Friends and Neighbors: Clint Cornils family

Arthur Cornils emigrated to the United States in the late 1800s, along with four of his brothers, following the Franco-Prussian war.

His mother was a nurse during the war and she did not want her sons to fight in a war.

Arthur attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and graduated in 1906, according to his grandson, Clint Cornils of Bushnell.

Following his university graduation he taught at Centennial, Wyo., and then in the Hull Community school district before homesteading south of Bushnell in 1909.

"He came this far out because this was the only place that still had land to be homesteaded," Clint said.

The land was once a Graves sheep camp with just a straw shed, horse barn and a sod home. Arthur received the patent, signed by President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914.

Though he homesteaded, Arthur was required to buy a 20 acre piece of land that was a timber claim, according to Clint.

"After Grandpa got the patent, he mortgaged this section and bought the south section," Clint said.

Later Arthur added more land to the north, and raised shorthorn cattle for some time, then switched to Hereford, which was eventually continued by his son, Roy.

Arthur met the woman who would become his wife, Clara Lueck, after she drove, alone, from the Nebraska City area to visit her friends, the Baltenspergers in a Model T.

"Through them, that is how Grandma and Grandpa met," Clint said. "Dad (Roy) was born in 1926 in the soddie."

That same year the house where Venette still lives was built.

The family continued raising cows through the 30s. There were no fences at that time, and as a youngster, Roy would take the cows everywhere to find grazing pasture throughout the day.

Cows would be milked each morning and again each night after spending the day grazing where pasture could be found.

Roy enlisted in 1944, beating his draft by days, according to Venette.

"He volunteered to paratroop. His division was called up and he was in both Luzan and Leyte," Clint said. "He received the Purple Heart. He was still carrying around some of that (shrapnel) when he died."

"It was amazing what those guys endured,"Venette added.

With his GI Bill, Roy bought a tractor, an M Farmall, according to Clint. Arthur had grown potatoes previously as did Roy, who added corn and wheat after the potato crop was ruined with a blight.

Roy married Venette (Karlstrom) in 1948.

Roy and Venette had five children, Cortney, Connie, Curtis, Collin and Clint. Clint is the youngest and he carries on the Cornils family farm and ranch.

Cortney, the oldest, was born in Cheyenne just before the blizzard of 1949. While Cortney was in the hospital and Vennete was still in Cheyenne, Roy attempted to leave the farm to join them there, but the weather quickly forced him to return home.

It was a stroke of luck for their neighbors, the Taylors, who had just put in a new stove. The story goes that the Taylor's damper was clogged with snow.

Their son, Kenneth, woke up from a nap and could not raise his parents. He left and went for help, getting stranded at the Backes farm.

The Backes family called Roy and asked him to go check on the Taylors. When the blizzard subsided slightly, he left to check on his neighbors, four miles away.

When Kenneth had left the house he did not get the door shut completely, accidentally saving his parents' lives, as when Roy arrived the family had recovered and fixed the damper.

Throughout their successes and their struggles, the Cornils family continued to make improvements to their land, as it was their livelihood.

In 1961 Roy had a well drilled and he planted the east field, 90 acres, in alfalfa and in 1964-65 they bought land further west, which they call 'the other place' and expanded his cow herd.

They continue raising Herefords, growing corn, alfalfa and wheat and have added buildings and another home has been built next to the original.

Throughout the years they have added sprinklers and as the farm grew, the family has received two conservation awards for water conservation measures they took, one in the 1950s was given to Roy and another given to Clint in the 90s.

"It has been a good life," Venette said.