Arthur Blankenship Cornett. One of the greatest factors contributing to the prosperity of any section of the country is the well balanced, energetic business man of sound judgment and sterling integrity who brings with him into commercial life high ideals of both business and civic responsibility. His influence is to give solidity to the enterprises in which he engages, and true prosperity must rest on such a foundation. Harlan County has not had to go far afield in search for such citizens, for she has produced them, and of these perhaps few are better known than Judge A. B. Cornett, who is vice president of the First State Bank of Harlan and for many years identified with leading financial and industrial interests in this section of Kentucky. Judge Cornett was born on his father's farm in Har lan County, Kentucky, November 11, 1853. His parents were John L. and Precious A. (Ely) Cornett, both life long residents of Harlan County. The Cornett ancestry leads back to France, where the great-grandfather, Roger Cornett, was born. He was a young man when he came to America and found a home in Scott County, Virginia, where he became a planter and slaveholder. Next in line or descent was William Cornett, who was born in Scott County, Virginia, in 1798. He came early to Harlan County, Kentucky, establishing himself on the bank of the Cumberland River as a farmer and blacksmith.

He married Nancy Lewis, who was born in Harlan County in 1801, and died on the Cumberland River plantation in 1883. She was a daughter of Judge John Lewis, who was one of the first judges of Harlan County. William Cornett died on his Cumberland River estate in 1868. John L. Cornett was born in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1828, and died in 1910, having spent his entire life along the Cumberland River. He was an extensive and successful farmer, and owned thousands of acres of valuable coal and timber land. In his political views he was a republican, and from youth had been a mem ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Precious A. Ely, born in 1827, in Lee County, Virginia, who died in Harlan County in 1908. They had the fol lowing children: William W., who is a merchant and farmer, lives on the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River in Harlan County; Arthur B.; Jonathan, who is a farmer on the Cumberland River; George, who died when seven years of age; Nancy Jane, who married Israel Blair and resides near Barbourville, Kentucky; Robert N., who is a coal operator at Barbourville; and Bethel, who is a farmer near Paint Lick, Garrard County, Kentucky.

Arthur B. Cornett grew up on his father's farm and obtained his education in the country schools. When twenty-five years old he embarked in the mercantile business at Poor Fork, where he continued for four years. In November, 1883, he was elected county super intendent of schools to fill out an unexpired term, and after serving one year re-entered the mercantile busi ness and continued in the same at Harlan until 1890, when he retired in order to assume the duties of clerk of the County Court to which office he had been elected in August, 1889. In November, 1893, he was re-elected for another term of four years, and in November, 1897, was elected county judge, the responsibilities of which position he assumed in January, 1898, and served for four years. Judge Cornett is a republican in politics, but since retiring from the bench has never accepted any political office and has devoted all his time to his many business interests, which are largely connected with coal and lumber.

He owns 4,000 acres of coal lands in Harlan, Letcher, Perry and Leslie counties, Kentucky; is a director in the Cornett-Lewis Coal Company, the mines of which are situated on Clover Fork of the Cumberland River at Fugate Creek; formerly was president of the Harlan Gas Company, of which he is still a stockholder; until 1915, when he sold his interests, he was president of the Harlan Home Coal Company; and since its organization he has been vice president of the First State Bank of Harlan, Kentucky, and one of its founders.

The First State Bank of Harlan was organized October 1, 1902, and the operating officers are: A. B. Cornett, vice president; W. W. Lewis, cashier; Fred C. Lewis, assistant cashier; O. M. Hoskins, assistant cashier; E. T. Boggess, assistant cashier, with capital and surplus: $105,000; undivided profits, $42,500; de posits, $2,000,000. At Harlan, Kentucky, in 1880, Mr. Cornett married Miss Amanda E. Hurst, who died in March, 1900. She was a daughter of C. E. and Mary (Rice) Hurst, both deceased. Mr. Hurst was a soldier in the Union Army during the war between the states, and at the time of his death was clerk of the court of Harlan County.

To Mr. and Mrs. Cornett the following children were born: Ollie, who is the wife of W. W. Lewis, cashier of the First State Bank of Harlan; Denver B., who is a coal operator and president of the Cornett-Lewis Coal Company, resides at Louisville, Kentucky; Carrie E., who died at Harlan in 1915, was the wife of Dr. William Martin, of this place, who married for his second wife a Miss Hull, and together they operate the Shady Lawn Hospital at Harlan; Ora, who is the wife of C. B. Cawood, a coal operator at Harlan, who is interested in the Cornett-Lewis Coal Company and also owns a one-half interest in the Harlan Hardware Company; Claude C, who died at the age of eighteen years; Herbert, who died when six years old; John Frederick, who died when one year old; Mary, who is the wife of Robert Scott, a stockholder and bookkeeper for the Wilson-Burger Coal Company; and Ella, who is the wife of Homer Highbaugh, who is in the insurance business at Harlan.

In 1917, at Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Cornett married Miss Dollie E. Brown, who is a native of Kansas. She graduated from Baker University at Baldwin, Kansas, and is active in church work and especially in the home mission work of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Cornett's private residence, at 128 Main Street, is one of the most pretentious in the city, and he also has an interest in the Shady Lawn Hospital buildings. During the World war Mr. Cornett showed his inter est in many practical ways, taking an active part in all local movements and liberally contributing to all the organizations of a patriotic nature, in this but enlarging his customary generous bequests to benevolent purposes.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Harlan, named the Ella Cornett Methodist Episcopal Church in memory of his first wife. Mr. Cornett is its largest donator and one of its Board of Directors, and is superintendent of the Sunday School. He is a member of Harlan Lodge No. 879, F. and A. M., but otherwise has no fraternal connections, although be cause of his importance in his community he is con stantly brought into close and friendly relationships with his fellow citizens, who in public matters rely on his judgment and highly esteem him personally.