Bon Jellico Families



The Alfred Cornelius Family

Cornelius, Alfred and Maggie Brown Family
Children: George H., James L., Willard, John S., Mary, Edward B., Charles Cecil

    Alfred Cornelius and Maggie Brown, daughter of George and Susan (Susie) Brown, were married in 1917. Three of their children, George H., James L., and Willard were born before the family moved to Bon Jellico. John S. was born in Bon and died at an early age. Mary, the only daughter, was born in Bon and delivered by Dr. Stonecipher.
    Alfred worked as a miner at Bon Jellico. Mary Cornelius Smith, his daughter, remembered, “…Willard and I would wait for him to come home along the road across the tracks. He would stop at the commissary and bring us a piece of stick candy.” Another of Mary’s Bon memories was an incident that occurred when she was only four or five years old. Her brother Jim was attending school in Williamsburg and walked there each day. One day Mary decided to go too and got as far as her Aunt Mary Fritts house who saw her and asked her where she thought she was going. Mary said that she was going to school like Jim did, and her Aunt Mary “…cut a switch and dusted my behind all the way home.”
    Mary Cornelius Smith was actively involved in the Bon Jellico Homecomings; she managed the dinner arrangement, site preparation and cleanup for several years.

Back         Next