OLIVER T. CORNWELL
MRS. OLIVER T. CORNWELL
On the 19th of August, 1888, occurred the marriage of Mr. Cornwell and Miss Ella Crowell, of Walla Walla, a daughter of Henry A. and Mary A. (Thurman) Crowell, who came to Walla Walla from Iowa in 1874. The mother was a niece of Allen G. Thurman, the great democratic leader, who was long known as "the Old Roman." To Mr. and Mrs. Cornwell have been born three children, Lessie L., Ethel L. and Olive E.
Mr. Cornwell holds membership with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 7, F. & A. M.; to Walla Walla Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M.; to Walla Walla Commandery, No. 2, K. T.; to Oriental Consistory, No. 1, A. & A. S. R, of Spokane; and to El Katif Temple; A. A. O. N. M. S., also of Spokane. He likewise has membership with Washington Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F., and with the Walla Walla Encampment of that order.
His chief activity aside from business has been as a supporter of the republican party and a recognized leader in its ranks. The first position to which he was called was that of city councilman of Walla Walla in 1897. In 1900 he was chosen to represent his district in the Washington state senate, where he served for four years with honor and ability. In the November election of 1915 he was again chosen a member of the state senate and during his present term has been called upon for much important committee service. He is now a member of the committees on municipal corporations, on education, on industrial insurance, on irrigation and arid lands, public utilities, roads and bridges, rules and joint rules, banks and banking. He has done much to shape the policy of his party and for eight years was chairman of the republican county central committee and has been a member of the state central committee. It was Mr. Cornwell who organized and successfully carried through the campaign establishing the commission form of government in Walla Walla. His career has at all times reflected credit and honor upon the people that have honored him. The universality of his friendships interprets for us his intellectual hospitality and the breadth of his sympathy, for nothing is foreign to him that concerns his fellows. Anyone meeting Mr. Cornwell face to face would know at once that he is an individual embodying all the elements of what in this country we term a "square" man—one in whom to have confidence, a dependable man in any relation and any emergency. His quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with the total absence of anything sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any obligation of life with the confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, the right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.