A Long Lost Grayson Connection

HOUSTON, TX—I had a gradual awakening to the desire to look for my ancestral roots. My paternal grandmother was the first to inoculate my interest with old family pictures, stories, and family group sheets. She had begun gathering info for two family names, Ulland and Cornett. The Ulland line was Norwegian, where my siblings and I got our size – I’m 6’4” and not even the big guy in the family. Norwegian heritage is tough to trace, as surnames change every generation, i.e., Peter Nygard’s son could be Christian Peterson (Peter’s son).

I was born in Houston in 1963, and when my parents divorced when I was two, we moved to the high desert of far West Texas and grew up in that remote “bubble” of Alpine. After attending the University of Texas and getting a geology degree, I moved to the big city of Houston and married a fellow geologist I knew from university days, Susan Schwarz. We have two sons, Marshall and Stuart, both are now in college, and we’re two months into empty nest life.

After my paternal grandmother passed about twenty-seven years ago, I was given what materials she had, as I was the only family member that expressed interest in genealogy. It sat in a file drawer until 2012, when I got it out and signed up for an Ancestry.com account. I didn’t use a lot of the “hints” available on the website for about a year, as I was just entering info from the documents I had inherited. Early 2014 was when I really started diving deep into the Cornett (Cornutt, Cornute) history, which I’d always heard was derived from Canute, a common Norwegian name. Not even close, as it seems to be of British Isle origin, which also explained why my Cornett relatives I knew were not large folks! Ancestry.com pointed me directly to Grayson County, thru my paternal Cornett line. My father was James Elmer Jr, son of James Elmer, son of John Winton (last Cornett in my line born at Elk Creek), son of William Winton, son of Eli, nephew to John Cornutt and where the Cornute connection is for me.

This spring I signed up as a member of the Grayson County Virginia Heritage Foundation and bought almost all the books they offer, and in the 2010 journal, found the Tate Cornute story. What an insane time it must have been for John, Mourning, Rebecca and the kids. Having your attorney-father whipped, just for wanting his kids to have a better life in freedom, must have been amazingly traumatic. To have his wife, Mourning, die near that same time, and freeing and sending Rebecca and kids north to escape the insanity, makes you wonder about his life those last ten years around Elk Creek.

I am going to be making my first visit to Elk Creek on October 30th this month. As far as I know, I may be the first descendent of John Winton Cornett to make the return since the 1800s! I’ve rented a home built by a Cornett back in 1901, near the Central, Loyd Cornett, Reuben Cornett, and Archelous Cornett cemeteries, so it will be a full baptismal immersion into Elk Creek and our common Cornett roots!

I also plan on attending your next Cornute reunion, so be prepared for a big ol’ West Texas guy!