Mystery Lady at the Reunion

A pretty brunette, with a Mona Lisa smile, was an unexpected guest at the Stinson reunion on June 1st. Arriving with cousin Kenneth Bryant, she quickly became the center of attention with everyone wanting to get an up-close look at the mystery lady. Kenneth "met" her in a most unusual place: the attic of his boyhood home, the same home where grandfather John Thomas Stinson lived out his last years. The mystery lady is a photograph that Kenneth speculates MAY be John Thomas' mother, Cornelia Frances Norvell. No one has ever seen a picture of her and little is actually known. It's not far fetched to believe that John Thomas would have kept a photo of his mother with him when he moved into his daughter, Verna's home late in life. Cornelia was born in Buckingham County on 19 January, 1845, and died there on 7 June, 1898. She married David Washington Stinson on 2 November, 1865, very soon after he returned from the Civil War. John Thomas was her first child. I encourage blog readers to forward this entry to anyone in the Buckingham area who may be able to identify our pretty mytery guest.