Orra Gaines

Story of Orra Gaines by Effie Cornish

My Grandmother, Orra Gaines Cornish, was the illegitimate daughter ofGeneral Gaines of the Revolutionary War by and educated Scotch woman.At birth she was given his name and support and was educated by him ashis daughter. She had black eyes and heavy black hair that lay inwaves the whole length. She was a beautiful and charming woman with afiery disposition, the fire and energy of a General coupled with hate,jealousy, and suspicion. She was a heavy woman, strong and powerful.When my father and mother married, Orra's upper arm was the same asgrandfather's waist measurement, and her rule was as strong as herarm. My grandfather, Cyrus Cornish, was a student, a lawyer and aMethodist minister, not an unusual combination in those days. He hada valubale library, one of the largest in that part of New York State. He spent much time in study. Of course he worked at his professionand used to preach, especially funeral sermons. Orra was jealous ofhis books, called him lazy and indolent and vented her spite on him inevery way possible. My mother said that when he was deep in study hedid not even hear her. He had a calm, mild disposition, but when itgot to hot for him he would just leave till it cooled down again. Mymother made excusis for him for not doing heavy work because he had abad hernia, but Orra took no note of that. He simply was to leavebooks alone. He was not to be entirely commended for his love ofbooks, since he took no responsibility in educating or training hislarge family. There were no public schools in those days, onlyprivate, and no provision made for all to get an education. Hisfamily grew up in igorance and laziness. How much grandfather couldhave done in trying to teach his children. One cannot say, because ofthe domineering and jealous disposition of Orra. She ruled everythingand her will was to be obeyed, nothing was to come between or storpit. The children fared worse than her husband, because of hersuspicious and accusing nature, perhaps caused by her own illegitimatebirth. She drove them to sin by her constant accusings from earlychildhood of sex misdemeanors. Few were ever virtous when grown orstayed home long. They were lazy with little ambition and learned tododge. My father, Zara Cornish, left home hastily when the was tenyears old. He was the youngest of the family to leave. Jackson wasborn later, but died young. One day Orra gave Zara an order heshould have obeyed. Jokingly he said, "You told us to always wear outold things first", meaning do it yourself. In fury she threatened tokill him. He ran and was afraid to go back, eating what he could findand sleeping wherever he could find a haystack or shelter. She soonfound a job riding a mule on the towpath of the Erie Canal. It was ahard life but he was free and felt he was a man. Sometimes hisclothes were frozen as he rode. He would go to sleep on the mule'sback. He was sworn at, kicked and cuffed, but he was free and hadplenty to eat. The crews that ran the freight canal barges wererough, profane, vulgar, the lowest class of men. A boy could not havebeen in worse company. How long he stayed on the towpath I do notknow. He said the hardest part was beating a stubborn mule to makehim go, but he stayed with the canal company for several years at goodwages. He never returned home till he was about nineteen and thencame leading a fine cow for his mother. The house had burned downwhen Grandfather was not at home, and Orra had not allowed one book tobe saved and so perished a prized and valuable library. I should saysomething about my father's schooling. Before he was ten he was sentto a private school for awhile. His mother warned him with threatswhat she would do if he got his clothes dirty. His master told him tosit down on a stump which did not look clean. Father refused withoutexplanation and was flogged til blood stuck his shirt to his back.His mother had to remove it. It was not unlawful for a schoolmasterto beat children and not uncommon. That ended his schooling. Othersof the family may have gone to private schools but I only know aboutFather. When father came home from the Erie Canal he met my mother,Matilda Jane Young, and before long they were married. Mother taughthim to read and write after their marriage. He wrote a very careful,but good hand and read very well. I should tell why Orra is notrecorded in our family genealogy as General Gaines daughter. Mymother knew all about her education, rearing, and that she was theacknowledged daughter of General Gaines. Mother furnished the recordand because of false modesty would not put the word illegitimate init. This record was for the family "Cornish Book" and was copied fromone in Orra's own handwriting. She had made one for each of thefamily. For some reason Mother gave ours to a cousin years ago so ithas gone out of our family. Orra's writing was perfect even thoughshe did not write it until after Grandfather's death. The recordclosed with "And it fell upon llthe old man and he died and I alone amleft to tell it". Tho she was an old lady when she wrote it thewriting is a piece of art. She was wonderful and really brought muchtalent to our line but was completely uncontrolled by herself. I donot know how long it was after Father's marriage that his father died. The dates are in the Cornish Book (28 years). After his death and Ido not know how long after, Uncle Pete took Orra into his home andcared for her. He was ten years older than my father. I do not knowdates or how long she stayed in this family before Uncle Pete decidedto emigrate from New York State west to Wisconsin with horses andcovered wagon. However I feel sure it was before my folks left forMinnesota. The middle states were not settled at all and emigrationto the west had just started. So Uncle Pete and family left forWisconsin taking Orra with them. After getting past the settled eastthey came to where there were no roads, only trails. They had gotteninto the big woods in Illinois and were following only a blazed trailwhen they camped for the night as usual in a complete wilderness ofbig trees. When it was time to go on in the morning, Orra, in one ofher indomitable, stubborn and contrary spells of fury refused to getinto the wagon. Hours of persuasion nor anything they could do wouldbudge her. She weighed nearly three hundred pounds. As sister Emmaused to say "When she was sot a meeting house couldn't be any sotter." There they were, nothing for miles behind them and they did not knowhow far ahead they would have to go to reach a settlement. They werenot prepared for a long delay with a family of children. I do notknow how long they spent trying to persuade her but it was some time.Finally they decided to drive forward thinking that might budge herbut here she sat in her chair, stubborn, unmoved. What could they do?They decided to drive forward till they reached a place where he couldleave his family and come back for her. How far they had to go or howlong it took them I do not know, but he did leave his family and comeback. He found the marked place but no sign of her or her arm chair.There was no evidence that anyone else had been there or come past ashe would have met them on the one and only trail. Either she hadwandered away and some wild anamil had gotten her or she was hidingand would not answer. I believe the latter as I was acquainted withthat disposition. No one will ever know. What could Uncle Pete dobut leave the place and go back to his family not knowing what hadbecome of his own mother. They went on and settled in Wisconsin whereUncle Pete lived the rest of his life. I corresponded with hisdaughter, Alva Tarbell, for a number of years. Uncle Pete was astrong hearty man. He was ninety four when my father died. He wasstill cutting all the wood for the family and often walked a number ofmiles and back to visit another daughter. They didn't let us knowwhen he died. My father said he had blue eyes and was mild like hisfather. Now this story tells why the death of my grandmother, OrraGaines Cornish, was not recorded in the Cornish Book. The lastknowledge of her was her sitting in her chair in the deep woods inIllinois, bound by her stubborn, imdomitable will and uncontrolleddisposition.