Mary A. Cornelius

Not to be confused with the writer, Mary Ann Hooker Cornelius (1796-1880)

Mary Ann Mann Cornelius (née, Mann; pen name, Mrs. Mary A. Cornelius; September 25, 1829 – April 18, 1918) was an American writer of novels and occult stories. She was also a temperance reformer, serving as president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) of Arkansas.

Portrait from A Woman of the Century

Early life and education

Mary Ann Mann was born in Pontiac, Michigan, September 25, 1829. Her parents were Lewis Whiting Mann (1802-1889) and Elvira (Bagley) Mann (1810-1867). Both of her parents were of Pilgrims ancestry and New England origin. Cornelius' siblings were Anna (b. 1827), Sarah (b. 1832), Preston (b. 1834), Louie (b. 1838), Evelina (b. 1842), and Lewis (b. 1852).

Her first school composition, written when she was nine years of age, was a hit in the rural community where she lived, and was printed in the local newspaper.

Career

Her husband encouraged her to write short articles for the press on religious and philanthropic subjects. When, with the responsibilities of motherhood and her position as a pastor's wife upon her, she brought to his notice a story of 39 long chapters that she had written, he protested against this draft.

Although a semi-invalid for many years, she struggled against her weakness and was involved in Christian and philanthropic enterprises. Cornelius' first public efforts were in aid of her husband's calling as a clergyman. So many broken-hearted women in the church confided to her their troubles with drinking husbands and sons that she became interested in the cause for temperance and joined the W.C.T.U. In 1885, she served as president of the W.C.T.U. of Arkansas. She led the first canvass by petitions for closing the saloons in Little Rock under the three-mile law. The canvass was a bitter one and even threats were made to kill her if she continued the work. When the papers were ready for presentation to the judge of the court, an attempt was made to steal the petition, but Cornelius set herself to the task of making friends with the perpetrators for the cause of temperance. she so far succeeded as to make of the leader a life-long friend.

She assisted her husband when he was engaged in editorial work and edited a journal in the interest of the society about the time of her husband's death, in 1886. Her poems, numerous prose articles, and voluminous newspaper correspondence testified to her industry. Perhaps the best known of her writings were Little Wolf, which has had a wide sale, and the poem, "Sweet Marie".

By 1893, from Arkansas, Cornelius removed to Topeka, Kansas, that she might have the benefit of woman's suffrage in her temperance work. While there, she learned of the Keeley Treatment, and having investigated its results, she was assisted by some of the leading women of the city to organize a Woman's Keeley Rescue League. Its object was to assist indigent inebriates to obtain a cure.

Later, Mrs. Cornelius carried the gospel of Rescue by means of the Keeley Treatment to the Pacific coast. But realizing that prevention is better than cure, she established a free reading room for boys, which became a favorite resort for many of the men and women in the neighborhood. Here were to be found books of every description, from the novel to the work of science; history and romance, humor and pathos. They loaded down the shelves lining the walls. They were on the tables; they were everywhere. Some of them were new and some were soiled, worn, torn, mutilated, damaged, and dog-eared to such an extent that it did not seem possible that they could be read without falling to pieces. Such was the unique library with which Cornelius furnished entertainment and instruction for scores of boys and young men who were eager for advancement, but whose lives furnished few advantages.

Many of the books had been discarded by the public library as too worn for further service, and patched up and repaired by Cornelius for her reading room. In addition to the books, there were papers, magazines, and games;-it was a veritable club, where members might find recreation and improvement, and gain wisdom and courage for the duties of life.

Cornelius wrote four books; the first, Little Wolf, in the interest of temperance; the second, Uncle Nathan's Farm, to promote tolerance; the third, "The White Flame," to emphasize God's love for the world. The fourth was dedicated to the young people who frequented the reading room.

Personal life and death

In 1850, she married Rev. S. Cornelius, Jr., D.D. (1825-1886), of Alexandria, Virginia. He was at one-time pastor of the First Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. They had one child, a son, William S. Cornelius (1853-1894).

Cornelius suffered a severe injury from a fall in October 1911, which confined her to her room for many weeks.

Mary A. Cornelius died April 18, 1918, in Chicago. Burial was at Oakland cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Selected works

The white flame (an occult story)

As Mary A. Cornelius

• The White Flame, 1900 (text)
• Why? Or, A Kansas Girl's Query, 1903 (text)

As Mrs. M. A. Cornelius

• Little Wolf: A Tale of the Western Frontier, 1872 (text)
• Uncle Nathan's Farm: A Novel, 1898

External links

• Works related to Woman of the Century/Isadore Gilbert Jeffery at Wikisource
• Works by or about Mary A. Cornelius at Internet Archive