Rourke, Cornelius

Born: 1822-04-19 Ireland, United Kingdom

Died: 1886-08-27 Petersburg, Illinois

Cornelius Rourke was a non-commissioned military officer, a public servant, and Democrat. During the Mexican War, he served at the rank of sergeant in Company F of the Fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He lost his left leg at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. In September 1847, he received appointment as a recorder for Menard County. In November 1849, he received a commission as county clerk. In 1850, he was working in this position, living in Petersburg, and owned $1,000 in real estate. By 1860, still working as a clerk, his wealth from real property had grown to $11,170. Menard County renewed his clerk commission three times: in November 1853, November 1857, and December 1861. A devout Catholic, he helped organize a society of Roman Catholics in Petersburg and allowed services to be held in his home for a time.

In 1848, he married Achsa "Axie" Jane Cleveland. They renewed their vows before the Catholic Church in 1849 and eventually had three daughters together. After Axie Jane died in 1856, he married a woman named Anna, who went by "Annie," sometime before 1860. They had several children together.

Illinois Mexican War Veterans, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Edmund Janes Cleveland and Horace Gillette Cleveland, comp., The Genealogy of the Cleveland and Cleaveland Families (Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1899), 1:707; The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1879), 256-57, 281, 303; Illinois, U.S., Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853-1981, 29 July 1849 (Lehi: Ancestry.com Operations, 2018); U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Petersburg, Menard County, IL, 270; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 23 August 1852, 2:1; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Petersburg, Menard County, IL, 235; U.S. Census Office, Ninth Census of the United States (1870), Petersburg, Menard County, IL, 10; Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916, Menard County, 27 August 1886, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Axie J. Cleaveland Rourke, Gravestone, Rose Hill Cemetery, Petersburg, IL; Cornelius Rourke, Gravestone, Rose Hill Cemetery, Petersburg, IL.