William Jeff Cornett, also known as William Cornett Jr., was the son of Revolutionary War veteran, William Jesse Cornett and his first wife, Rhoda Gilliam. He has long been the forgotten Cornett brother because he moved from Kentucky to Jackson Co. Indiana about 1832 with his family. J.D. Cornett left him out in his booklet on the Cornett family but William Jeff is mentioned twice in the Dickey Diary interviews with various Cornett family members. William Jeff Cornett is the second child of William and Rhoda Cornett.

William Cornett applied for land in Jackson Co. on 5-2-1832. National Archives and Record Services of Washington, D.C. have records of William Cornett of Jackson Co., In. applying for land 5-5-1832 in Salt Creek Township. This land was located in the western part of the township on the Lawrence Co. line and is where William Cornett set up residence and reared his family. ** The Jackson Co. Partition Records has the following children and heirs of William J. Cornett: James Cornett, Archibald Cornett, John Cornett, William L. Cornett, Susan Callahan, Lean Brown, Mary Findley, Lucy Fleetwood, Rhoda Young, Ira Cornett, Amanda Bagwell, and Sarah Cornett who died leaving Surilda as her only heir……… 'Jackson Co., Indiana Families' book in Jackson Co. Library. Their daughter Elizabeth is not named in their will, not sure why. unless she was also dead.

William was born in 12-12-1790/92 in Virginia and died 1-23-1869 in Jackson Co. In. He married Polly Mary Rippee/Reppee, daughter of James Rippee on 9-18-1813 in what was then Clay Co., Ky. Polly was born about 1784 and died sometime after the 1840 Indiana census. Polly is probably buried in the Cornett Cemetery in Jackson Co. where William is buried. William and Polly are listed as living in the Salt Creek township in the census. It has be told in some histories of the family that Polly's family moved with them to Indiana.

After Polly died, William is listed in the 1850 and 1860 with a 2nd wife ?, Christina Cornett. There is no record in Jackson Co. of this marriage. Nothing else is known about the second wife. William is buried in the Cornett Grove Cemetery in Jackson Co., In. These are the known children of William Jeff Cornett and Polly Rippee:

Rhoda Cornett 1814 m James Young
Elizabeth Cornett 1815
Ira Cornett 1819 m Margaret Jane Noe
James E. Cornett 1821 m Eliza Hunsaker
Lucy Cornett 1823 m James Fleetwood
William Larkin Cornett 1825 m Sarah Fleetwood
Sarah Cornett
John Cornett 1827 m Sarah ____
Susan Cornett 1827 m Thomas Callihan
Archibald Cornett 1832 m Margaret Callihan
Amanda Cornett 1834 m Elijah Bagwell
Leander/Leann Cornett 1836 m Thomas Brown
Mary Cornett 1839 m Gabriel Marion Findley
Durham Ewing Cornett 1840-1858

** Someone has added Mariah Cornett King of Washington Co. as a child of William J. Cornett. This lady is not listed as a heir of Wiliam Cornett in the Jackson Co. Partition Records, There is another William Cornett born cira 1780 to 1790 that is listed in the 1830 Washington Co., In. census who had a daughter the same age as this Mariah. I believe she may belong to this William Cornett.