He talked of a time when State Street was a “thicket of
oak and elmwood trees with a heavy growth of hazel brush,”
and the bluff east of the river had a “vigorous variety
of oak, hickory and walnut trees.” He was but a child in
the 1860s and his earliest memories were of “war meetings”
at Murray and Hanchett Halls when he first encountered the personalities
of Matt Carpenter, George B. Smell and Bostwick O’Connor.
He knew from research and study about Thomas and Lucy Power,
early settlers of Beloit, and Thomas’s service in George
the Third’s Royal Navy. He had correspondence with Stephen
Mack’s youngest daughter Carrie Mack-Newberry, Stephen being
the first American settler of Winnebago County in Illinois. He
traveled throughout America enjoying visits to Civil War battle
fields, particularly the visit to Bull Run “thirty three
years after the carnage and slaughter.” He sailed south
on Rock River in 1896 and recorded how the corn hills of the
Winnebagos were still distinguishable near Roscoe and Manchester
townships. His name was Cornelius Buckley and he responded favorably
to inquiries from Minnie McIntyre Wallace, chairman of the Beloit
Historical Society’s Memoir Committee, to speak of his life
and times and his trip down Rock River.
Cornelius
Buckley was born in 1856 when Beloit was incorporated and died
in 1940. He commented more than once that he regretted being
born and quoted these lines from the English poet Mathew Prior:
To breathe is to suffer / To think is to mourn / He ever is blest
who never was born. But born he was and at the end of a long
life of 84 years the city of Beloit came to know this man as
distinguished lawyer, historian and adventurer.
Cornelius was one of seven children born to Timothy and Hannah
Buckley, and the old family home was on Emerson Street. He and
his sister Katherine were twins and neither ever married. Both
were devoted to each other all their lives. Cornelius entered
elementary school in 1863 and was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar
in 1883. He was also licensed to practice law in Minnesota and
Virginia. Initially the law practice proved a difficult occupation
at which to make a living. After a few years, however, and with
financial help from family members, the lawyer Cornelius settled
in for a professional career of legal work. Once established
he was then able to indulge in some of his interests. He became
in subsequent years one of the foremost historians of the Rock
River Valley. He also became a bit of an adventurer.
As an historian Cornelius was thorough and a stickler for detail.
His knowledge of this area grew over the years and his reputation
grew as well. Throughout his life numerous individuals and state
historical societies sought information and articles from him.
He communicated widely and did produce well researched and reasoned
articles to the Illinois and Wisconsin historical societies.
Much that he wrote had to do with the Black Hawk War. Cornelius
was considered at the time an expert on the subject. Throughout
the account of his “Trip Down Rock River” he made many
comments and gave opinions about the war and the notable historic
personages involved in it. This trip, which occurred in 1896
and was known to Minnie McIntyre Wallace, was the subject of
interest back in 1929 when Minnie first contacted Cornelius.
The Beloit Daily News ran a serialized account of Cornelius’
tour from 25 January to 22 February 1930. This personal memoir
gives one a feel for the period and for the natural surroundings.
Outside of numerous nit-pickings at Ruben Thwaites, who made
the same journey down Rock River years earlier, Cornelius’
story of the trip educates as well as entertains.
The Voyage down Rock River began 16 June 1896. Cornelius kept
a day-to-day journal of his trip. The crew consisted of Cornelius
Buckley, his sister Katherine, Lannon, his nephew, and Philip
Yagla. They left in the boat from the river at the bottom of
Emerson Street and sailed south. Cornelius and Philip were the
oarsmen and they would eventually row to the mouth of Rock River
at Rock Island where the Mississippi River would greet them.
Along the way Cornelius described the people they met, the villages
and towns at which they stopped, his dying of thirst from lack
of fresh water, being hungry, being uncomfortable from sleeping
on hard ground, and suffering from cramped and calloused hands
from constant rowing. He described what the land looked like
as well as what it might have looked like during the Black Hawk
War era. He mentioned numerous places they passed as they headed
south: Forty Acre Island, Mack Town, Stillman Creek (the first
battle of the Black Hawk War was fought at this site 14 May 1832),
Eagles Nest, Margaret Fuller Island, Castle Rock, Charters Island,
Lyndon, Prophetstown, Carbon Cliff, Calona and finally Rock Island
and Davenport. It was a voyage that lasted eight days and covered
a distance of 225 miles. It was something Cornelius wanted to
do since he was a young man and accomplished it at the relatively
young age of forty. He revisited some of these 
areas in 1920 at the age of sixty four.
Reaching “The Father of Waters”- the Mississippi River
- the trip ended, and the party returned to Beloit. Cornelius
continued to practice law, employed in that endeavor until 1937.
It was a long career of fifty four years. Katherine his sister
died in that same year. Cornelius would live another three years
before he, too, would die.
It was back in 1930 that Cornelius wrote a little something about
himself as an introduction to the public prior to the serialization
of his trip down Rock River. It was called “Cornelius Buckley
Speaks.” He said “I am no sportsman. Never attend shows
outside of the legitimate drama, and of course Shakespeare is
no longer heard in Beloit. Have not seen a ball game in more
than 55 years. Never play a game of cards nor games of any kind.
Care nothing for amusements nor company. I love solitude, the
field and the forest, when I can find the latter... I am very
sorry I was born and yet I do not want to die. My sister and
I are all that is left of a family of seven children.”
Cornelius Buckley, just one of the interesting individuals in
Beloit’s long history, is buried at Calvary Cemetery.
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