Cordelia Eliza WRIGHT was born on February 23, 1850, in New Hudson, Allegany County, New York. Cordelia was the second child of Abel, a 42 year-old farmer, and Laura Wright who was then 28 year old. Laura was Abel’s second wife – Abel had had two children with his first wife who died around 1846.

In 1855, when Cordelia was 5, her family was living in Busti, Chautauqua County New York – the county adjacent to Allegany to the east. In 1860 the family was farming in Portville in Cattaraugus County. Also living with them at the time was Cordelia’s 84 year-old grandfather Joel Wright. Cordelia’s older brother Amos had died the year before of Typhus at the age of 11. The family moved yet again and, by 1865, according the New York State Census, was farming in Clarksville in Allegany County.

Sometime between 1865 and 1870 the entire family moved to Kildare in Juneau County Wisconsin. On April 17, 1870 Cordelia married James F. Fleming Jr. (son of James and Sarah Fleming) in Kildare. The 1870 US Census shows two families – 24 year-old James Fleming, a laborer, with his 20 year-old wife Eliza and the elder Wrights – living as neighbors.

Cordelia and James had three children in 6 years:
1) Sarah Laura Fleming b.1871 – d.1943
2) Alice Mae Fleming b.1874 – d.1937
3) George William Fleming b.1877 – d.1953

Cordelia and James’ first child, Sarah, was born in New York so the Flemings must have left Wisconsin soon after their marriage. By 1875, according to the NY State Census, Cordelia and James were living with their two daughters, 4-year-old Sarah and 1 year-old Alice, in Allegany, Cattaraugus County New York. Her father Abel and his family had also moved back to Allegany. That 1875 census indicates that James was a farmer and lumberman. Cordelia and James’ third child, George, would be born two years later in June of 1877.

Something happened between 1877 and 1880. By the time of the 1880 US Census, Cordelia Fleming is listed as a widow living again with her parents in Allegany. Her children Alice and George are also listed in that household and her oldest daughter Sarah was living immediately nearby with Cordelia’s sister Luella and her husband Oliver McElheny.

There is an unconfirmed story circulating among a few Eads family researchers that explains that, although Cordelia was listed as a widow she was actually estranged from James – that her younger brother Almond Wright was not happy with Cordelia's way of life with James Fleming and it was at Almond’s insistence that she separate from James. Whether the story is true or not, there exists a photograph of James Fleming apparently taken in 1893 so he likely was not dead in 1877. The location of James during the 1880 and subsequent censuses is not known nor are his death and burial information.

According to her obituary, Cordelia married Henry Alonzo Eads on December 20, 1883 in Cattaraugus County. However, this date is 2 years after the birth of their first child and is possibly incorrect. According to the 1900 US Census they were married in 1881 and that date is far more likely. Sometime before 1880, while in his late teens or early 20s, Henry had moved from Illinois to Carrolton, Cattaraugus County, New York and was working as a laborer. There he met Cordelia.

Henry and Cordelia had six children in 13 years:
1) Mildred Adele Eads b.1881 – d.1956
2) Florence Nelly Eads b.1885 – d.1960
3) Clayton Arthur Eads b.1888 – d.1949
4) Floyd Wesley Eads b.1889 – d.1980
5) Ida Marcie Eads b.1891 – d. bef 1900
6) Asa Raymond Eads b.1894 – d.1968

By 1892 Henry & Cordelia were farming in Allegany, Cattaraugus County. Listed in their household in the NY State Census were Henry's step-children Sarah and William (both of whom appear to have taken his last name of Eads instead of Fleming), daughters Millie, Florence & Ida, sons Clayton & Floyd, and mother-in-law Laura. His step-daughter Alice, who would have been 17, is not listed in Allegany. Listed immediately next in the census is a family group consisting of a lumberman Almond Wright, Cordelia’s brother, and a 15 year old George Fleming – Cordelia’s son from her first marriage.

According to Cordelia’s obituary, the family arrived in Whiteside County, Illinois in 1893. The 1893 date of their arrival in Whiteside cannot be correct because Cordelia’s son Asa Raymond was born in Great Valley, Cattaraugus County, New York in January of 1894. Although there is an 1893 George A Ogle & Co. Atlas of Whiteside County which shows that a H. Eads owned property along the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad depot grounds in Garden Plain Station in the center of Garden Plain Township this was not Henry Alonzo Eads. This was probably John Hardin Eads, a blacksmith, (called Hardin to distinguish him from his brothers also named John) who was Henry’s uncle. Sometime between 1894 and 1900 the family moved from Cattaraugus, New York to Albany Township in Whiteside County, Illinois.

In 1900 Henry and Cordelia were farming on a rented farm in Albany Township in Whiteside County. Listed in the household is the entire family group except for daughter Ida Macie. Cordelia’s obituary mentions that Macie died in infancy and her death must have occurred between 1892 and 1900.

Henry and Cordelia were farming on a rented farm along Meredosia Road in Albany Township in 1910. Their children Clayton, Floyd, and Asa are all listed as household members in the 1910 US Census too. There is a 1912 plat of Albany Township that shows Henry Eads owned 100 acres in Section 13 of Albany Township. Meredosia Road runs thru this property. The 1920 US Census indicates that they owned the farm at the time – clearly they acquired the farm sometime between 1910 and 1912.

Henry and Cordelia were living and farming on this land when Henry died on February 13, 1928 at the age of 71. On December 30, 1929 Cordelia died at home from arteriosclerosis. She was 79 years old. She was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Albany Village.

Further information is greatly appreciated.