manuel" lived with them. Here is where family lore comes in: Fess raised watermelons and made moonshine. According to his wife "One of these days the hills around Ardmore are going to blow up! Fess would make moonshine and drink it. When he drank it, he would get paranoid that the Revenuers would come and arrest him so Fess would bury it. Once sober again, Fess would forget where he buried it." Another family member (I forgot who) told me that Fess would take watermelons that had been filled with moonshine to the Police Station in town. This seems to have been to his advantage if true. The story according to several family members (including my father) states that a neighbor had to pass through Fess' land in order to get home. Fess had a cow and the neighbor would leave the gate open allowing the cow to wander away. This same neighbor would then charge Fess to get the cow back. Either Fess or Manuel shot the neighbor over the cow, I can't say for sure which one. Fess was tipped off by the police so he fled the county. He sent word to Dart (as he called his wife) to pack up everything in the middle of the night which she did along with their four young sons. They immediately moved to South Texas so he could avoid prosecution. After a late freeze killed their crops, the family moved to Houston. Fess still remained in contact with his family in Oklahoma throughout his lifetime.

Fess & Tom Cornelius at Roy Cornelius Grave, 1945

Fess worked hard. Not only for his immediate family but his extended family as well. According to family lore, he supported Dorothy's (yes, she changed her name) family during the Depression. Once he arrived in Houston he was a peddler of fresh vegetables. Fess also began selling used auto parts on Airline Drive.

Red's Auto Parts, 1824 Airline Drive, Houston, Texas

Eventually Fess was able to purchase land on McDaniel Street where he built a home.  Later he purchased property on Eubanks and opened Red's Nursery.

Dorothy at nursery

One day in the 1960's, quite out of the blue, Fess sold the nursery and opened a boat shop on Irvington. He and Dart moved into a travel trailer until the apartment over the shop could be built. It had a bedroom, living room, kitchen with a dinette table and a bathroom. No pretense but very practical.

Fess in living room on Irvington

On his desk in the boat shop, Fess had a home made barometer which was a coke bottle filled with water and turned upside down to fit into an orange juice bottle. He fished by that barometer and if asked if he wanted to go fishing, that was the deciding factor. He also kept a carton of malted milk balls on his desk.

Fess Cornelius and William R. Husten, November 1969 at boat shop on Irvington

Fess sold used boat parts and had a sign made out of card board and magic marker that stated: No Refunds and No Returns. When a customer came in to get a refund on a broken controller, Fess pointed to the sign. A fight ensued and Fess had a cut on his head that required stitches so when I came home from school, Papaw was sitting in the living room with his bandaged head and his hat sitting on his lap. When I asked my mother why he was there (Fess did not visit people often, they came to visit him!) she quietly told me that he was hiding from the police. No charges were ever filed and he went home that night.

 Fess and religion. I never knew of Fess going to church but apparently he did at one point in his life. He was supposed to have a beautiful singing voice and sang in the choir. All that I can say for sure is that Fess never attended church with us and kept his business open on Sundays, unless he was going fishing.

Fess and fishing. Check barometer and go! If you are a Cornelius then you fish. Doesn't matter if it's fresh water or salt water, you fish. Weather is not really a factor either and we all learned from Fess. I can remember we were out on the boat and Papaw was catching fish left and right while I was catching nothing (being all of 6 or 7 years old) and asked him why I wasn't catching anything. He told me that you had to spit on your bait, so I did and caught a fish. I can still remember him laughing.

Fess and hospitals. Fess thought of hospitals as places that you went to die. He would not visit even his wife in the hospital.

Fess and the raccoon. Some how Fess wound up with a raccoon as a pet. Family lore states that it had gotten on the owners Thanksgiving table and made a wreck so Fess inherited it. Fess would let it run around and Dorothy thought it a pest and would chase it out of the apartment with a broom. It would steal shiny objects and take them to it's cage. When you tried to retrieve the object it would bite. It bit me on the leg one Sunday (I am sure I was annoying it) so Fess poured alcohol on the bite and smeared it with his greasy hand which ruined my new white lace socks. I don't recall how long he kept the coon, but I am sure Grandmother put her foot down and made Fess get rid of it.

Fess and Dorothy 50 Year Anniversary

Fess was not a gentle man by any means. He was a force to be reckoned with at any stage of his life although to his family he was a sweetheart and thought my Mom was the smartest woman around because she got her driver's license. He would feed pecans to wild squirrels right out of his hand and shirt pocket which showed me that he had great patience when needed. I would sit in his lap at his desk and he would frighten me by flicking his false teeth out at me, then give me a hug and chuckle. Everett once said that his father was a wise man who could figure out anything to make it work. Probably where Everett inherited it from.

In August of 1975, Fess' oldest son W.C., drowned in an accident. Fess took his death extremely hard and died a few weeks later of a heart attack at the age of 80.