Victor Eugene Cornett
VICTOR EUGENE CORNETT. As a farm owner, road building contractor, and banker, Victor Eugene Cornett has for a number of years been one of the men of prominence in the business and public affairs of Grayson County. His home is at Independence.
The Cornett family represents old English stock and the name was originally spelled Canute. In Colonial times one branch of the family came from England and settled in Pennsylvania. The grandfather of the Independence banker was John Cornett, who spent his life near Elk Creek, Virginia, in Grayson County, owning and operating a large body of farm land. His wife was a Miss Boyer, also of the Elk Creek community. Kenley C. Cornett, father of Victor E., was a life long resident of Elk Creek, an extensive farmer, and was born there in 1843, and died May 31, 1919. He served all through the Civil war on the Confederate side, but in after years voted for and supported the republican ticket. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His wife, Mary Wright, was born at Elk Creek in 1855, and still lives on the old homestead there. They were the parents of a large family of children: Lillie C., wife of John W. Atkins, a hardware merchant at Keystone, West Virginia; Millie D., wife of Wint G. Stone, a farmer at Elk Creek; Victor Eugene; Lora L., wife of W. Cabell Stone, a farmer at Elk Creek; Buena Vista, wife of Preston Simms, connected with the Automatic Sprinkler Company and a resident of Elk Creek; Pearl, who married Fielding B. Cornett, not related, a farmer living at Independence; Ethel, wife of William A. Clark, a farmer at Elk Creek; Bonnie Sue, who is the wife of Albert C. Wingate, a farmer and live stock dealer at Independence; Katy, who died in infancy; and Tennie, who died when twenty-five years of age.
Victor Eugene Cornett, who has never married, grew up on the home farm at Elk Creek, acquired a high school education, and until he was thirty years of age his time and energies were given to the assistance of his father on the farm. In the meantime he became interested in public affairs, and served from 1902 to 1906 as commissioner of revenue of the Elk Creek District. From 1906 to 1910 most of his time was given to live stock dealing, and in 1910 he was elected county treasurer of Grayson County and served two terms until 1918.
Since January, 1911, Mr. Cornett’s home has been at Independence. He is owner of nine hundred acres of valuable land in Grayson County, and from his town home supervises his farming and stock raising interests. He is vice president of the Grayson County National Bank of Independence, is vice president of the Grayson County Farm Loan Association, and since 1921 has done an extensive business as a road contractor, including public highways in Grayson County and in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Since 1919 he has also been in the real estate business as a member of the firm Cornea-Parsons Auction Company, with offices in Independence and at Galax.
Mr. Cornett is a republican, and is a member of the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Elk Creek. He also has affiliations with Grayson Lodge No. 217, Free and Accepted Masons, at Elk Creek, and with Independence Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the World war he was one of the most active leaders in Grayson County to secure the full quota for all financial drives, and he also did much work for the Red Cross and other organizations.