Cornelius was called "Neil". He was born in Scott County, Minnesota. He was likely born in Helena township which is part of New Prague. Most of his adult and married years were spent in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota as a husband, father, furniture maker, coffin maker, mortician and leader in the Saint Mathias Catholic Church. He owned a farm in Randolph County for several years so that his children could attend high school as well as provide the family with another source of food. Cornelius died in Fairbault, Rice County, Minnesota where he lived in the final years of his life in a nursing home.

Cornelius was one of six children born to George (Georg in German) Daleiden and Anna Mary "Anna" Hanzel Daleiden. His parents were married in 1857 in Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague, Scott County, Minnesota. They are both buried in Saint Wenceslaus Catholic Cemetery.

Father:
George/Georg was born on 04 Sep 1825 in Prussia in present day (2014) Rhineland-Pfalz, Germany, likely in the town of Trier or Mettendorf. He immigrated to the United States in ~1852. He died on 31 Jan 1888 in New Prague, Scott County, Minnesota. FAG# 7898075

Mother:
Anna was born on 01 Apr 1833 in Zimutice, Bohemia, which is in present day (2014) Czech Republic. Her immigration date is not dependable as the 1910 census reports it to be after her marriage to Georg. She died on 01 Oct 1911 in New Prague, Scott County, Minnesota. FAG# 7898074

Siblings:
*Mary Elizabeth (1859-1932) who married Mathias Roles (1859-1929)
*Thomas Kornelius (1863-1916; FAG# 7911728) who married Mary Budin (1870-1954; FAG# 7911727)
*Mathias Henry (1864-1940; FAG# 66961318) who married Anna Rech (1868-1922; FAG# 66961328) and Anna Bettisch (1877-1962; FAG# 66961405)
*Nicholas Hubertus (1866-1944; FAG# 87229300) who married Mary Josephine Hovorka (1877-1952; FAG# 87229318)
*Anna Josephina (1876-1962; FAG# 7898035) who married Frank Otto "Frank" Borkowski (1867-1956; FAG# 7898037)

Cornelius married Katherine Marie "Katie/Kate" Wertzler (1882-1969) on 29 Jan 1901 in one of the first, if not the first, marriage ceremony conducted in Saint Mathias Catholic Church in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota.

Their children:
*Gertrude Anne (1902-1992)
*John Cornelius (1903-2002)
*Edmund John (1904-1954)
*Agnes Anna (1906-1990)
*Alphonse Thomas (1907-1997)
*Odelia Josephine (1909-1993)
*Loretta Marie (1910-1992)
*Paul Gregory/George (1911-1987)
*Blandina Catherine (1913-1967)
*Arnold John (1914-1991)
*Herbert Mathias (1917-1968)
*Florence Lillian (1919-1998)
*Living

At the age of 93, Neil passed away in 1966. Less than three years later, at the age of 87, Katie joined him. They are buried together in Saint Mathias Catholic Church. Except for the brief time they lived in the nursing home in Fairbault, they spent their entire marriage living in Hampton, Minnesota in the home built by Neil, a block away from their furniture and funeral home business.

LFC, 17 Jan 2014.