Charles Cordis, Christian County

Charles Cordis came to Illinois is 1883 at the age of fourteen. He lived with O. M. Hawkes in Rosamund, Illinois. He was something of a trial to Mr. Hawkes as he grew older. He insisted on being released from his indenture when he was eighteen and Mr. Hawkes did not fight him. Mr. Hawkes wanted him to attend school and Charles refused, having taken a dislike to the teacher the previous year.

Charles was released and began working for Mr. Hawkes' brother in 1887. In 1900 Charles appeared in the census as the servant of Edmund A. Hawkes in Rosamund, Illinois, so we can be fairly certain the boy from the letter and the man in the census are one and the same.

In 1902 Charles married Mary Osborne Wilcox in Christian County. In 1910 they were living on a rented farm and had two children: William and Elmer. Over the years Charles and Mary added to their family Charles and Elizabeth. They remained in Rosamund and rented farms there.

In his obituary his service to the community was recorded: President and member of the Rosamund School Board, director of the Rosamund Cemetery association and owner in the cooperative grain elevator. He died of cancer April 19, 1938. The obituary headline noted him as a "prominent farmer in Rosamund." Despite his refusal to attend school, Charles Cordis made a good record for himself in Christian County!